Research Catalog

Title

Oasis in the city : the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art / edited by Peter Reed and Romy Silver-Kohn ; with contributions by Quentin Bajac, Peter Reed, Romy Silver-Kohn, and Ann Temkin.

Author

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), publisher.

Publication

• New York : Museum of Modern Art, [2018]
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Reed, Peter, 1955-
• Silver-Kohn, Romy
• Bajac, Quentin
• Temkin, Ann

Description

284 pages : illustrations (some color); 29 x 41 cm

Summary

In 1953, architect Philip Johnson and landscape architect James Fanning designed a Modernist sculpture garden for the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan, dedicated to patron Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. The rectangular, open-air courtyard was set on two levels and paved in long, rectilinear slabs of Vermont marble. The western, upper platform comprised a dining terrace shaded by a line of eight hornbeams. The lower terrace, sunken two-feet below grade, was incised by two water channels spanned by marble platforms and planted with cryptomeria and birch trees, which helped break up the space and control visibility of the sculpture placed throughout the garden. An 18-foot high, gray brick wall with climbing ivy formed the garden's north edge, screening it from West 54th Street. Under Johnson's aegis the garden was enlarged to the east in 1964, at which time landscape architects Zion & Breen unified the planting scheme by replacing the cryptomerias with weeping beeches and planting additional weeping birch trees to echo an existing cluster of trees in the west end. Following museum expansion between 2000 and 2004, the half-acre garden was recreated by Zion Breen & Richardson Associates. Johnson's overall plan was restored, but with lighter-colored, Georgia marble paving and a 14-foot high aluminum screen in place of the brick north wall. Now approached from the west, the garden is elevated on the three sides abutting museum buildings, while the centralized sunken space includes the water features, clusters of single-species trees, moveable chairs, and large pieces of modern art. --

Alternative Title

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art

Subjects

• Sculpture gardens
• Outdoor sculpture
• Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
• Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) > Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden > Pictorial works
• New York (State) > New York
• New York (N.Y.) > Buildings, structures, etc > Pictorial works
• Pictorial works
• Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) Pictorial works
• Sculpture gardens > New York (State) > New York > Pictorial works
• Outdoor sculpture > New York (State) > New York > Pictorial works

Genre/Form

Pictorial works.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (page 268-273).

Call Number

JQH 18-21

ISBN

• 9780870709074
• 0870709070

OCLC

1039968459

Author

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), publisher.

Title

Oasis in the city : the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art / edited by Peter Reed and Romy Silver-Kohn ; with contributions by Quentin Bajac, Peter Reed, Romy Silver-Kohn, and Ann Temkin.

Publisher

New York : Museum of Modern Art, [2018]

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 268-273).

Added Author

Reed, Peter, 1955- editor, writer of added commentary.

Silver-Kohn, Romy, editor, writer of added commentary.

Bajac, Quentin, writer of added commentary.

Temkin, Ann, writer of added commentary.

Research Call Number

JQH 18-21