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The Laboratory on 53rd Street: Victor D’Amico and the Museum of Modern Art, 1937–1969
Author(s) -
Rasmussen Briley
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
curator: the museum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2151-6952
pISSN - 0011-3069
DOI - 10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00046.x
Subject(s) - creativity , modern art , general partnership , visual arts , art , visual arts education , art history , sociology , performance art , political science , the arts , law
This essay addresses the pioneering work of Victor D’Amico, the first director of education at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and an influential art educator. During his tenure at MoMA, D’Amico explored the role of museums in developing creativity through direct aesthetic experience and the larger social implications of art museum education. Victor D’Amico led the Education Project at MoMA, which began as a part‐time school partnership program in 1937. By the time he retired in 1969, he had become an internationally recognized leader in the field of art museum education. Yet today his influence is little known and seldom discussed. This essay focuses on two important programs he developed at MoMA: his most widely acclaimed and influential program, the Children’s Art Carnival (1942‐1969), and the groundbreaking art education television series Through the Enchanted Gate (1952‐1953).