Capstone of Paul Mellon's years of patronage: an eight-figure gift to the U.S.
For seven years a structure has been rising next to the neoclassical bulk of the National Gallery in Washington: cool, prismatic, with the containment and elegant definition of a quartz crystal, a hand-rubbed object if ever there was one. It is the gallery's new East Building, designed by I.M. Pei. When it is finally opened to the public on June 1, it will take its place among the great museum buildings of the past hundred years. It is not an innovative...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
