Walker Art Center: Short Form
Walker Art Center. Photo Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.
Name of Building/Site:
Walker Art Center
Variant or Former Name:
Walker Art Gallery
Building/Site Address:
725 Vineland Place
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Designation:
None apply
Primary Classification:
Museum / Exhibition
Secondary Classification:
Performance
Current Condition:
Active Museum and Cultural Center
How to Visit:
https://walkerart.org/visit
Style:
Late Modern, various
Summary:
The 1971 Walker Art Center building is a triumph of Late Modernism. The plum-brick clad central six-story tower has loftlike galleries wrapped around a core. Barnes’ attention to flow through the building is evident as the visitor moves up, scale changes of the gallery volumes are made perceptible by subtle formal moves: a skylight, a small stair, and increasing ceiling heights all the way up to three terraces.
Commission Date:
1966
Completion Date:
1971
Architectural and Other Designer(s):
Edward Larrabee Barnes (architect), Mildred Friedman (interior design)
Others Associated with Building/ Site:
Martin Friedman, director of Walker Art Center at the time
Walker Art Center
Variant or Former Name:
Walker Art Gallery
Building/Site Address:
725 Vineland Place
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Designation:
None apply
Primary Classification:
Museum / Exhibition
Secondary Classification:
Performance
Current Condition:
Active Museum and Cultural Center
How to Visit:
https://walkerart.org/visit
Style:
Late Modern, various
Summary:
The 1971 Walker Art Center building is a triumph of Late Modernism. The plum-brick clad central six-story tower has loftlike galleries wrapped around a core. Barnes’ attention to flow through the building is evident as the visitor moves up, scale changes of the gallery volumes are made perceptible by subtle formal moves: a skylight, a small stair, and increasing ceiling heights all the way up to three terraces.
Commission Date:
1966
Completion Date:
1971
Architectural and Other Designer(s):
Edward Larrabee Barnes (architect), Mildred Friedman (interior design)
Others Associated with Building/ Site:
Martin Friedman, director of Walker Art Center at the time
Minnesota Historical Society. http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10725445
Walker Art Center. Design Quarterly, (no 81), pp.1-22. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047412
Walker Art Center. Design Quarterly, (no 81), pp.1-22. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047412
Walker Art Center. Design Quarterly, (no 81), pp.1-22. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047412
REFERENCES:
(1948). Museum Facade, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Progressive Architecture, February 1948. Pp 48-49. https://usmodernist.org/index-pa.htm
(1949). Where to See Everyday Art. Everyday Art Quarterly, Winter 1949-1950 (No. 13), pp. 1-11. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047161
About: Mission & History. Walker Art. https://walkerart.org/about/mission-history
Barnes, Edward Larrabee and Mildred S. Friedman. (1971). Walker Art Center 1971. Design Quarterly, (No. 9), pp. 1-22. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047412
Blake, Peter. (1974). Brick-on-brick and white-on-white: the Walker Art Center may be the best modern museum in the U.S. Architecture plus volume 2 (Issue 4).
Bergdoll, Barry. (2009). I.M. Pei, Marcel Breuer, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the New American Museum Design of the 1960s. Studies in the History of Art (Vol 73, Symposium Papers L: A Modernist Museum in Perspective: The East Building, National Gallery of Art), pp. 106-123. http://www.jstor.com/stable/42622475
Comazzi, John and Margaret Werry. (2008) The Walker Art Center + The Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis: Two Views. Journal of Architectural Education (Vol. 61, No. 4, Performance/Architecture), pp. 131-135. http://www.jstor.com/stable/40480873
Dill, Emma. (2018, April 30). Walker Art Center. MNopedia. https://www.mnopedia.org/place/walker-art-center
Fischer, Mark (producer). (2013, May 26). Minneapolis Sculpture Garden [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.mnvideovault.org/index.php?id=24340&select_index=0&popup=yes#0.
Fox, Margalit. (2016, May 13). Martin Friedman, Whose Vision Shaped Walker Art Center, Dies at 90. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/arts/design/martin-friedman-whose-vision-shaped-walker-art-center-dies-at-90.html
Madison, Cathy. (2005). Walker Art Center: Art spaces. Scala Publishers Limited.
