From the Director

I am delighted to report that this fall finds us with completely transformed and expanded galleries. There is scarcely a surface in the museum that hasn't been changed and enhanced, and all 11,000 objects in the collection have been unpacked and reinstalled or placed in appropriate storage. A Newsday article posted above the photocopy machine reminds staff members of the daunting task that is finally behind us: "Moving a museum isn't all bubble wrap and cardboard boxes. It takes military precision and extreme attention to details-not to mention high-tech security." Indeed, it takes all that and much more. We are thrilled that the project is complete and hope that many of you have already visited the museum or will do so soon to appreciate all the great changes.

Rave reviews have been heard about the new installation of the permanent collection, along with numerous compliments on the new paint colors, especially for the Renee Cary Gallery. The rich red of the Cary Gallery walls provides a stunning setting for the recently acquired neoclassical landscape painting by Pierre-Henri Valenciennes, and the museum's Old Master paintings, including a pair of portraits by Largilliere, has never looked better. The 3,800-square-foot addition makes it possible to display 19th-century and 20th-century works of art on a long-term basis for the first time. Important paintings by Albert Bierstadt, George Inness, and Charles Francois Daubigny will be on view and available for students much more than they were in the past. Likewise, two important recent acquisitions - an important bronze relief by Renoir and the exquisite Ideal Head of a Woman by Elie Nadelman - now have featured locations in the galleries rather than in storage. Classes are already using the Carson Teaching Gallery regularly. And the Weissman Gallery has been grandly inaugurated by the special exhibition, Changing Prospects: The View from Mount Holyoke.

All this could not have been accomplished without the organizational skills and leadership of Wendy Watson, the museum's curator, and Linda Best, collections manager, who worked together to devise work plans and delegate tasks to teams of temporary employees, student assistants, and dedicated volunteers (see the article on page 8 of this Newsletter). While the exacting work of elaborately prepping art objects for transport as well as the handling of paintings and sculptures was necessarily done by experienced professionals, students and volunteers became very involved in the process, helping to create housing for art objects, assisting with inventory lists, and entering data into the online catalogue.

The most exciting aspect of the entire process was installing the objects themselves. Our first goal was to have the museum's outstanding collection of antiquities on display in the Evans Gallery by April 2002 to accommodate the school groups from the area that participate in our highly acclaimed education program. Precise designs were developed, including specifications for hundreds of specially made mounts for small-scale three-dimensional objects. Each case was fitted with archival materials; objects were unpacked and positioned in assigned locations. All the objects were in place and lighting carefully adjusted, without a day to spare. As that task was completed, the staff went on to install each of the remaining galleries, one by one. We hope you agree that the result of this painstaking and exhilarating work is truly glorious.

—Marianne Doezema
Florence Finch Abbott Director

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