The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) reopened to the public on 29 March, after a closure of two years for conservation on architect Louis I Kahn’s iconic modern building.
Opened three years after the acclaimed architect’s death in 1974, it is located at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut (US) and houses the largest collection of British art outside the UK. The museum was the gift of Yale alumnus, collector and philanthropist Paul Mellon.
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What are the improvements?
This is the second major conservation taken on the building, following interior refurbishments and improvements to patron amenities in 2015-16.
The museum explains: “With this project, the museum aimed to replace many of the original building materials, taking advantage of new advances in technology since the 1970s while preserving the aesthetic qualities of Kahn’s design.”
Exterior improvements include a new liquid membrane roof and the replacement of the 224 original acrylic skylights with more resilient polycarbonate domes that maintain Kahn’s iconic design while improving durability, weather resistance and energy efficiency. The Center also invested in a more energy-efficient LED lighting system.
New work on the building has also allowed an opening up of the interior vistas, which is made possible by Kahn’s flexible design for the galleries. It creates an interesting mix of heavy salon hangs against the clean open lines of the building.
The museum says, “[The] new rehang encourages visitors to find their own paths through the collection and discover connections across time and place, inviting both new and returning audiences to engage with British art in novel ways.”
“My colleagues and I are thrilled to welcome visitors back into the museum to enjoy our amazing collection newly installed within Kahn’s elegant skylit galleries,” says Richard Brodhead, Interim Director.
“Having had the privilege of witnessing the evolution of the Center since it first opened to the public in 1977, I am eager to share the museum’s newest chapter with today’s audiences. Through the reconceived collection display, special exhibitions and robust programming, students, faculty, schoolchildren and the general public are invited to engage with our holdings in exciting ways,” Brodhead continues.
Reopening exhibitions
The gallery has reopened with its comprehensive collection of British art, alongside two exhibitions that couldn’t be more different: J M W Turner: Romance and Reality and Tracey Emin: I Loved You Until The Morning. It is a clear indication the museum intends to adhere to its charter to present both historic and contemporary art.
The collections are presented in an uninterrupted chronological sequence on the fourth floor of the museum, spanning from the 16th century to the present. The refurbishment has allowed this to be taken in as a single creative slipstream.
Martina Droth, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, says in a formal statement: “The new hang tells a global and, at times, challenging history that shows British art is not an island story, but an international story. Almost half of the works on view were made by artists not born in Britain or artists who left Britain to make their careers elsewhere.”
Highlights include classic treasures by George Stubbs and Thomas Gainsborough alongside bold works by contemporary artists such as Cecily Brown, bridging centuries through shared themes and formal explorations.
Leading to the refurbishment and rehang, the museum has been strategically collecting women artists to better show their role in the history of British art. Among them are major works by Mary Beale, Maria Spilsbury and Emma Soyer. This is reiterated with the Emin exhibition – her first in a major museum in North America.
The display foregrounds Emin’s practice as a painter, and many of the works have never been shown in a museum. It is accompanied by a bold new neon work in the Entrance Court, created for this show, which will be visible to passersby on the street 24 hours a day.
In contrast the exhibition J M W Turner: Romance and Reality marks the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth, and offers a rare opportunity to explore the largest holdings of his work outside the UK.
“We are delighted to present an exhibition about Turner that is drawn entirely from our collection,” says Lucinda Lax, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture. “The Center’s collection represents every phase of Turner’s career and touches on every medium that he used, enabling us to show the artist’s extraordinary inventiveness and the unparalleled changes in his artistic approach over the course of his lifetime.”
The collection includes nearly 3000 works by and after the artist.
The Yale Center for British Art is located across the street from the Yale University Art Gallery (1953), which was Kahn’s first major commission.
