New York critic takes in DIA, Heidelberg, MOCAD during 'too brief' visit

While not entirely complimentary -- calling the area around the Detroit Institute of Arts "an open prairie" seems a bit hyperbolic -- New York Times art critic Holland Cotter digs into the museum's renovation. During his "too-brief" Detroit visit, he also checks out the Heidelberg Project and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Excerpt:

There is potentially much to feel good about. A master plan designed by the architect Michael Graves, reorganizing the museum’s interior and expanding its gallery space by 31,000 square feet, has been completed. The permanent collection, with its gems of Flemish, Dutch and American art, has been freshly and inventively reinstalled. A new gallery of African-American art, one of the few of its kind, is in place.

But there is also much to ponder. For years before the shutdown, the financially strained museum was operating at reduced strength, with curtailed hours and closed galleries. The rethought collection is an experiment in progress. Some aspects of it would have given the museum’s Victorian founders a healthy shock; other aspects would have pleased them too well.

Read the entire article here.