Editing I. M. Pei (section)

=== National Gallery East Building, Washington, D.C. ===

[[File:National Gallery East Wing by Matthew Bisanz.JPG|thumb|left|alt=The exterior of the National Gallery East Building, a large gray building, rises above a stone plaza. Short square towers appear on either side of the building, and an array of irregular glass pyramids are in the middle of the plaza.|''Time'' magazine headlined its review of Pei's design for the East Building "Masterpiece on the Mall".<ref>Quoted in Wiseman, p. 181.</ref>]]

In the mid-1960s, directors of the [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington, D.C., declared the need for a new building. [[Paul Mellon]], a primary benefactor of the gallery and a member of its building committee, set to work with his assistant [[J. Carter Brown]] (who became gallery director in 1969) to find an architect. The new structure would be located to the east of the original building, and tasked with two functions: offer a large space for public appreciation of various popular collections; and house office space as well as archives for scholarship and research. They likened the scope of the new facility to the [[Library of Alexandria]]. After inspecting Pei's work at the [[Des Moines Art Center]] in Iowa and the [[Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art|Johnson Museum]] at [[Cornell University]], they offered him the commission.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 155–161.</ref>

Pei took to the project with vigor, and set to work with two young architects he had recently recruited to the firm, [[William Pedersen (architect)|William Pedersen]] and [[Yann Weymouth]]. Their first obstacle was the unusual shape of the building site, a [[trapezoid]] of land at the intersection of [[Constitution Avenue|Constitution]] and [[Pennsylvania Avenue]]s. Inspiration struck Pei in 1968, when he scrawled a rough diagram of two triangles on a scrap of paper. The larger building would be the public gallery; the smaller would house offices and archives. This triangular shape became a singular vision for the architect. As the date for groundbreaking approached, Pedersen suggested to his boss that a slightly different approach would make construction easier. Pei simply smiled and said: "No compromises."<ref>Wiseman, pp. 164–165.</ref>

The growing popularity of art museums presented unique challenges to the architecture. Mellon and Pei both expected large crowds of people to visit the new building, and they planned accordingly. To this end, Pei designed a large lobby roofed with enormous skylights. Individual galleries are located along the periphery, allowing visitors to return after viewing each exhibit to the spacious main room. A large [[Mobile (sculpture)|mobile sculpture]] by American artist [[Alexander Calder]] was later added to the lobby.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 179–180.</ref> Pei hoped the lobby would be exciting to the public in the same way as the central room of the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|Guggenheim Museum]] is in New York City. The modern museum, he said later, "must pay greater attention to its educational responsibility, especially to the young".<ref>Boehm, p. 65.</ref>

[[File:Nga fg04.jpg|thumb|alt=The interior of the National Gallery East Building. A large open cement room contains several people on the ground far below a balcony. Several trees are planted in the concrete floor, and an array of clear windows let in sunshine from above.|Critic Richard Hennessy complained in  ''[[Artforum]]'' about the East Building's "shocking fun-house atmosphere".<ref name="w182" />]]

Materials for the building's exterior were chosen with careful precision. To match the look and texture of the original gallery's marble walls, builders re-opened the quarry in [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]], Tennessee, from which the first batch of stone had been harvested. The project even found and hired Malcolm Rice, a quarry supervisor who had overseen the original 1941 gallery project. The marble was cut into three-inch-thick blocks and arranged over the concrete foundation, with darker blocks at the bottom and lighter blocks on top.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 177–178.</ref>

The East Building was honored on May 30, 1978, two days before its public unveiling, with a black-tie party attended by celebrities, politicians, benefactors, and artists. When the building opened, popular opinion was enthusiastic. Large crowds visited the new museum, and critics generally voiced their approval. [[Ada Louise Huxtable]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that Pei's building was "a palatial statement of the creative accommodation of contemporary art and architecture".<ref name="w182">Quoted in Wiseman, p. 182.</ref> The sharp angle of the smaller building has been a particular note of praise for the public; over the years it has become stained and worn from the hands of visitors.<ref>Boehm, p. 68.</ref>

Some critics disliked the unusual design, however, and criticized the reliance on triangles throughout the building. Others took issue with the large main lobby, particularly its attempt to lure casual visitors. In his review for ''[[Artforum]]'', critic Richard Hennessy described a "shocking fun-house atmosphere" and "aura of ancient Roman patronage".<ref name="w182" /> One of the earliest and most vocal critics, however, came to appreciate the new gallery once he saw it in person. [[Allan Greenberg]] had scorned the design when it was first unveiled, but wrote later to [[J. Carter Brown]]: "I am forced to admit that you are right and I was wrong! The building is a masterpiece."<ref>Quoted in Wiseman, p. 183.</ref>
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Starting in 2005, the joints attaching the marble panels to the walls began to show signs of strain, creating a risk of panels falling off the building onto the public below.  In 2008 officials decided that it would be necessary to remove and reinstall ''all'' the panels.  The project was scheduled for completion in 2013.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703558004574581890709007568 | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=An Ultramodern Building Shows Signs of Age | first=Catesby | last=Leigh | date=December 8, 2009}}</ref>
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