Metropolitan Museum of Art Gets Big Donation For Costume Institute

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City got a big boost this week in the form of a $10 million gift from Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. The gift will support the creation of a major exhibition space within the Costume Institute, allowing the Museum to proceed with a total renovation of its costume-related exhibition galleries and conservation center starting next year.

The new 4,200-square-foot gallery will be named the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery. The renovation will also add a new costume conservation center and an expanded and updated study/storage facility that will house, onsite, the combined holdings of the Met and the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, which was transferred to the Metropolitan Museum in early 2009. Adjacent to the new Tisch Gallery, the Carl and Iris Barrel Apfel Gallery, will be refreshed and function as introductory space to The Costume Institute holdings.

In a statement Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch said, in part: "In today's world, fashion, art, and culture are becoming more intertwined, and the renovation of The Costume Institute will give this interrelationship the proper focus it deserves at the Museum. The new gallery will allow young designers and students to see and learn while advancing both art history and the art of fashion design." The Lizzie and Jonathan M. Tisch Foundation also supports a variety of organizations including Tufts University, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 92nd Street Y, Citymeals-on-Wheels, and others that are active in education, the arts, and health care.