Dick Johnson is really one of us. He loves sports and he's really a newspaper guy, having worked at the Telegram and Gazette in Worcester. Now, however, he's in the museum business and, fittingly enough, the curator of the Sports Museum of New England. He knows Boston, he knows sports, he knows museums, and he has some good advice. If you only have time for one museum, he says you should visit the Museum of Fine Arts and it's new Art of the Americas wing (the museum is on the Green Line, a short subway/trolley ride from the Boston Sheraton).
"You basically have some of the most iconic American paintings in any collection, private or public, in this country,'' Johnson said.
"There's a whole room of Winslow Homer and a whole room of John Singleton Copley. They are among the great artists in the history of this country and the collection the MFA possesses is stunning. The iconic Homer painting is one of two boys in a field wearing straw hats. It's like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. It was made into a postage stamp last year.
"Even though Boston is a literary town, the MFA has one of the best collections of American art in the country and they've built this beautiful showcase for it.''
Now far from Fenway Park is another museum gem: the Isabella Stewart Gardner (and we'll have free passes).
"It's wonderful because it's a residence that was turned into a museum in the 1900s,'' said Johnson. "One of the more interesting things about her was that she was a huge sports fan; she was a season ticket-holder for the Red Sox and Harvard football. Once she opened her museum, the first security staff she hired were all Harvard football players. She lived in her own apartment at the museum and she caught a woman with a pair of scissors trying to cut a piece of tapestry as a souvenir. She really should have owned the Red Sox, but she spent her money on art instead of outfielders.''
The Red Sox have no place in the museum: what makes it an intriguing, interesting place is the setting, a house that became a museum filled with some very important art, largely European as opposed to the MFA's Art of the Americas wing.
"It's wonderful to be in a museum that was the creation of a single person, her view, her taste,'' said Johnson . "Her collection actually fits the description of priceless. You could not put a monetary price tag on her collection. It defied value. Works of that value haven't come to auction in generations.
"One critic accused her of pillaging Europe and just bringing it over here, but that's unfair. She just bought works of fabulous quality at the time when a private individual could afford them. Then she built a home which could accommodate the art she purchased.''
Two other museums to consider are the Institute of Contemporary Art on the waterfront in the Seaport district and the John F. Kennedy Museum in the Dorchester section of Boston on the campus of UMass Boston, right across the street from the Globe. "The waterfront is one of the great experiences of Boston,'' said Johnson. "It's worth the trip. The core collection at the Kennedy Museum is great.'' And yes, there is a exhibit on the assassination and the conspiracy theories. The ICA has provided free passes for us.
Johnson also offers a surprising suggestion, one that doesn't cost any money.
''One of the great highlights of being in Boston in the summer is to just walk along the Commonwealth Avenue mall from Back Bay to Boston or in the opposite direction,'' he said. "It's a museum all to itself, it's a de facto outdoor sculpture garden and one of the great urban walks in America.''
You could also visit Johnson's own museum and he'll arrange a tour.
Johnson's favorite artifact in his museum? home plate from Braves Field, where the Boston Braves played until moving to Milwaukee. "A couple of kids stole it after it was announced the team was moving to Milwaukee in March 1953,'' said Johnson. "It's great to imagine that Jackie Robinson slid into the plate, that Warren Spahn threw strikes over it.''
The Sports Museum of New England is located in the TD Garden, where you can view exhibits featuring historic moments in Boston sports history, most notably the four pro teams. Hours are10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 10-18, and free for children under 10. Tickets are available at the Garden box office, which is located on the west side of North Station, which is a train station. If the box office is closed, tickets can be purchased at the Bruins pro shop. If you go, give Dick a call at 617-835-2764.
For more info:
Museum of Fine Arts
Gardner
Sports Musuem
http://www.tdgarden.com/sportsmuseum/hours.asp
ICA
Kennedy Musuem
Commonwealth Ave. Mall
http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/emerald/Comm_Mall.asp
Winslow Homer
Copley
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/copl/hd_copl.htm
