While the Chinese astrological calendar has designated 1998 as the "Year of the Tiger," here on campus the Yale Center for British Art is gearing up to mark 1998 as the "Year of the Roof."
The museum, which welcomes thousands of visitors annually, will close its public galleries for renovation for an entire year, beginning on Monday, Jan. 5.
The repairs will focus on the roof, "which comprises 56 intricately crafted individual domes ... and has begun to leak as a result of New England weather," according to Patrick McCaughey, the center's director. The domes were designed by the building's architect, Louis I. Kahn, to allow natural light to filter into the museum's fourth-floor galleries in order to accentuate the painted surfaces of the works of art. "Additionally," says Mr. McCaughey, "the main exhibition galleries need refurbishment and the center plans to replace the carpet and wall linens."
While the museum's galleries will be closed to exhibit goers, its reference library and departments of prints and drawings, and of rare books and archives will be open for use by students, teachers, scholars and the general public Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Entrance will be through the museum shop, located on High Street, which will be open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
The staff of the Yale Center for British Art will continue to catalogue and research the collection and prepare for future publications and exhibitions. They will also collaborate with elementary and secondary schools throughout Connecticut, and carry on with the training of docents.
Since the public cannot come into the museum to view its artistic treasures, the center will bring selections from its collections out to the public via two major exhibitions during 1998. The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, will present "Canaletto to Constable: Paintings of Town and Country from the Yale Center for British Art" from Feb. 12 to April 26, while an international touring exhibition titled "This Other Eden: British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale" will travel to three Australian cities -- Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane -- May through December under the auspices of Art Exhibitions Australia.
When the Yale Center for British Art reopens in January of 1999, it will feature a new installation of the permanent collection, including several new acquisitions, as well as two special exhibitions.
Located at 1080 Chapel St., the Yale Center for British Art was founded in 1966 when Paul Mellon '29 donated funds to construct and endow a building to house his premier collection of British art. The museum opened its doors on April 15, 1977
The center's collection of paintings and sculpture is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind outside the United Kingdom, with particular strength in the heroic age of English painting (1607-1851). The center boasts extensive holdings of certain major artists, including William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, George Stubbs, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, among others.
Information about the Yale Center for British Art is available on its website at www.yale.edu/ycba. The phone numbers for museum departments are: general information, 432-2850; department of paintings and sculpture, 432-2844; department of prints and drawings, 432-1840; department of rare books and archives, 432-2814; reference library, 432-2818; and museum shop, 432-2819.