Four of Boston’s Top Art Museums Have Made a Joint Decision to Close Indefinitely as the Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads

Four Boston art museums have collectively decided to temporarily
close amid the novel coronavirus crisis.

The Harvard Art Museums, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts will
all be closed beginning tomorrow.

The news comes on the heels of similar announcements from two
major New York City art
institutions, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick
Collection.

The Met, which has two staffers who have been exhibiting
flu-like symptoms, plans to make an announcement early next week
about when it might reopen. The five other museums will be closed
indefinitely.

“This decision was made collaboratively as a response to ensure
the health and safety of our staff, our visitors, and our
community,” the directors of the four Boston museums said in a
joint statement.

The MFA opened a major Lucian Freud show at the beginning of the
month, and is scheduled to open “Monet and Boston: Lasting
Impressions” on April 18. The ICA has current shows of Sterling
Ruby, Tschablala Self, and Carolina Caycedo, as well as a blockbuster Yayoi
Kusama exhibition and and an Eva LeWitt show slated for March
28.

Harvard has shows of African ceramics and Edo-period Japanese
art, while the Gardner has John Singer Sargent, Lorraine O’Grady,
and Adam Pendleton exhibitions.

“The CDC has clearly communicated that one of the most effective
measures for controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) is social distancing,” the museums said in a statement.
“Based on that recommendation, we feel it is our ethical
responsibility to put the common good ahead of any one individual
or institution. We know we are stronger together.”

Yesterday, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
in Somerville, Massachusetts, announced that it would close
indefinitely after two of its employees attended a conference where
others with the coronavirus were in attendance.

The recent spate of closures in the US also includes the Henry
Art Gallery and Frye Art Museum in Seattle; the Library of Congress
in Washington, DC; the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas; and the
Magazzino Italian Art Foundation in Cold Spring, New York.

Previously, institutions in China, Japan, South Korea, and
Italy also closed as
the outbreak worsened in those countries. Organizations for art
professionals have begun issuing guidelines on
how to respond to the crisis.

The post Four of Boston’s Top Art Museums Have Made a Joint
Decision to Close Indefinitely as the Coronavirus Pandemic
Spreads appeared first on artnet News.