Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla branch in 2008
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is located in Northwestern San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Location within Northwestern San Diego
Former name
The Art Center in La Jolla, La Jolla Art Museum, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art
Established1941 (1941)
LocationSan Diego, California, US
Coordinates32°50′40″N 117°16′41″W / 32.84444°N 117.27806°W / 32.84444; -117.27806 (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla)
TypeArt Museum
Websitewww.mcasd.org

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.

Binational mandate

Located in the border city of San Diego, the museum's binational mandate includes a focus on artists from both sides of the US/Mexico border,[1] celebrating both San Diego and Tijuana’s artistic communities. MCASD has held several exhibitions that explore cross-border themes, including Being Here With You / Estando aquí contigo: 42 Artists from San Diego and Tijuana,[2] The Very Large Array: San Diego/Tijuana Artists in the MCA Collection[3] and Strange New World: Art and Design from Tijuana.[4]

In 2023, artists Celia Álvarez Muñoz and Griselda Rosas have exhibited their artwork to express their lived experiences from living on both U.S. and Mexico borderlands. More than 35 pieces of art were exhibited by these two artists. They exhibited their special representations of artwork including sculptural installations, textile drawings, embroidery, book projects, and photographic series. Both exhibit a unique and share a circulation of cultures with their artwork.[5]

Locations

MCASD has two sites, about 13.2 miles (21 km) apart:

MCASD – 700 Prospect St, La Jolla, CA 92037.

Located on a 3-acre oceanfront campus,[6] MCASD's flagship La Jolla location was originally an Irving Gill-designed residence, built in 1916 for philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. Since opening in 1941, the property has undergone several expansions. Mosher & Drew completed a series of expansions in 1950, 1960, and again in the late 1970s; and a renovation by Venturi Scott Brown & Associates was done in 1996.[7] In 2017, MCASD began its most recent expansion led by architect Annabelle Selldorf, which increased its size and added a public park.[8] The La Jolla location reopened to the public after its four-year renovation on Saturday, April 9, 2022.[9][10]

MCASD Downtown – 1100 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92101.

In 1986 MCASD established a small gallery space in downtown San Diego and later opened a larger downtown outpost in 1993 inside America Plaza adjacent to the San Diego Trolley line, designed by artists Robert Irwin and Richard Fleischner along with architect David Raphael Singer.[11] In 2007, MCASD expanded its downtown facility with two buildings.[12]

  • Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building – The Jacobs Building is named for philanthropists Joan and Irwin Jacobs. It was formerly the baggage building for the landmark Santa Fe Depot, built in 1915-16 for the Panama-California Exposition.[13] The Jacobs building has featured large-scale installations and sculptures including Maya Lin's Systematic Landscapes.[14] Richard Serra’s Santa Fe Depot sculpture commissioned by MCASD is located behind the building.[15]
  • David C. Copley Building – In 2004, benefactor David C. Copley supported the construction of a new building that would occupy the site adjacent to the Jacobs Building.[16] The Copley Building is outfitted with two specially commissioned permanent installations which feature Light and Space art. Roman De Salvo made light fixtures of industrial materials for walls of the stairwell. Outside the building, Jenny Holzer created a parade of her trademark truisms to be spelled out vertically in light-emitting diodes. The words run through clear plastic tubes that she calls icicles.[17]

History

A large art piece displayed projecting out from the La Jolla museum roof in 2007
The entrance of Museum of Contemporary Art, downtown San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art, downtown San Diego

Founded in 1941 in La Jolla as The Art Center in La Jolla, a community art center, through the 1950s and 1960s the organization operated as the La Jolla Art Museum. The museum was originally the 1915 residence of newspaper heiress and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, designed by the noted architect Irving Gill.[18]

In the early 1970s, the name changed to the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, focusing the purview on the period from 1950 to the present. In 1990, the museum changed its name to San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, only to change it to Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, after confusion developed between its name and the San Diego Museum of Art.[19][20] The new name also acknowledged the larger geographic context and the population base of nearly 3 million in San Diego County, and opened a $1.2-million satellite facility downtown in 1993, further embracing the region.[20]

In 1996, a major $9.2 million renovation and expansion of MCASD La Jolla took place, designed by Robert Venturi of the firm Venturi Scott Brown & Associates.[21] Venturi's 30,000 square feet (2,800 square metres) addition included four more galleries, doubling the museum's exhibition space to 10,000 square feet (930 square metres).[22] It also expanded the museum's educational space, storage space, bookstore library and restaurant. It transformed the garden into an outdoor exhibition space for sculpture.[22]

In 2007, a $25-million downtown location of the museum was opened, designed by architect Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Mayner Architects, New York.[17] The expansion added 30,000 square feet (2,800 square metres) of space to the downtown site and increases its exhibition space from about 6,000 square feet (560 square metres) to 16,500 square feet (1,530 square metres). At the north end of the building is a three-story structure of corrugated steel and textured glass. It houses curatorial offices, art-handling and storage facilities, an art education classroom, a lecture hall that opens onto a terrace and a boardroom with a view of the harbor.[17] The renovated baggage building is named for Irwin M. Jacobs, founder of the technology company Qualcomm, and his wife, Joan. The three-story Modernist structure bears the name of philanthropist and newspaper publisher David C. Copley.[17]

