The art museums at Harvard University together house the fourth largest collection of artwork in the world. But as plans continue to renovate the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard’s collections are experiencing declining rates of student attendance­—despite the recent efforts by administrators and the Student Friends of the Harvard Art Museums to attract new visitors.

Why aren’t more students touring the halls of the Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museums? Why are there no flashy flyers advertising the exhibits dotting the Yard’s many kiosks and sandwich boards? And what can the museum’s administrators do to make their exhibit halls a more integral part of the Harvard student experience?

RENOVATING THE FOGG

In December 2002, James Cuno left his long-time position as director of the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM), replaced the following October by Asian art expert Thomas W. Lentz. At the time that the transfer of power occurred, the HUAM faced a $1.5 million budget deficit and layoffs of many employees.

Upon his arrival, Lentz said, “My goal is to ensure that Harvard’s art museums not only remain vital to the University, the community, and the field, but that they continue to play a leading role in museum thinking and practice.”

Acting director Marjorie B. Cohn told The Crimson at the time that the outdated Fogg building would require renovations to its plumbing, electricity, and climate control system.

However, today there is no tangible product reflecting the ongoing process of renovation. The current stage of early development is what HUAM Public Relations Coordinator Matthew Barone calls “a needs assessment phase.” According to Barone, “There are no drawings or blueprints or even draft plans for any renovation. You can safely say we are in the very early stages of planning to renovate the art museums.”

The deputy director of the HUAM, Richard Benefield, says, “We have to figure out what we want to be...[and] what is it that we have when all is said and done.” He adds that the HUAM is currently involved in “long-range strategic planning.”

The problems with the slow-paced plans for the Fogg’s renovation are manifold. First, the museums must find places to store the vast collection of artwork while renovations are underway. “We don’t want to just close the door,” explains Benefield. “We have to keep serving the academic community.”

Museums from the Boston area are being explored as possible houses for the great masterpieces of the Fogg’s collection, but the process of finding locations that will guarantee that they will be able to both house the works and display them is long-winded and painstakingly thorough.

Another factor impeding the renovation of the Fogg building is the actual structure. The museum, which opened to the public in 1895, has not been substantially renovated since 1927. Little has been done to alleviate fundamental structural flaws, and certain works cannot be displayed because of fear they would be damaged by the notoriously uncontrolled climate.

“[An] environment where temperature could change suddenly,” explains Benefield, can cause sagging and stretching in some of the world’s most precious pieces of artwork.

The Fogg is an open air museum, unusual in the art world, making climate control even more difficult.

The beauty of the Fogg, in all of its Italian palazzo-styled glory, has impressed patrons almost as much as the artwork itself, but the temperature issue proves difficult to resolve as renovations commence. For now, Benefield says that the museum curators will continue to carefully monitor the building and keep temperatures as constant as possible.

But he leaves open the possibility that, should such repairs be too difficult to undertake, the Fogg building may have to be gutted. Completely demolishing the building, Benefield says, is not an option since the structure is protected by the National Register of Historic Places.