Architecture
Designed by award-winning architect Antoine Predock, the layout of the Tang Museum echoes the overall teaching mission of the museum, as well as the interdisciplinary tradition at Skidmore College, with three main buildings and two walkways all reaching out in different directions. Appearing as if emerging from the earth, the building design stands as a symbol of Skidmore’s pledge to interdisciplinary study and the many facets of arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences that the university offers.
The building features two major gallery wings, the Malloy Wing and the Wachenheim Gallery, as well as two smaller galleries, namely the State Farm Mezzanine and the Winter Gallery. The Tang also features a unique exhibition in the elevator space where a continuing series of installation and sound art called Elevator Music is exhibited. The Tang has two multimedia-equipped classrooms that are used by Skidmore classes for a variety of disciplines, and the Payne Presentation Room is a vast multipurpose event space that is used for events and functions, such as film screenings, readings, receptions, musical events, family activities and other Tang and Skidmore events.
Permanent Collection & Exhibitions
The Tang features a private collection of over 5,000 works hailing from Africa, the Americas, South Asia, and China. The collection includes works by renowned artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco de Goya, Dorothy Dehner, Andy Warhol, William Hogarth, Nayland Blake, Roy Lichtenstein, David Smith, Wilhelmina Weber Furlong, Eugène Atget, Nan Goldin, and Garry Winogrand.
The Tang Museum features approximately 12 large-scale exhibitions and projects each year, including signature interdisciplinary exhibitions that involve faculty and students as curators and advisors. Shows include a variety of subject matter from Hudson River School landscapes, Rube Goldberg cartoons, and antique maps to Shaker furniture, scientific equipment, and new works of international contemporary art. The Tang also presents significant exhibitions of contemporary art, featuring leading emerging and established artists, and encompassing all types of media and objects, exploring the connections between the performing and visual arts, humanities, and natural sciences.
Notable scholarly exhibitions include ‘Molecules that Matter’, ‘Brushing the Present: Contemporary Academy Painting from China’, ‘Work: Shaker Design and Recent Art’, ‘From Pop to Now: Selections from the Sonnabend Collection’, and ‘The World According to the Newest and Most Exact Observations: Mapping Art and Science.’
Education & Special Events
The Tang Museum is committed to being an educational center for the whole community and offers an array of educational programs, workshops, classes, and community-based initiatives. In addition to visual arts exhibitions, the museum offers demonstrations, guided tours, hosts dance recitals, musical performances, and plays, presenting opportunities for students to enjoy interactive and hands-on activities and experiences.
Special events at the Museum include Carnegie Hall Premieres, Carr Distinguished Interdisciplinary Lecture Series, Greenberg Middle East Scholar-In-Residence, Fox-Adler Lectures (English Department), Fiscus Lectures (Government Department), Malloy Lectures (Art Department), and the Don and Judy McCormack Endowed Visiting Artist-Scholar Residency. Other notable events include the Jacob Perlow Series, Raab Visiting Artist Lectures, Speakers Bureau Series and Steloff Lectures (English Department)
Visitor Information
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College is located at 815 North Broadway in Saratoga Springs and is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm with a late closing on Thursdays at 9:00 pm. The Tang encourage group visits and offers guides tours of the facility for adults, children and large groups. Visitors can also enjoy self-guided tours, and there are special academic groups for scholars and students from primary grades through higher education.
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815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866, Phone: 518-580-8080, website, Map
Conclusion
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, aka the Tang Museum, in Saratoga Springs, NY is a teaching museum designed to inspire the community to take an interest in the richness and diversity of art and the experiences that can be enjoyed through it. The Museum does this by collecting various works of art and offering a range of educational programs that align with the mission of the museum. The Museum is named after Frances Young Tang who was a graduate of Skidmore College in 1961 with a major in textile design. Tang and her husband were philanthropists and very generously made significant gifts to both Skidmore’s Chinese Studies Department and the Museum, after which she is named.
