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June 2nd, 2006, 11:17 AM
New York Times
June 2, 2006
INSIDE ART
The Dahesh Wants a Home of Its Own
By CAROL VOGEL
Were the Dahesh Museum to compose an advertisement for a new home, it would read something like this: Seeking around 45,000 square feet in Manhattan to house an art museum. Central location desired.
After renting three floors of the former IBM Gallery at 580 Madison Avenue, at 56th Street, for three years, the Dahesh has begun an active search for a permanent home.
The announcement comes as no surprise. The Dahesh, established 11 years ago, tried for six years to buy 2 Columbus Circle from the city, but failed. "When we came to 580 Madison, we were focused on building the museum," said Amira Zahid, vice president of the institution's board. "But we can't stay because it's a rental, and it is only responsible for us to have a permanent home. We are now a medium-size museum."
The Dahesh, devoted to works by Europe's academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, was named for a Lebanese collector and writer who died in 1984. (Dr. Dahesh never used a first name. Dahesh was a pen name; his real name was Salim Moussa Achi.) In addition to a continuing program of exhibitions, the museum houses Dahesh's collection of about 2,000 works, primarily academic art from the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Families come and go, but the museum should stay," said Ms. Zahid, whose family, originally from Saudi Arabia, moved to Connecticut from Beirut in 1976 and has backed the museum since its founding. "This was never a vanity museum."
The institution also recently named an interim director, Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, because its last director, Peter Trippi, left last month after his contract expired. Dr. Kaplan, an anthropologist, is a professor emerita at New York University, where she founded the program of museum studies, and a former acting curator in the department of primitive art and New World cultures at the Brooklyn Museum. A search for a permanent director will begin shortly, museum officials said.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
June 2, 2006
INSIDE ART
The Dahesh Wants a Home of Its Own
By CAROL VOGEL
Were the Dahesh Museum to compose an advertisement for a new home, it would read something like this: Seeking around 45,000 square feet in Manhattan to house an art museum. Central location desired.
After renting three floors of the former IBM Gallery at 580 Madison Avenue, at 56th Street, for three years, the Dahesh has begun an active search for a permanent home.
The announcement comes as no surprise. The Dahesh, established 11 years ago, tried for six years to buy 2 Columbus Circle from the city, but failed. "When we came to 580 Madison, we were focused on building the museum," said Amira Zahid, vice president of the institution's board. "But we can't stay because it's a rental, and it is only responsible for us to have a permanent home. We are now a medium-size museum."
The Dahesh, devoted to works by Europe's academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, was named for a Lebanese collector and writer who died in 1984. (Dr. Dahesh never used a first name. Dahesh was a pen name; his real name was Salim Moussa Achi.) In addition to a continuing program of exhibitions, the museum houses Dahesh's collection of about 2,000 works, primarily academic art from the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Families come and go, but the museum should stay," said Ms. Zahid, whose family, originally from Saudi Arabia, moved to Connecticut from Beirut in 1976 and has backed the museum since its founding. "This was never a vanity museum."
The institution also recently named an interim director, Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, because its last director, Peter Trippi, left last month after his contract expired. Dr. Kaplan, an anthropologist, is a professor emerita at New York University, where she founded the program of museum studies, and a former acting curator in the department of primitive art and New World cultures at the Brooklyn Museum. A search for a permanent director will begin shortly, museum officials said.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company