“Art is not always about pretty things.
It’s about who we are, what happened to us, and how our lives are affected.”
SO SAID ELIZABETH BROUN, the long-time director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. Her words strike a particular chord today, as the world battles a public health crisis unlike anything we’ve seen in generations. As we modify our lives to distance from one another, what are we creating now—and how will we share it with each other?
Art, especially when broadly defined to include decorative arts and material culture, brings us together. The things we make reflect our shared experiences and provide comfort, context, and connection— particularly during periods of difficulty.
In 1870, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art ❶ opened to the public with this mission in mind. The concept, to establish a “library of art” that would “connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas” was reportedly born in 1866 by a group of Americans, including John Jay II, over dinner in Paris. (Home to the Louvre Museum, the world’s largest art museum, open to the public since 1793, the City of Lights seems a fitting place to hatch a plan for a national gallery of art.)
This year, the Met celebrates its 150th
anniversary ❷ amid a pandemic that has required it, along with museums around the world, to temporarily shut its doors. While many of these great institutions have made their collections available for viewing online, lost revenue from ticket sales and fundraising events poses a mounting threat to contemporary artists and puts their own futures in peril—even as their missions are perhaps more important than ever.
In celebration of the world’s best design traditions, we asked designers of all stripes—from interiors and
architecture ❸ to jewelry ❹, textiles, ceramics ❺, and fashion—to share their top pilgrimages with us. Consider it the ultimate design bucket list full of mustsee museums (among other things) for satisfying your wanderlust until we can safely wander the globe again.
In the meantime, I hope this issue inspires you to support your favorite
arts institution ❻ in whatever way you
can this summer.