The Huntington Library, Museum and Botanical Gardens is now getting ready to reopen some of it’s art galleries to allow guests to see what their collection has to offer.
The Huntington has been a refuge for those who’ve wanted to get outside during the pandemic.
It closed mid-March with everything else, but since they were classified as an outdoor museum, the gardens have been open since July 1st to the public (members were allowed back in June). So, this is the first phase of reopening for the art galleries they host.
The Huntington is reopening the ground floor of the Huntington art gallery, which houses their European art collection as well as different treasures from the 18th and 19th centuries. This is a priority for the Huntington because that gallery houses one of their most famous paintings, which just got restored; The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough.
“It’s a priority to reopen [that gallery] because so many people are anxious to see the difference and to just experience that…a lot of people, volunteers, and visitors talk about looking at the portraits in the gallery as ‘visiting old friends’ and so I know a lot of people are looking forward to getting back to visiting their old friends,” said Brandi Shawn-Chaparro, the associate director of volunteer and community engagement.
They are also reopening a space for a temporary exhibition called Made in LA, where The Huntington is doing a collaboration with The Hammer museum in Los Angeles. “It features many contemporary artists, many who are people of color and it is a very exciting opportunity for us to showcase up and coming artists,” said Shawn-Chaporro.
The exhibition at the Huntington will have a set of work and The Hammer will have a different set of work by the same artists; so in order to see the full exhibit, it is advised to visit both museums.
Only select galleries will be opening and not everything because it will help with crowd control and to eliminate high-touch surfaces from the equation. The Conservatory and the Children’s Garden are two of those high-touch spaces that will not be reopening with the galleries. “The guidance still suggests we keep those places closed so that we keep the risk as low as possible for transmission via surfaces,” said Susan Turner-Lowe, vice-president for communications and marketing.
For the sake of crowd control they are waiting to reopen the non high-touch spaces. “We have not opened interior galleries [during the pandemic] so we wanted to do a phased approach and see how it goes from there,” said Turner-Lowe.
The Huntington will have safety procedures set in place to ensure the visitors are safe.
Firstly, when purchasing tickets online, guests will be asked to pick a time to come. There will be temperature checks upon entry and face coverings required at all times (unless eating or drinking). Social distancing will also be in place and there will be regular sanitation of common places.
The galleries will have limited capacity (with security monitoring at both the entrances and exits in the galleries) and there will be a one way route inside. There will be stickers on the ground guiding people as well.
Shawn-Chaparro described her feelings on the reopening as wonderful and strange.“It seems like a short amount of time since we’ve been closed but also a very long time since we’ve been open. Hopefully, [the artwork] is still familiar to people and they feel a sense of enjoyment.”
The Huntington will be opening the European art gallery and the Made in LA exhibition on April 17.