CLOSE UP: Steel Beams- Renaissance Court Construction. WAM

Steel Beams- Renaissance Court, Worcester Art Museum. 1930's

     In the early 20th Century, the Carnegie Steel Company was a major industrial force in the United States, a veritable Goliath. Carnegie's only able competition was their Pittsburgh neighbor, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. When the Worcester Art Museum added the Renaissance Court building in the early 1930's, contractors used steel beams from both rival companies in it's construction. For what it's worth, the Carnegie beams seem to have endured the subsequent 80 years slightly better.

CLOSE UP: Original 1897 Cornerstone at the Worcester Art Museum

Original 1897 Cornerstone- Worcester Art Museum

     The cornerstone of the original 1897 building of the Worcester Art Museum can still be seen in the narrow corridor behind the PDP gallery. This stone block purportedly contains a small time capsule in it's center. However, an inventory of it's contents (1890's publications, photos, etc.) shows nothing so important that it would justify destroying the stone to retrieve it.

CLOSE UP: Da Vinci, Durer, Rembrandt medallions at Worcester Art Museum

da Vinci, Durer, Rembrant medallions at Worcester Art Museum

     When the Worcester Art Museum was first built in 1897, a series of eight carved stone medallions chiseled with the names of famous artists ran along the roofline. Today, only three of these medallions are still visible (and only from higher up, viewed through a window).

CLOSE UP: Pipework for the Morgan Memorial Organ, 1942

Pipework for the Morgan Memorial Organ, 1942. Worcester Art Museum

     High above the Renaissance Court at the Worcester Art Museum, on top of the lay lights, is the pipework for the Morgan Memorial Organ, donated in 1942. The organ, called Opus 1036, was designed and built by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in Boston, Massachusetts.  It was used for concerts at the museum for over 50 years. The organ has been out of commission since the 1990's, but the bellows and pipes are still waiting above to sound off once again.

Pipework for the Morgan Memorial Organ, 1942. Worcester Art Museum

Pipework for the Morgan Memorial Organ, 1942. Worcester Art Museum

CLOSE UP: Old Auditorium Projection Room- Worcester Art Museum

Old Auditorium Projection Room- Worcester Art Museum

     Up until the late 1990's, for roughly 100 years, the west gallery on the second floor was used as an auditorium space. Evidence of the projection room from the old Museum Auditorium can still be seen, both outside on Lancaster Street as well as inside the Contemporary Gallery. The booth, plunked on the facade of the original 1897 building, now contains ductwork and various building systems equipment. In the Contemporary Gallery, the door and window to the projection room can still be seen as outlines on the wall.

CLOSE UP: Eye Hook in the 4th Floor Ceiling Once Suspended a Kinetic Sculpture by George Rickey (1907-2002)

Eye Hook on the 4th Floor Suspended a Mobile by George Rickey

     If you look high up on the 4th floor ceiling above the main stairwell, you'll notice a large eye-hook in the center. Over the 16 years I've been at Worcester Art Museum, I've heard various theories about what the hook was used for (some ideas more far-fetched than others). Recently, it was suggested that it could've been used to suspend a Calder-type mobile, and I was asked to look into it. I found, through various sources, that the eye-hook was indeed placed there to suspend a piece of artwork that was here on loan many years ago... a large kinetic sculpture by George Rickey (1907-2002). The mobile once filled the empty void between the third and fourth floors.

CLOSE UP: Central Vac System at the Worcester Art Museum

Old 1930's central vac system at the Worcester Art Museum

     When the Renaissance Court was constructed in the early 1930's, it was equipped with many practical amenities, including a Central Vacuum system. The round hinged-outlets, scattered around the area, are remnants of that old system.

CLOSE UP: Hidden "Hagia Sophia" Mural on 4th Floor- Worcester Art Museum

Hagia Sophia Mural- Worcester Art Museum

     It is hidden behind a blank wall now, but a mural replica of the famed "Hagia Sophia" mosaic was once in the archway on the 4th floor of the Worcester Art Museum.

Hagia Sophia Mural- Worcester Art Museum

Hagia Sophia Mosaic

CLOSE UP: Trustee's Table- Worcester Art Museum, 1900 and 2014

Trustee's Table- Worcester Art Museum, 1900 and 2014

Trustee's Table- Worcester Art Museum

1900 and 2014

Trustee's Table- Worcester Art Museum, 1900

Trustee's Table- Worcester Art Museum, 2014

CLOSE UP: Antique Pedestals at the Worcester Art Museum, 1905-1914

CLOSE UP: Stone Pedestals- Worcester Art Museum, 1905 and 1914

     In old photos of the Worcester Art Museum, especially the century-old views, various polished stone pedestals can be seen tucked off to the sides of the gallery spaces, supporting the collection's sculptural works. Above are two enlargements of photos from 1914 and 1905, showing two variations of style. I had often wondered what became of those pedestals, many of which seem like works of Art on their own. I just assumed they had been damaged, decades ago, and likely thrown away.

     Recently, the glint of polished stone coming from a darkened corner of the museum basement led me to this pleasant view: Mismatched sections of antique pedestals, broken and collecting dust... but not discarded.

Stone Pedestals- Worcester Art Museum, 2014

CLOSE UP: Display Cases at the Worcester Art Museum, 1920

Display Cases at the Worcester Art Museum, 1920

     An enlarged view of the 1920 photo of the Textile and Ceramics gallery shows a familiar form to WAM visitors, a form that was just as recognizable in gallery spaces 100 years ago as it is today. The display case shown, one of several WAM used, can be seen in various locations in photographs going back over a century. Today, only two of the cases are still in use, both in the Chinese Gallery. As the below photo shows, they have since been retrofitted with light fixtures on top.

Display Cases at the Worcester Art Museum, 2014

CLOSE UP: Worcester Art Museum, 1914

Third Floor- Worcester Art Museum, 1914

     A close look at the above 1914 photo of the Third Floor East Gallery shows John Singer Sargent's "Lady Warwick and Her Son", a recent acquisition, purchased in 1913, honorably displayed and roped-off across the way... and an even closer look reveals a cast of Charles Y. Harvey's 1912 "Turtle Boy" sculpture, an infamous Worcester emblem, with the sea turtle and boy's leg peeking out beside the desk just outside the doorway:

CLOSE UP: Third Floor- Worcester Art Museum, 1914

     Here are some sketches I did of the Turtle Boy statue atop the Burnside Fountain, from different angles, In situ on Worcester Common behind City Hall:

Burnside Fountain (Turtle Boy), 1912. by Travis Simpkins

CLOSE UP: Higgins Weaponry at Worcester Art Museum, 1920

Second Floor- Worcester Art Museum, 1920

     Several Worcester Art Museum staff members, when shown the above 1920 photo of the Cafe area above, commented on the mysterious weaponry displayed in the rack at far left. If I was to venture a guess, I would say that the lances/spears might've been briefly on loan from John Woodman Higgins. The photo was taken 10 years before his glass and steel Museum building was constructed, and Mr. Higgins then housed his growing collection in his residence very close to WAM. If that is the case, then it's even more fitting that some of those objects will return 94 years later in 2014:

CLOSE UP: Second Floor- Worcester Art Museum, 1920

     Many weapons on display at Higgins Armory Museum (not necessarily the ones shown here) look similar to those shown in the 1920 WAM photo:

 

Great Hall- Higgins Armory Museum, 2013