HELEN L. MONTOYA | 210SA Contributor Renovations at the McNay Art Museum will nearly double museum space by adding 45,000 square feet, allowing for larger exhibits.

Take an audio tour of the McNay Museum

Hasta la vista, Picasso. Ciao, Bartolo. Au revoir, Cézanne. See you later, Van Gogh.

Since its opening five decades ago, the McNay Art Museum will be closed for renovations come Jan. 7, 2008. That gives people fewer than 40 days to check out the museum's exhibits and collections.
“We're doing all of this because we want to provide more access (to art) to the community,” McNay director Bill Chiego said.

Currently, much of the permanent collection is in storage. Traveling exhibitions consume the space of the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home built in 1929 by Marion McNay. About one-third of the permanent collection paintings are on display. That number is projected to jump to about three-fourths after the McNay reopens.

The museum will close until June 2008 for construction of the Jane and Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions, which will double the McNay's space by 45,000 square feet. The building is a part of a $50.8 million capitol campaign, for which $47 million has been raised.

French architect Jean-Paul Viguier designed the building, which will be highly devoted to modern sculpture. The McNay will also install an outdoor sculpture garden.

Chiego said the museum has always had high-quality traveling exhibits, but that they have had to be selective because of limited space. As a result, many of the large-scale exhibits went to Dallas and Houston.

“This is going to allow us to be more competitive,” Chiego said.

After the expansion, the McNay will be the largest of its kind in South Texas. That could open doors for art in this region, Chiego said.

“It's an opportunity for people in South Texas to have access to a lot more than they had access to before,” Chiego said.

Kent Rush, UTSA chair of the department of art and art history, said the museum's expansion and goal to bring in larger exhibitions would be beneficial to local students studying art.

“It's tough for us to send students over to Austin or Dallas,” Rush said.
Only the museum's grounds will remain open to the public during renovations. Docents will also continue to visit art schools.

The museum has a plethora of works, ranging from rare Baroque festival books, the renowned Oppenheimer public collection of medieval and Renaissance art and works by some of the world's most celebrated artists, such as Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, Auguste Rodin and Henri Matisse. All of the exhibits will close when the museum shuts its doors.

Current temporary exhibitions include photography from Jane Hammond and Trish Simonite, scenes and costumes from Shakespeare's stages and “Mexico and Modern Printmaking: a Revolution in the Graphic Arts.”
“It's one of the cultural gems of South Texas,” Rush said.

Emily Messer | 210SA