The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu is the only museum in the state of Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art. It provides an accessible forum for provocative, dynamic forms of visual art, offering interaction with art and artists in a unique island environment. The Contemporary Museum presents its innovative exhibition and educational programs at two venues: in residential Honolulu at the historic Spalding house, and downtown at First Hawaiian Center. Vito Acconci, Josef Albers, Robert Arneson, Jennifer Bartlett, Robert Brady, John Buck, Christopher Bucklow, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Enrique Chagoya, Dale Chihuly, John Coplans, Joseph Cornell, Gregory Crewdson, Robert Cumming, Stephen De Staebler, Richard DeVore, Jim Dine, Herbert Ferber, Llyn Foulkes, Judy Fox, Sam Francis, David Gilhooly, David Hockney, Diane Itter, Ferne Jacobs, Bill Jacobson, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ron Kent, William Kentridge, Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Sol Lewitt, Ken Little, Tony Marsh, Junko Mori, Yasumasa Morimura, Robert Motherwell, Vik Muniz, Jay Musler, Ron Nagle, Otto and Gertrud Natzler, Louise Nevelson, Catherine Opie, Dennis Oppenheim, Otto Piene, Kenneth Price, Lucie Rie, Liza Ryan, Alison Saar, Lucas Samaras, Adrian Saxe, James Seawright, Andres Serrano, David Smith, Kiki Smith, Rudolf Staffel, Pat Steir, Frank Stella, Masami Teraoka, Mark Tobey, Richard Tuttle, Peter Voulkos, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, Tom Wesselmann, Beatrice Wood and Daisy Youngblood, and are among the artists represented in the permanent collection.
In addition to preserving art from 1940 to the present, the Museum also maintains the historic Spalding House and gardens. The Spalding House in Makiki Heights, which houses The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu was built as a residence in 1925 by Mrs. Charles Montague Cooke. At the same time, the Honolulu Academy of Arts was being built on the site of her former home on Beretania Street in Honolulu. The Makiki Heights home was designed by Hart Wood and later enlarged by the firm of Bertram Goodhue and Associates. The Honolulu Academy of Arts acquired the estate as a bequest from Mrs. Cooke's daughter, Alice Spalding, in 1968 and operated it as an annex for the display of Japanese prints from 1970 to 1978. After passing through the hands of a private developer in the late 1970s, the property was acquired by a subsidiary of The Honolulu Advertiser. In 1986, the Twigg-Smith family offered it as a site for The Contemporary Museum. Following interior renovation by The CJS Group Architects and the construction of the Milton Cades Pavilion, the museum opened to the public in October 1988. In addition to the galleries, the museum now consists of The Museum Shop, The Contemporary Cafe, administrative offices, storage and work areas, and a residence for the director.
The gardens were originally landscaped between 1928 and 1941 by Reverend K. H. Inagaki, a Christian minister of Japanese ancestry. From 1979-1980, the gardens were resuscitated by Honolulu landscape architect James C. Hubbard. During the 1990s, Kahaluʻu-based landscape architect Leland Miyano brought the gardens to their current state. The grounds display sculpture by Satoru Abe, Charles Arnoldi, Deborah Butterfield, Jedd Garet, George Rickey, Toshiko Takaezu, DeWain Valentine and Arnold Zimmerman, and a wall painting by Paul Morrison.
The museum is located at 2411 Makiki Heights Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii.
