Boston College's McMullen Museum of Art

Image taken by author

The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College is a non-accredited art museum which specializes in fully-contextualized exhibitions. That is, they create displays which not only highlight artwork, but factor in the political climate, culture, and history behind these objects. Ideally, visitors leave with a basic background within which to see and understand the items on exhibit. The current exhibition is titled The Arts and Crafts Movement: Making it Irish and is being put on in honor of the centennial anniversary of the Easter Rising. Past exhibitions have included works by Caravaggio and John La Farge. The museum considers its core mission to, “cultivate learning, celebrate artistic excellence, explore the visual traditions of diverse cultures, inspire faculty and student research based on the visual arts” (bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/about/index.html). In addition to their multidisciplinary exhibits, the museum offers a wide array of other exhibition-related programs, such as lectures, theatrical performances, films, lectures, and readings.

According to the museum’s website, there are three full time staff members who handle a majority of the groundwork, however, professors and even students are brought in to assist with the setup and research on exhibits.

• Director
• Assistant Director/Exhibition Design/Collections Management/Curatorial Affairs
• Assistant Director/Graphic Design/Information Manager

Image captured from
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/collections/index.html

The museum also holds several permanent collections including American Paintings, Italian Paintings, Flemish Tapestries, and Gifts from William and Alison Vareika (this includes works by John La Farge and William Trost Richards). According to the website, these collections are accessible to BU students and faculty. There is a virtual gallery available for free online which highlights the most exceptional works in each collections, although it only offers very low quality images. There is no information pertaining to the actual size of each collection, and there are fewer than 15 images presented from each collection in the virtual gallery. As if to compensate for this, a huge amount of information is available for each item.

• Title
• Artist (with dates)
• Time and Place of Origin
• Material
• BC ID#
• Depiction
• Artist Information
• Provenance
• Restoration Work
• Comments
• Bibliography/Literature

• How would you characterize your site in terms of its collections?
• Characteristics
• Governance systems
• A non-accredited museum under the purview of Boston College
• Services they offer and functions they serve
• Free tours every Sunday at 2:00 PM
• Free exhibitions open to the public
• Free online virtual gallery
• Exhibition-related programs
• Musical and theatrical performances
• Films
• Gallery Talks
• Symposia
• Lectures
• Readings
• Receptions
• Private Permanent Collections
• The website offers an abundance of information about how to reach the museum from various points around the city, informs patrons that parking can be very minimal when Boston College has a home game, and includes a schedule of what days there are home games
• Types of Collections
• What are the types of collections they hold?
• American Paintings
• Italian Paintings
• Flemish Tapestries
• Paintings by John LaFarge and William Trost Richards
• A variety of items on loan from other institutions for special exhibits
• What is the composition of their holdings?
• Paintings and Tapestries in the permanent collections
• Which collections are significant or notable?
• All permanent collections include works from notable artists, such as John La Farge, Samuel W. Griggs, and Giovanni Battista Salvi
• Condition of collections
• Overall?
• Guards patrol exhibitions to ensure safety of the objects
• How accessible are the objects in the collection?
• Physically
• Building is handicapped accessible, not terribly easy to find, lower floor of the exhibition area does not have elevator access
• I contacted the Museum three times, once via email and twice via telephone, to try and get some answers to basic questions, like can I access the private collections as a member of the public? I never received any responses.
• Special Exhibitions are free to the public
• Permanent Collections are accessible only to BC community. I drew this conclusion based on the following information from the About the McMullen page on the museum’s website. “Students and faculty at the University have access to the McMullen’ extensive permanent collections, which dates back to the nineteenth century and continues to grow through gifts and acquisitions.” (bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/about/index.html)
• Environment
• What controls are in place?
• unknown
• How much (%) of collection is inadequate conditions?
• unknown
• Preservation and Disaster Planning
• Do they have a plan?
• There is no information on the website which indicates they do or do not have a plan. However, as part of the BC system, it is probably mandatory that they have some sort of disaster plan before they receive funding from the school.

• Is preservation part of the mission?
• The Museum’s mission, which is horribly brief, is completely centered around exhibiting fun things and celebrating art and artists and inspiring faculty and students. There is no mention of preservation, or any kind of restoration work.
• How does it cover people with disabilities?
• The Museum is handicap accessible, but I don’t recall seeing an elevator which allows a patron to access the bottom floor of the exhibition space. Devlin Hall does have an elevator, but there is no door into the lower exhibit space.
• Critical Institutional Priorities
• What are the most critical issues in terms of the collection?
• For the Exhibitions - short term (usually a matter of months up to a year) preservation and safety. Many of these items are on loan, and the Museum must ensure they are returned in the same condition to their owners.
• For Permanent Collections - interest, funding, and possibly preservation? Again, I was not able to reach anyone about this, but I would guess that a majority of the BC students do not even know the McMullen has a permanent collection. Since they and the faculty are the only folks with access, I would think that the Museum has to put in a lot of footwork to generate interest in the collections. This is also directly linked to funding, as is the preservation aspect. The college has to balance funding the museum and preserving the paintings and tapestries with using their limited space wisely. I don’t know if these collections are housed in a gallery, or if they are kept in a secure area and accessed only when a student or faculty member requests to see them.
• What do they think is the most important?
• Because the museum does not charge an admission fee, they do ask in a straightforward way that visitors who enjoy their experience at the McMullen consider donating, or becoming a member. There are several strata of donors. The higher level the donor, the more private events connected with the museum they are invited to. The funds from these patrons, according to to the Museum, is the “single most important source of annual income” (bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum/membership/index.html) and goes to support their exhibitions and the scholarly catalogues that accompany each one.
• Friends of the Museum
• Friend - $50-$249
• Museum Associate - $250-$999
• Patrons of the Museum
• Patron - $1000-$2,499
• Sustaining Patron - $2,500-$4,999
• Supporting Patron - $5,000-$9,999
• Director’s Circle Patron - $10,000 and above

There is very little information about the Museum apart from its own website. It’s incredibly easy to navigate, but vague on access. The museum promotes its previous exhibition catalogs, and provides a wealth of information about the current exhibition, press releases, and when best to visit. The virtual gallery is a nice touch, especially for those who are denied access to see the real thing. I would recommend that they shoot higher resolution images to accompany their information about the selected works.