Ruddy, Martha. (1998, November). Daniel S. Defenbacher Papers, 1939-1951. [Biography, description]. WAC RG1 S1 (94.09.DO). https://s3.amazonaws.com/wac-imgix/cms/DSD_FA.pdf
Smith, David C. (2013, May 30). Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is 25. Retrieved from https://minneapolisparkhistory.com/2013/05/30/minneapolis-sculpture-garden-is-25/
Vuchetich, Jill. (2014, October 28). Ghost Building: Walker Galleries 1927. Walker Reader. https://walkerart.org/magazine/ghost-building-walker-galleries-1927
Vuchetich, Jill. (2014, October 8). Walker History: Shall We Take It? The Walker’s Founding Question. Walker Reader. https://walkerart.org/magazine/public-art-center-defenbacher
Yardley, Willian. (2014, September 9). Mildred Friedman, 85, Dies; Curator Elevated Design and Architecture. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/arts/design/mildred-friedman-design-curator-dies-at-85.html
Recorder Name: Mary Begley
Recorder Date: September, 2020
Recorder Affiliation: Docomomo US/MN
(1948). Museum Facade, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Progressive Architecture, February 1948. Pp 48-49. https://usmodernist.org/index-pa.htm
(1949). Where to See Everyday Art. Everyday Art Quarterly, Winter 1949-1950 (No. 13), pp. 1-11. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047161
About: Mission & History. Walker Art. https://walkerart.org/about/mission-history
Barnes, Edward Larrabee and Mildred S. Friedman. (1971). Walker Art Center 1971. Design Quarterly, (No. 9), pp. 1-22. http://www.jstor.com/stable/4047412
Blake, Peter. (1974). Brick-on-brick and white-on-white: the Walker Art Center may be the best modern museum in the U.S. Architecture plus volume 2 (Issue 4).
Bergdoll, Barry. (2009). I.M. Pei, Marcel Breuer, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the New American Museum Design of the 1960s. Studies in the History of Art (Vol 73, Symposium Papers L: A Modernist Museum in Perspective: The East Building, National Gallery of Art), pp. 106-123. http://www.jstor.com/stable/42622475
Comazzi, John and Margaret Werry. (2008) The Walker Art Center + The Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis: Two Views. Journal of Architectural Education (Vol. 61, No. 4, Performance/Architecture), pp. 131-135. http://www.jstor.com/stable/40480873
Dill, Emma. (2018, April 30). Walker Art Center. MNopedia. https://www.mnopedia.org/place/walker-art-center
Fischer, Mark (producer). (2013, May 26). Minneapolis Sculpture Garden [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.mnvideovault.org/index.php?id=24340&select_index=0&popup=yes#0.
Fox, Margalit. (2016, May 13). Martin Friedman, Whose Vision Shaped Walker Art Center, Dies at 90. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/arts/design/martin-friedman-whose-vision-shaped-walker-art-center-dies-at-90.html
Madison, Cathy. (2005). Walker Art Center: Art spaces. Scala Publishers Limited.
Ruddy, Martha. (1998, November). Daniel S. Defenbacher Papers, 1939-1951. [Biography, description]. WAC RG1 S1 (94.09.DO). https://s3.amazonaws.com/wac-imgix/cms/DSD_FA.pdf
Smith, David C. (2013, May 30). Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is 25. Retrieved from https://minneapolisparkhistory.com/2013/05/30/minneapolis-sculpture-garden-is-25/
Vuchetich, Jill. (2014, October 28). Ghost Building: Walker Galleries 1927. Walker Reader. https://walkerart.org/magazine/ghost-building-walker-galleries-1927
Vuchetich, Jill. (2014, October 8). Walker History: Shall We Take It? The Walker’s Founding Question. Walker Reader. https://walkerart.org/magazine/public-art-center-defenbacher
Yardley, Willian. (2014, September 9). Mildred Friedman, 85, Dies; Curator Elevated Design and Architecture. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/arts/design/mildred-friedman-design-curator-dies-at-85.html
Recorder Name: Mary Begley
Recorder Date: September, 2020
Recorder Affiliation: Docomomo US/MN
