Get an insight into the Museum of Modern Art
An overview of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, from the documentary In...
Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: Knit into the urban fabric of Midtown Manhattan, the Museum of Modern Art, affectionately known worldwide as MoMA, is a 21st-century think tank for art. At MoMA the two big questions are: "What makes it modern?" and "What makes it art?"
GLENN LOWRY: There's something here that captures the imagination, that gets you thinking, that makes you hungry to learn more about not just modern art but art in general.
JOHN ELDERFIELD: I'm constantly confused by works that come in front of me. At times you look and you say, "I've no idea what this is."
ANN TEMKIN: There are so many artists making an art today, making new art, trying things that haven't been tried before.
DAVID ROCKEFELLER: I think a large number of visitors probably are shocked, but you can have many works of art venture into new areas and give people a totally different concept of art.
JIM CODDINGTON: People who are coming to visit MoMA, I—I hope they will do one thing, and that's enjoy themselves.
DEBORAH WYE: Of course, as the print curator, I'd love them to rush right to the print gallery, but I think meandering around the museum is really the most rewarding way to do it.
GLENN LOWRY: It's an extraordinary opportunity to recognize that art is not something that ended a hundred years ago but that is vital and alive today.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: Knit into the urban fabric of Midtown Manhattan, the Museum of Modern Art, affectionately known worldwide as MoMA, is a 21st-century think tank for art. At MoMA the two big questions are: "What makes it modern?" and "What makes it art?"
GLENN LOWRY: There's something here that captures the imagination, that gets you thinking, that makes you hungry to learn more about not just modern art but art in general.
JOHN ELDERFIELD: I'm constantly confused by works that come in front of me. At times you look and you say, "I've no idea what this is."
ANN TEMKIN: There are so many artists making an art today, making new art, trying things that haven't been tried before.
DAVID ROCKEFELLER: I think a large number of visitors probably are shocked, but you can have many works of art venture into new areas and give people a totally different concept of art.
JIM CODDINGTON: People who are coming to visit MoMA, I—I hope they will do one thing, and that's enjoy themselves.
DEBORAH WYE: Of course, as the print curator, I'd love them to rush right to the print gallery, but I think meandering around the museum is really the most rewarding way to do it.
GLENN LOWRY: It's an extraordinary opportunity to recognize that art is not something that ended a hundred years ago but that is vital and alive today.
[Music out]