Best place to get up close and personal with art
Tired of art that you have to squint at through glass frames and cases? Sick of leaning too close and
setting off alarms? Ever wonder why museums don't have exhibits of, say, huggable teddy bears? Well,
the Museum of Fine Arts has yet to bring in the stuffed animals, but it has the next-best thing:
contemporary furniture you can sit on. These pieces, some 50 or 60 of them, are part of the MFA's
permanent collection, but they're scattered throughout the museum (many in the contemporary-crafts
area), each identified by a prominent PLEASE BE SEATED sign. You can settle into a Wendell Castle
cherry settee for two underneath John Singleton Copley's Thomas Lane and His Sister Harriot. Or rub
your hands along David Sawyer's Windsor armchair, where the blue milk paint comes off as the chair
takes on life. The pièce de résistance, however, is Rosanne Somerson's leather-covered
pearlwood-and-maple bench, an extraordinarily comfortable piece (it's Phoenix-writer-tested) on which
you can lie back and put up your feet. Best of all, if you find a piece you can't tear yourself away
from, the MFA will put you in touch with the artist and you can commission a copy for yourself.
The Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, (617) 267-9300.
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