Chairman's letter - November 2004
We are honored to sponsor the historic reopening of The Museum of Modern Art and its return to Manhattan, to an elegant, expanded building designed by Yoshio Taniguchi.
As you know, we enjoy a distinctive history with MoMA through our shared connection with David Rockefeller. David initiated our own art collection in 1959 when he was president of The Chase Manhattan Bank. Key MoMA members were also called upon to build what has become the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. I am proud that it is today considered one of the leading corporate art collections and we continually share it with the communities we serve around the globe.
There is much to celebrate in MoMA's inaugural year. JPMorgan Chase is pleased to sponsor many activities, including the reinstallation of the collection and free admission on opening day, November 20th. In January 2005, we will launch a new education experience in association with MoMA called JPMorgan Chase Exploring the Modern. This program will give thousands of New York City public school children the opportunity to visit the museum and come face-to-face with many works of modern and contemporary art, and then to share their impressions in the classroom and with their families.
As I think about MoMA's collection, it reminds me that we have several beliefs in common with the museum that are important to our firm. To cite three, we share a willingness to embrace diversity and innovation, and an ability to meet challenges, intellectual or visual, head on. I am excited by our commitment to MoMA and the arts, and I admire the dedication of both institutions to making art accessible to the next generation.
William B. Harrison, Jr.
Chairman
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Our lead sponsorship role JPMorgan Chase is pleased to sponsor the November 2004 reopening of The Museum of Modern Art, one of the world's most distinguished museums. Supporting the world of art is a significant way JPMorgan Chase can enrich the cultural life of our communities, and the sponsorship of MoMA's reopening in a highly-anticipated new building provided us with an historic opportunity to do so.
Features of our sponsorship include reinstallation of the collection and several opening week festivities, notably free admission on opening day, November 20th, and new educational programs for educators and students - all in celebration of MoMA's seventy-fifth anniversary.
JPMorgan Chase's involvement with the world of art has evolved over the past four decades to any one of these roles: curator, educator, corporate sponsor or exhibition host. While the firm is involved with major arts sponsorships worldwide, we also are proud to support arts and culture at the local level. As a major financial institution, JPMorgan Chase is inspired to make the arts accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
The new building The reopening of MoMA at its new midtown Manhattan building heralds the completion of the most extensive rebuilding and renovation project in MoMA's history. Yoshio Taniguchi created a uniquely elegant design that extends and enhances the presentation of the museum's dynamic and evolving collection of modern and contemporary art.
"In this musuem, art, architecture, and people contribute to a total environment -- as in the Japanese tea ceremony, where the teacup is very simple in form and color. Once the tea's poured, the teacup transforms into a whole new object involving the temperature of the tea, its color, its smell. That's the environment." - Architect Yoshio Taniguchi
With facades of glass, black granite and aluminum, and amid abundant natural light, the new MoMA integrates some of the museum's original and most noteworthy architectural features with expansive new construction that nearly doubles the capacity of the former building. Spacious contemporary galleries that can accommodate large-scale works and a new media space affirm MoMA's commitment to the art of today. More intimately scaled galleries display works from the collection, and temporary exhibitions are on view in "flexible" galleries.
New construction also provides for the first museum building solely devoted to education and research, as well as an elegant outdoor patio for The Modern, the museum's new fine-dining restaurant.
The architect Over the past 20 years, acclaimed architect Yoshio Taniguchi has designed a wide range of structures in Japan, including art museums, libraries, gymnasia, schools, a hotel, an aquarium, and a tea house and garden. In 1997, Mr. Taniguchi came to international attention when he won an invited competition to design the expansion of The Museum of Modern Art, which was both his first competition and first international commission.
Mr. Taniguchi has stated that his goal for the new MoMA building was "to create an ideal environment for art and people through the imaginative and disciplined use of light, materials and space." His design for the building is said to demonstrate that architectural expression and the proper environment for looking at art can be brilliantly intertwined.
The collection The growth of the MoMA's collection has been steady and, at times, dramatic. The first works of art entered the collection in 1929, the year the museum was established. Today, MoMA owns over 7,000 drawings, 50,000 prints and illustrated books, 25,000 photographs, 3,200 paintings and sculptures, 24,000 works of architecture and design, and 20,000 films and videos. The new building nearly doubles the capacity of the former site and provides an ideal context for the museum's preeminent collection with a series of architecturally distinctive galleries specifically designed for the type and scale of works displayed. In its innovative new home, MoMA's world-renowned collection will be rediscovered.
JPMorgan Chase's commitment to learning through the Arts JPMorgan Chase shares MoMA's commitment to supporting arts education and providing opportunities for youth to experience the museum. Both have collections that challenge traditional definitions of art and believe art creates an environment for dialogue and learning. Through the experience of seeing and actively discussing the issues and ideas raised by art, youth are encouraged to develop their critical thinking skills by learning how to talk and think about things differently, to accept different points of view, and to articulate their own views and ideas.
We are proud to be presenting a new education experience at MoMA: JPMorgan Chase Exploring the Modern. This program will open a new world of art to over 1,300 New York City public school children annually. Additionally, as part of the reopening week festivities, JPMorgan Chase and MoMA hosted a reception and museum preview for 6,000 educators.