In 2014, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego chose architect Annabelle Selldorf to head a $30 million expansion[21] tripling the size of the museum's location in La Jolla. Upon completion, the museum had 3,700 square metres (40,000 square feet) of gallery space to exhibit the permanent collection, as well as additional space for education.[23] The museum's footprint was expanded to include properties (now residential but owned by the museum) on both sides of the institution, and the space that previously housed the Sherwood Auditorium was reconfigured as a gallery with exhibit space of approximately 740 square metres (8,000 square feet).[21]

Collection

The Museum of Contemporary Art has a nearly 5,500-object collection[24] of post-World War II art that includes key pieces by color field painter Ellsworth Kelly, minimalist sculptor Donald Judd and renowned California installation artist Robert Irwin.[25] In 2012, museum received 30 contemporary pieces from the 1950s to 1980s, with artworks from Piero Manzoni, Ad Dekkers, Christo, Jules Olitski and Franz Kline, as well as California artists Craig Kauffman and Ron Davis, from the collection of Vance E. Kondon and his wife Elisabeth Giesberger.[26]

As a site-specific installation, Irwin created 1° 2° 3° 4° (1997), consisting of squarish apertures cut into three lightly tinted museum windows so visitors have an unmediated view of the horizon line separating sea and sky and can feel the ocean breeze.[27]

Notable works

Deaccessioning

In May 2021, MCASD sent nine paintings and one sculpture from its collection to auction in New York, selling works by Roy Lichtenstein, Conrad Marca-Relli, Lorser Feitelson and six other postwar American artists for nearly $900,000.[28]

Management

MCASD has a permanent endowment fund of over $40 million, and an annual operating budget of approximately $6 million.[17] Annual support comes from a balanced mix of individuals, corporations, foundations, government agencies, and interest earned from the endowment, the majority of which came from a transformational 1999 bequest from Rea and Jackie Axline of more than $30 million.

From 1983 to 2016, Hugh Davies steered the museum as director. From October 2016, Kathryn Kanjo became the museum's director and CEO.[25]

References

  1. ↑ Heidenry, Rachel (2018-11-16). "A Vibrant Arts Community Bridges Two Cities Separated by a Contentious Border". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  2. ↑ Schimitschek, Martina (25 October 2018). "MCASD's 'Being Here With You/Estando aquí contigo' celebrates artists from both sides of the border". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  3. ↑ Chute, James. "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego set to display local artists". mcall.com. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  4. ↑ "Artnexus". www.artnexus.com. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Debuts Two New Borderland-Inspired Art Exhibits". La Jolla. March 16, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ "An architect's unifying vision for MCASD". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2015-02-14. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  7. ↑ Welch, Adrian (2021-11-13). "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego MCASD". e-architect. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  8. ↑ Frausto, Elisabeth (2021-05-01). "'Bringing art to people': Lead architect for Museum of Contemporary Art renovation lays out her vision". La Jolla Light. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  9. ↑ Hardison, Ryan (9 April 2022). "7 Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  10. ↑ Dixon Evans, Julia (2022-04-07). "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla reopens to the public". KPBS Public Media. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  11. ↑ Saarinen, Eero (2007-01-20). "Museum lays tracks all across the city". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  12. ↑ Staff (19 January 2007). "Museum expands downtown location, preserving intimate feel of La Jolla site". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  13. ↑ Wood, Beth. "So much more than just a train station". mcall.com. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  14. ↑ Artdaily. "Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  15. ↑ "Expanded Museum Opens In Downtown San Diego - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  16. ↑ "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to waive admission for all on Jan. 31 to honor its late benefactor David Copley". La Jolla Light. 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Suzanne Muchnic (January 7, 2007). "Modern art's train reaches the station". Los Angeles Times.
  18. ↑ McCoy, Esther (1960). Five California Architects. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation. pp. 97–99. ASIN B000I3Z52W.
  19. ↑ John R. Lamb (February 6, 1992), New Name for La Jolla Museum Los Angeles Times.
  20. 1 2 Kevin Brass (May 4, 1992). "La Jolla Museum Unveils Annex in San Diego". Los Angeles Times.
  21. 1 2 3 James Chute (March 14, 2014). "MCASD names architect for expansion". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  22. 1 2 Hilliard Harper (May 5, 1988). "La Jolla Museum of Art Unveils Venturi's Design for Expansion". Los Angeles Times.
  23. ↑ David Ng (March 17, 2014), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego picks architect for expansion Los Angeles Times.
  24. ↑ Jori Finkel (5 April 2022), Light and much more Space: first look at the expanded Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Art Newspaper.
  25. 1 2 Carolina A. Miranda (March 23, 2012). "Kathryn Kanjo named new director of Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego". Los Angeles Times.
  26. ↑ Jamie Wetherbe (March 23, 2012), San Diego museums receive $40-million art collection Los Angeles Times.
  27. ↑ Jori Finkel (5 April 2022), Light and much more Space: first look at the expanded Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Art Newspaper.
  28. ↑ Christopher Knight (8 June 2021) Commentary: Art museum endowments soared in the pandemic. So why sell art to pay the bills? Los Angeles Times.
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