Opened in 1985, the Arthur Sackler Museum is part of the Harvard Art Museums, together with the Fogg Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum.
The museum, designed by British architect James Stirling – well known internationally for its postmodern works – is well placed in the context of Boston, and except for the two cylindrical elements which decorate and frame the entrance, it seems to be a normal building.
Instead, the interior – especially the entrance hall – is distinguished by the bright colors and the volumes games.
“James Stirling has dealt in a very high kind of order and organisation in the design of the [Arthur Sackler Museum]: this is a dense, tight plan on a small restricted site that brilliantly solves administrative and gallery needs. The building is remarkable for the creative virtuosity with which its functions are accommodated while suggesting a monumentality that belies actual dimensions. Stirling was lucky to have as a client the director of the Fogg [Museum], Seymour Slive, who understood this achievement immediately. Professors John Coolidge and Neil Levine…complete a formidable triumvirate of sympathetic experts.” Ada Louise Huxtable, “A Style Chrstallised”
Arthur Sackler Museum photographs selection
