Bass Museum

The Bass

Bass Museum of Art front façade, January 2015
Established	1963
Location	Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Type	Art museum
Director	Silvia Karman Cubiñá
Public transit access	Metrobus, Collins Ave at 22 Street
Website	Bass Museum

The Bass Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located in Miami Beach, Florida in the United States. The Bass is currently closed for renovations and opens to the public in 2017. During renovations, The Bass Projects has operated a temporary exhibition space at the Miami Beach Regional Library (227 22nd Street). The Bass Museum of Art was founded in 1964 through the donation of a private collection by John and Johanna Bass to the City of Miami Beach. The museum opened in what was formerly the Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center, a 1930s Art Deco building designed by Russell Pancoast, grandson of Miami Beach pioneer John Collins. The building was placed on the National Register in 1978.

John Bass (1891-1978) and Johanna Redlich (m. Feb. 21, 1921) were Jewish-immigrants from Vienna, Austria who resided in Miami Beach. As President of the Fajardo Sugar Company of Puerto Rico, John Bass was also an amateur journalist, artist (namely painting and etching) and composer of published music. Mr. Bass collected both fine art and cultural artifacts, including a sizeable manuscript collection that now lives in the Carnegie Hall Archives. In 1963, the couple bequeathed a collection of more than 500 works, including Old Master paintings, textiles and sculptures to the City of Miami Beach, under the agreement that a Bass Museum of Art would remain open to the public in perpetuity. In 1964, the museum opened its doors in the former Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center, a 1930s Art Deco building designed by Russell Pancoast. The building itself already had a rich history on Miami Beach as the first public exhibition space for art in South Florida. John Bass directed the museum from its founding in 1964 until his death in 1978.

In 1980, art historian Diane Camber was hired as Executive Director of the museum. For the next thirty years, Camber worked to professionalize museum operations, obtain AAM accreditation, produce scholarly exhibitions and successfully run a capital campaign for a building expansion, developing the museum into a significant cultural institution. Under her leadership in 2001, the original museum building was renovated, and a new wing, designed by renowned architect Arata Isozaki, was added to house galleries, offices and a museum shop. The new addition more than doubled the size of the museum and added galleries gave the museum a total of 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, essential for the presentation of temporary exhibitions and continued growth. In 2002, the building expansion was inaugurated with the groundbreaking exhibition Globe Miami Island.

In 2009, The Bass experienced another wave of institutional growth as George Lindemann, Jr. became President of the Board of Directors and Silvia Karman Cubiñá was appointed as Executive Director. Aligning with rapid urban development of City of Miami Beach, support from the John L. and James S. Knight Foundation and the success of Art Basel Miami Beach, the museum consolidated its governance in a 501c3 non-profit corporation and developed a new board. The museum re-focused its mission and programming to reflect the new development of Miami Beach as an art destination, catering to the evolving and diverse nature of Miami Beach residents and tourists.