Dear Friends:
As I reflect on my third year as Paul Mellon Director of the Yale Center for British Art, I see a time marked by transition, renewed activity, and the anticipation of brighter, busier days ahead.
By the end of the summer, all YCBA staff returned to work on-site, an essential factor in our ability to fulfill our mission as a public art museum. Through the commitment, creativity, and good humor of my colleagues, we continued to connect with our public while adapting to our new normal.
Together, we welcomed 29,176 visitors to the museum during the 163 days that we were open; presented four exhibitions; produced two publications, including our first born-digital catalogue; added 262 objects to our collection; presented conversations, films, lectures, symposia, and tours; and shared our resources with families, students, scholars, and visitors from all over the world.
With public hours still reduced through the fall and winter, we found new ways to expand access to the museum. A display of the museum’s original furniture was installed in the museum’s externally viewable Lower Court, allowing visitors to engage with the YCBA’s history and mid-century design even while the building was closed. For the first time, art was exhibited on the museum’s exterior walls, with the work of twelve local student-photographers projected through the High Street windows.
Spring heralded the long-awaited return to our regular, pre-pandemic museum hours, as well as the resumption of in-person programming. In March, we presented our first major exhibition in two years, a survey of works by Bridget Riley that was displayed on two floors of the museum and featured more than fifty objects selected in collaboration with the artist. Soon after the show opened, I had the privilege of visiting Riley in London and interviewing her for a short film now featured on our website. Later in the spring we welcomed Marc Quinn to the museum for the installation and opening of a focused exhibition that juxtaposed his contemporary “History Paintings” with our historic collection.
Our new program series “Architects in Conversation: To Build for Art” launched in March with Annabelle Selldorf, FAIA, as the inaugural speaker in conversation with Deborah Berke, FAIA, LEED AP, dean of the Yale School of Architecture. The event was especially celebratory because it was the first program held in the Lecture Hall since 2019.
At the same time, we continued to offer a wealth of online programs, allowing us to remain engaged with the broader audience we built during our days at home. As part of our ongoing “Artists in Conversation” series, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sonia Boyce OBE RA and Simone Leigh not long before the 59th Venice Biennale opened in April 2022. I was thrilled, although not surprised, when their respective commissions for the British and American pavilions were awarded Golden Lion prizes.
Together with our colleagues at the Paul Mellon Centre for British Studies in London, we presented the first online iteration of the Paul Mellon lecture series. Featuring talks from six of the world’s most distinguished museum and gallery directors, the online series connected speakers from three continents with an audience that truly spanned the globe.
The activities, initiatives, and programs recounted in this report reveal the many ways in which the museum engages our public, whether locally in New Haven or from afar. I am grateful to the organizations and individuals whose support makes these efforts possible.
—Courtney J. Martin, Paul Mellon Director, Yale Center for British Art
