PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — St. Joseph’s University is opening its own art museum in the Lower Merion building that once housed the Barnes Foundation.
On Saturday, the Frances Maguire Art Museum opened to the public, just eleven years after the Barnes moved its collection to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
St. Joseph’s University is leasing the building from the Barnes at nominal cost and renamed the exhibition space for university benefactor Frances Maguire.
Museum director Emily Hage says the renovated building has new lighting and dedicated classroom space – a must have because they will be planning programs for K-12 schools on both sides of City Line Avenue.
“We also have what we’re calling the Great Hall which used to be called Gallery 1, the large space when you first walk in,” Hage said. “And that is a space for performances, musical performances, for lectures and for other gatherings.”
She says making art accessible was one of the museum’s guiding concepts.
“We have labels that are in English and Spanish. Our collection is very strong in colonial Latin American art and we want to develop that.”
Hage noted that visitors arriving by car will enter from City Avenue, not from residential Latches Lane, where residents complained of traffic during the Barnes years.
The museum is open to the public. Admission is free, but a $10 donation is suggested.
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