Moma Sculpture Garden

The architect of the sculpture garden phillip johnson when he first designed this garden in 1953 he talked about it as an urban piazza.

Moma sculpture garden. Since its opening in 1939 the abby aldrich rockefeller sculpture garden has been one of nyc s most beloved green spaces. And what better relief than being in a garden. The museum of modern art archives new york a mere glimpse restores my sagging soul wrote lillian gerard special projects coordinator at moma of the abby aldrich rockefeller sculpture garden in a letter to richard shepard at the new york times in 1975. Rockefeller jr one of the founders of the museum in 1953 this urban oasis serves as a spectacular setting for visitors to enjoy art in the outdoors.

The garden we see today was designed in 1953 by moma s director of architecture and design philip johnson. More than 89 000 works are currently available online. Our evolving collection contains almost 200 000 works of modern and contemporary art. The abby aldrich rockefeller sculpture garden lies at the heart of the museum of modern art.

Photography by iwan baan courtesy of moma. The museum of modern art renovation and expansion designed by diller scofidio renfro in collaboration with gensler. A more inclusive view of moma s sculpture garden carrie mae weems known for her powerful images of african american identity shares a piece from her new project. The garden evolved through a series of renovations over the next half century and will continue to do so in our own era.

That was the moment in which the space was dedicated to abby aldrich rockefeller one of the museum s founders. He s thinking of those great italian civic spaces which tend to be paved in stone and are full of life. Sculpture garden architecture 117 meditation sequence 118 shadows 119 the garden landscape 120. In 1953 the sculpture garden was redesigned by philip johnson the first director of the.

Just as the architect philip johnson spoke about an italian piazza which always is at the heart of an italian city the sculpture garden has had. Her townhouse home once stood on the site. The museum of modern art lies in the heart of a very busy city of an urban metropolis and the founders of the museum wanted some relief from that. Deputy director peter reed.

Moma 11 west 53 street manhattan open today 10 30 a m 5 30 p m. Cars in the garden automobiles are hollow rolling sculpture arthur drexler wrote in 1951. That s trying to give you my italian an urban piazza. Designed by philip johnson and dedicated in memory of mrs.