“What is Beauty?”
For me, visiting the Museum of Modern Art is always daunting. With an extremely limited knowledge of art, I am too insecure to ask questions or to have opinions of the museum’s content. I consider self-made thoughts as luxuries reserved for the learned. Those who have spent years studying art have the ability to question and judge it. Not me. I walk into dark rooms with looping projections and look at a series of nude manikins, with a fear to voice what I think. We, as Macaulay Honors students, are taught to question art, but for me it is difficult. How can I ask questions if the answers do not make sense?
Each passing visit to the MOMA does not change my insecurities, but it has forced me to look and question what I already know. While climbing an isolated set of stairs, I notice that the museum is as beautiful as the art inside of it is. The building on 11 West 53rd Street pleases the eye while accommodating thousands of daily visitors. This balance of functionality and beauty is an amazing feat that I can better comprehend. Unlike strokes of a brush, the design of a building has uniformity and clear purpose. I can question the architecture of the MOMA, and that is exactly what I did.
“How did the MOMA progress?” I feel this is an appropriate first question. Broad enough so more questions will arise, but will ultimately lead me to what I want to know more about; which is the current architectural layout of the MOMA.
I was surprised to learn that the MOMA was not always the well-known art museum it is today. Its doors first opened in the Heckscher Building on the corner of 5th Avenue and 57th Street. At the time, 1929, only six rooms housed a small collection of contemporary art. It is not until ten years later, in 1939, when the MOMA finds its first permanent home at 11 West 53rd Street. After fifty-seven years of gaining recognition and acquiring surrounding properties, the Modern allows renovation submissions from a select group of architects. Surprisingly, Yoshio Taniguchi’s architectural plan is chosen. Unlike many of his well-known competitors, Taniguchi only had several moderate successes, all of which in Japan. Two years of construction and $425 million later, Taniguchi’s vision is materialized and the MOMA is where it is today. Debatably the world’s most well-known art museum.
Ten minutes of research answers my first question, but also leads to more. “Who is Yoshio Taniguchi?” He only gains fame after he is selected by the MOMA, but what else did he accomplish?
Yoshio Taniguchi is a mysterious man. His association with the Museum of Modern Art has raised his popularity, but that is his career defining moment. Few articles discuss his other contributions and I learned that it is because Taniguchi is possibly the world’s most reserved, well-known architect. Instead of constantly working on multiple projects at one time, Taniguchi believes time and focus crucial to successful architectural plans. Usually working on one project at a time, Taniguchi has fewer works than his peers, but all of which portraying the main principle of architecture. To create beautiful structures that satisfies not only those who use it, but also those who do not. It is this principal that Taniguchi lives by that facilitated MOMA’s need for renovation. With many different sections of the museum, the architects involved in the renovation faced a difficult task in recognizing each parts identity and purpose within the museum. Taniguchi spent time reviewing the relationship among the sections he planned to add or merge. Ultimately, his plan successfully preserved each sections identity and purpose, putting his renovation ahead of all others.
The MOMAs prominence will make Yoshio Taniguchi forever remembered as a great designer, but Taniguchi continues to grow as an architect. In 2004, Taniguchi once again won a competition for a novel building design. The Asia Society Texas Center, a 40,000 square foot building, is home for the non-profit organization, Asia Society Texas. Without space limitations, Taniguchi was able to create a building to its full potential. “Taniguchi combined graceful design with stunningly beautiful stone, wood and glass to give Asia Society Texas Center its distinctive character.” A beautiful mixture of eastern and western building styles is the final product.
Very few people will argue Yoshio Taniguchi’s design for the Asia Society Texas Center as more impressive than his redesign of the Museum of Modern Art, but I will. The Modern is a beautiful building, but is restricted by the city surrounding it. The natural landscape cannot be used to enhance the MOMA’s features, making it out of place. I must walk past dull corporate buildings and glassy department stores to reach the Museum of Modern Art, making it beautiful relative to the ugliness of the buildings around it. The size restrictions have forced the interior beauty of the building to some areas while other areas are left strange and awkward. Although I have never been to the Asia Society Texas Center, the way space is utilized is clear in pictures. With an openness that is absent in the MOMA, the Asia Society Texas Center accurately depicts Taniguchi’s Japanese influence.
Far from my original question of, “How did the MOMA progress?” I find myself asking, “What dictates beauty?”
Works Cited
Moma.org Museum of Modern Art n,d Web. 17 Nov 2013
McClellan, Faith. SCHICKEDANTZ, ROGER. “MOMA New York Architect, Yoshio Taniguchi Reopened 20 November 2004.” British Journal of General Pracitce (2005): 66-67. Web. 17 Nov 2013
“Yoshio Taniguchi.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Taniguchi, Yoshio. “The Architecture of Yoshio Tnaiguchi.” The New York Times . Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1999): n.pag Web. 17 Nov 2013
Lange, Alexandra. “This New House.” New York Magazine. (2004): 17 Nov 2013
