How could you not love the Visible Storage and Study Center at the Brooklyn Museum? Its hands-down one of New York's great out-of-the way treasures. This wonderful space gives visitors a unique opportunity to see up close what would be hidden in the reserves at most other museums...
The large room has about 1,500 paintings, sculptures, objects, pieces of furniture, and curiosities that would otherwise be seen only by specialists and art historians. We should also mention that this space is a temperature-controlled area for the conservation of the objects, so the archives are a great place to cool off and find some amazing art and furniture on a hot and humid New York day!
Some of our favorites in this treasure trove are the 1946 prototype of Spacelander Bicycle by Benjamin J. Bowden with the MG Auto Company in England. It combines the best of streamlining with the customization of useful objects from this era.
The 1986 edition of Kate Loye's One Family House Chair, is absolutely hilarious, you won't find anything wittier than this.
If you can't make it out to Brooklyn, don't worry. They have a great digital archive and their database is accessible from their website: www.brooklynmuseum.org
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, New York 11238
Wednesday–Friday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m
- Daniel Palmer
(This is the second of four posts by Daniel that we'll be posting over the next two weeks)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I've come to hate the Brooklyn museum only because they've beaten me more than once on ebay on midcentury auctions(!!!!!)
view ridge_van_winkle's profile
What a great post; I'm looking forward to reading more from Daniel's perspective!
view visualingual's profile
Bit small, considering the size of Brooklyn's reserve....
view JonathanB's profile
N-YHS has done the same thing with its Luce Center.
view Limonata's profile
This is one of my favorite exhibits at the museum. I've taken several out of town guests to see it.
view Lori's profile
'We', 'our'? How many people are writing this review?
view Spiderbite's profile
There's a newer version of the objects database browsable here, which contains all on-view Luce objects as well as many other objects at the Brooklyn Museum.
view nonword's profile