The Neuberger, on the Purchase College campus of the State University of New York, opened in 1974 after the donation by Roy R. Neuberger, a financier, of works by artists including Alexander Calder, Milton Avery, Georgia OKeeffe, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. At first glance, its hard to believe that the museum building, tucked seamlessly into the colleges ho-hum red-brick campus, was designed by Philip Johnson. From the exterior at least, nothing about it bespeaks architectural greatness. But once youre inside, the space soars and things liven up.
The open, airy feeling appeals to children, and so do the Neubergers core collections of modern and contemporary American and European art and African art. Unprepared Piano was typical of the adventurous newer works that the Neuberger also shows: another recent example in the entry gallery was Silvery Sea, work gloves painted silver and arranged in the shape of a large boat, and early next month the same space will contain Lee Mingweis Pantheon Project, made up, essentially, of wooden boxes and people who will talk about the emotional meaning of what they have built with them.
Abstract art engages childrens imaginations, said Eleanor Brackbill, the Neubergers head of museum education, because of whats left out. Imagination fills in, and that comes naturally to children. And contemporary art that uses found objects like gloves or an upended piano bench engages them, Ms. Brackbill said, by taking things out of their normal, expected context.
But even children can be scoffers. When we paused at a 1954 work by Willem de Kooning, Marilyn Monroe, Saskia said, I could have made those blobs of paint the classic childs criticism of modern art. Later, she conceded, Once I read the label, I could sort of see her in the painting.
