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Of Reinvention

Israel Museum Director James Snyder visits DIA to discuss
rebirth of a cultural jewel.

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Suzanne Chessler

I

Contributing Writer

East elevation view of the renewed
Israel Museum in Jerusalem

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

"I'm going to talk about the experience
of the reinvention of the museum and then
reflect on the relevance of that experience
for institutions all over the world; says
Snyder, 60, in a recent phone conversation
from Israel.
"We finished our reinvention about 18
months ago, and we felt from the beginning
that we were taking an alternative approach
to rethinking an existing museum."
Snyder will report what comprised the
reinvention, what made it alternative to the
remaking of other institutions and what the
consequences of that reinvention have been.
The museum, founded in 1965, holds
some 500,000 items with fewer than 10,000
on view. The collection reaches from prehis-
toric archaeological treasures to contempo-
rary masterpieces.
The $100-million capital reinvention
project was planned by James Carpenter
Design Associates of New York and Efrat-
Kowalsky Architects of Tel Aviv. Changes
include new galleries, entrance facilities
and public spaces.
"In a way, Jerusalem has this feeling of
universality being positioned at the center
of the universe and so things done here
sometimes can be read for their universal
implications; Snyder says.
"Since our material begins at the begin-
ning of documented cultural time and
comes to the present, I will talk about the
nature of how we worked to preserve the
original vision and spirit of the museum.
"When I first considered being director,
I saw the potential of the musem based on
the accumulated assets in terms of the site,
setting and architecture. I had an idea of
how they might be recomposed to achieve a
narrative result, and that actually has been
accomplished."
Snyder, who has expanded his mastery of
Hebrew recalled from bar mitzvah studies,
brought direct experience to the massive
building project. Among his responsibili-
ties during 22 years at MoMA, including 10
years as deputy director (1886-1996), was
the expansion of that art center in 1984.

Nightime view of the
Israel Museum's Gallery
Entrance Pavilion from

Carter Promenade with
David Smith's Cubi VI

(1963) in the foreground.
Completed in 2010, the

$100-million project was
designed to enhance the

visitor experience of the
collections, architecture

and surrounding landscape
while complementing Its
original design.

Israel Museum Director

Harvard's Graduate School
of Design. He did some
master's work but did not
finish because he was invited
to MoMA as an intern and
encouraged to remain.
"My first trip to Israel was
to consider being director of
the museum; says Snyder,
married to graphic designer
Tina Davis Snyder and the
father of two.
"In the summer of 1997,
there was a mission led by
[the late] Bill Davidson,
who brought a whole group
of art and culture lovers
to Jerusalem. That group
included a lot of Detroiters
who supported us. They
were so nice to my family,
and it was a great welcome.
They remain very close to

"I have always been moved
James Snyder: "I saw
by the beauty of landscape
the potential of the
and later became entranced
musem based on the
with the idea of the built
accumulated assets in
environment and landscape;
terms of the site, setting
Snyder says.
and architecture."
"When I started to study,
I became interested in visual
culture as art and began thinking about
the museum."
words and images together. My academic
Among continuing supporters with
training was literature and art history.'
ties to Michigan are Judy and Michael
Snyder, a Pittsburgh native, is a graduate
Steinhardt of New York, who made the
of Harvard University and a Loeb Fellow of lead gift to the Campus Renewal Project.

Michael Steinhardt is chairman of
Renaissance Media, which publishes the
Detroit Jewish News.
Supporters living locally include Lila and
Gilbert Silverman, donors to the Modern
Art Department, and Marcia and Eugene
Applebaum, annual donors to the Director's
Cirde and the endowment campaign in
memory of founder Teddy Kollek.
"When I am in Detroit, a group of
International Friends of the Museum will
join collection visits, hosted by a number of
museum friends in the area, and a pilgrim-
age to Cranbrook," says Snyder, who antici-
pates viewing both the DIA and Cranbrook
renovations completed since his earlier
travels to the Metro Detroit area.
The Israel Museum, during Snyder's
tenure, has developed a series of loan exhibi-
tions in Jerusalem and touring exhibitions
worldwide, expanded its holdings across all
of its collecting areas, developed a network
of International Friends organizations now
operating in 14 countries and launched a
campaign to double its endowment to $150
million.
An earlier Snyder initiative was the res-
toration and expansion of the Shrine of the
Book, the wing of the museum housing the
Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest biblical manu-
scripts in the world. Recently, the museum
was gifted a major collection of European
and American photography.
"The message that emanates from here
is exactly a tale beginning in Jerusalem
but having a rich fabric of interconnection
worldwide; Snyder says. "That seems to be
a hugely important message.
"The whole idea of reinventing the Israel
Museum landscape is that it gives incred-
ible potential for cultural programs of all
kinds. That's a task as monumental as the
reinvention of the museum itself!" 0

James Snyder will speak at 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 21, at the Detroit
Institute of Arts. Free with museum
admission. (313) 833-7900; www.dia.
org .

IN

April 19 • 2012

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