ARCHITECTURE
By Mark Lage
Senior Reporter
/
The Sheldon Memorial Art Gal
lery’s strong points lie in the
quality of its display areas,
and its details and materials, said
Dale Gibbs, a professor at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
College of Architecture.
“I would say that The Sheldon
(Memorial Art Gallery) is a very,
very good building,” Gibbs said,
“but not a great one.”
The building was designed and
built in the early 1960s under the
direction of architect Philip
Johnson.
“Johnson does well in design
ing display areas,” Gibbs said, call
ing the architect an expert in the
classical sense.
“The architecture does not inter
fere at all with the viewing of the
art,” Gibbs said.
The display areas are restful and
quiet, and the lighting is good
without being distracting.
“You can see the art very well,
which is paramount in museum
design,” Gibbs said.
Johnson has designed several
other galleries, including two pri
vate ones for himself, and always
has been well-acquainted with the
art world, Gibbs said. Among these
other galleries are two which are
about the same size as Sheldon --
Amon Carter Gallery in Texas, and
The Williams Proctor Munson Gal
lery in New York City.
Gibbs described them as being
“rather different in layout and
style” than the Sheldon Memorial
Art Gallery.
Sheldon is a good example of
beautiful detailing and excellent
use of materials, Gibbs said.
Johnson used Italian travertine,
teakwood and solid brass in the
building, and it is "beautifully put
together,” Gibbs said.
“The use of detail and material is
faultless,” he said.
Gibbs does not call Sheldon a
great building mainly because “it
doesn’t satisfy the idea of a college
teaching gallery. Its formality is too
threatening."
It would work better as a private
or civic gallery, just because of its
image, he said.
Gibbs said he hopes that previ
ous plans made to add on to the
museum are not carried through
“It’s very difficult to add to a
classical-style building without
doing damage to both the building
and the addition," he said. “There
are examples of this kind of thing,
but it’s risky."
For an example of this, Gibbs
cites the current sculpture garden.
“It’s not his (Johnson's) design,”
Gibbs said.
Johnson had designed a long
reflecting pool on the west side of
the gallery, which would terminate
in sculpture, he said. The current
garden was designed by another
architecture firm, and is "not a
good solution to the problem,”
I Gibbs said.
_
There may be help for this situ
ation when the Lied Plaza is com
pleted, Gibbs said. There may be a
gate built in between the plaza and
the garden, which, with other
minor adjustments, might provide
an “escape for viewers at a certain
critical point.”
Sheldon is not considered to be
among Johnson’s best or most
well known structures, but not
because it isn’t a good building,
Gibbs said.
“It comes from his Lincoln Cen
ter phase, which is a very classical
phase,” Gibbs said. “The Pennzoil
building in Texas is an example of
a better piece of his work.”
“In summary, I would say that
the building does display the art
very nicely. The sculpture both
inside and out comes off very j
nicely, but the sculpture garden
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Eric Gregory/ Dally Nebraskan
Robert Cremean’s “Swinging Woman” in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.