The Museum of Modern Art’s International Program endeavors to
build relationships between MoMA and arts institutions and museum
professionals around the globe. The most extensive program of its
kind conducted by a privately sponsored museum, the International
Program coordinates a wide variety of initiatives aimed at facilitating
cultural and professional exchange with museums and other visual arts
institutions. These include specially organized traveling exhibitions
from the MoMA collections, workshops for museum professionals, publications,
education and conservation programs, professional assistance to museums,
lectures and symposia, exchanges of library materials, and travel
abroad by members of the Museum’s staff.
In 1952, with the assistance of a grant from the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Museum of Modern Art officially established
an International Program to develop long-range exchanges of the
visual arts with other countries. While the Museum had been sending
exhibitions abroad since 1938, the establishment of the International
Program addressed a need for the facilitation of American representation
in major international exhibitions and art festivals, and provided
a means of bringing exhibitions of the art of other countries to
the U.S. To date, more than 300 exhibitions covering all areas of
modern visual art have been circulated within Africa, Asia and the
Pacific, Europe, and Latin America.
From collaborating with MoMA’s Department of Education on the
Children’s Art Carnival, which traveled to eleven Indian cities
in 1962, to co-sponsoring the symposium “International Art Festivals
in the Next Century” at the centennial Venice Biennale of 1997,
the International Program has developed a wide array of programs designed
to bring together museum professionals from around the world. In recent
years, that focus has led to the organization of a series of International
Museum Professionals Workshops, and to the publication of a series
of documentary anthologies that present, in English translation, the
work of important critics, artists, and scholars from outside the
United States.
The International Council of The Museum of Modern
Art, a non-profit membership corporation of art collectors, patrons,
and community leaders, was founded in 1953 to give the International
Program both national and international cooperation and support.
The Museum of Modern
Art's International Program and Department of Education have hosted
Museum Professionals Workshops annually since 1998. These workshops,
offered by invitation only, allow mid-career museum staff members,
curators, and other professionals to learn about working procedures
at U.S. museums, meet their counterparts at MoMA and other U.S.-based
institutions, and facilitate future collaborations with museums
in this country and within their respective regions. The workshops
foster the exchange of ideas between MoMA staff and museum professionals
from around the world, allowing participants to compare notes about
major issues ranging from education and fundraising to conservation
and security, as well as creating dialogue that challenges them
to re-evaluate their current methods. Past workshops have focused
on building relationships with museum professionals in Latin
America, Africa,
Europe,
and Asia
and the Pacific.
International Museum Workshops are made possible
by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art and various
other foundations and private funders.
With the publication in
late 2002 of Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Central and
European Art since the 1950s, the International Program initiated
an ambitious series of documentary anthologies aimed at introducing
English-speaking readers to landmark texts by artists and critics
from outside the United States. The second title in this series,
Listen, Here, Now! Argentine Art in the 1960’s: Writings
of the Avant-Garde, was published in September 2004. A third,
which will focus on the work of influential Venezuelan critic, curator,
and photographer Alfredo Boulton, is already underway.
The series is underwritten by The International Council of
The Museum of Modern Art.
Internationally Circulating Exhibitions
The Museum of Modern Art
continues to circulate shows to international venues as a part of
its overall exhibition program, which since 1996 has been managed
by the Department of Exhibitions. Some of these exhibitions are
organized specially for international tours, while others travel
to international venues after appearing at MoMA in New York. A list
of the most significant internationally circulating exhibitions
from 1952 through 2004 has been prepared by the International Program.
More recent touring shows are indexed on the MoMA website under
Exhibitions.
Pictured above:
Top banner: Left: Tran Luong,
artist and director of the Hanoi Contemporary Fine Arts Center,
visits an exhibition during the East Asian Museum Professionals
Workshop trip to Los Angeles, 1999. Center: Agnes
Gund, President Emerita of MoMA and Chairman of The International
Council, and Daniel Shapiro host the African Museum Professionals
Workshop participants at their home, New York, 2002. Right:
Hassoum Ceesay, African Museum Professionals participant from The
Gambia National Museum, 2002.
First paragraph: A wall map illustrating
the scope of the International Program, displayed concurrently with
The New American Painting: As Shown in 8 European Countries 1958-1959
at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1959. Enlargement
Second paragraph: MoMA's Children's Art Carnival
in India, 1962. Enlargement
and full caption
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