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Makeover For a Motor City Gem
Businesses have been moving back downtown, too—including the marketing firm owned by Edsel Ford II, whose grandfather, the son of Henry Ford, was a key benefactor of the DIA, along with his wife. "They had a great love for Detroit and for the Institute of Arts," says Ford. "Just think how controversial it was for him to ask Diego Rivera—a communist—to come to Detroit and paint those murals." The DIA is full of such legacies from the old families of Detroit—the Fords and the Dodges, the Scrippses and the Booths. If the museum can lure the public of today to see those treasures of the past, it ought to thrive well into the future.
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: pwatkins1 @ 12/06/2007 3:36:52 PM
Comment: As a former Michiganian and member of long-standing with the DIA, I'm proud of what Graham Beale and his team and supporters have accomplished with the DIA, and can't wait to see it when I return for my Christmas visit to Detroit. Besides the Eastern Market, Belle Isle and the Wayne State University area, it is truly a gem and worthy of leading yet another Renaissance effort for this great, albeit much-maligned, city. PWatkins, Prescott, AZ
Posted By: stefano rollero @ 12/06/2007 11:18:34 AM
Comment: Even Turin, the city where I live and work, was regarded as the "City of car." As Detroit. The presence of bulky FIAT stifled any other initiative. Everything has changed, today, contemporary Turin is a label that represents a number of structures, initiatives and events that were born and have grown and developed in the city, unanimously considered the capital of contemporary art by critics and artists alike. One only has to think that Arte Povera was born here in the 1960s and that internationally famous artists still live and work here.
Turin (Torino) is also the home of 4 major institutions dedicated to contemporary art: Castello di Rivoli (Rivoli Castle), GAM Galleria d???Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo per l???Arte (the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation for Art) and the more recent Fondazione Merz (Merz Foundation). Art is also business, and an important specialist art fair is held in Turin (Torino), Artissima of november, which features an ever increasing number of Italian and international galleries.
Many of them are Turinese, and have always animated city life with their vernissages, where the most in vogue artists and emerging talents can be found. Art and history are very much at home in Turin (Torino), and this can be seen by the city???s museums and palazzos, its piazzas, courtyards and churches, its urban development works and exhibitions, its historic relics and avant-garde pieces, its traditions and its progress. With more than 40 museums, Turin (Torino) will introduce you to many amazing worlds, while its buildings each tell a significant part of the city???s history. In fact, many great architects, city planners and landscapers have played a significant role in Turin (Torino) development over the centuries and even today, the most important names in architecture are called upon to redesign the city and plan alterations.
Stefano Rollero
Visit art gallery on: http://www.artmajeur.com/catanquader
Posted By: NJacob @ 12/05/2007 9:27:38 PM
Comment: The DIA is magnificent. As a member of the DIA and a very proud resident of the City of Detroit I strongly encourage folks to come and see what is new and wonderful. From the museum to the riverwalk I am proud to be from Detroit.