Hyman says that while the renovations will be expensive, he agrees with their urgency.

“Given the poor state of the physical plant and the risk to irreplaceable art, we simply must find a way to get the renovation done,” he says. “HUAM has some funds for the renovation, but additional funds will have to be raised.”

In the meantime, Cohn says, she plans to keep the frayed light-switch on her desk as she serves out her tenure as acting museum director.

Longer-Term Plans

But museum administrators worry that renovations won’t be enough to solve the larger space crunch.

They say the museums struggle with inadequate space both for public display of the collections and for behind-the-scenes conservation and administrative work.

Even though the plans for a Riverside modern art museum have fallen through, they say Harvard still needs to consider building a new museum to house the work that currently goes undisplayed.

“We always assumed that we would renovate this as a complement to the new site, as part of a larger building project,” Cuno says.

But Cohn is concerned that her calls for Fogg renovations will make the prospect of a new museum even less likely.

“That scenario [substantial renovations] puts off into an even more distant position the question of a new museum,” Cohn says.

Cohn says the question of museum expansion will “inevitably” involve the University’s land in Allston.

One of Hyman’s four committees on planning for Allston is charged with cultural development of Harvard’s space across the river. Cuno sits on the committee to represent the art museums.

While moving part of the collection to Allston would alleviate space concerns, Cuno says he worries that, long-term, there will be a push to entirely relocate the museums’ holding across the river.

He says this move would cause the museums to lose their focus on teaching and their interaction with Harvard’s History of Art and Architecture department.

“The museum’s mission and program is very closely linked to teaching within the College and Faculty of Arts and Science,” Cuno says. “So unless there is some representation of the College across the river or some sort of spectacular transaction…if we were over there it would radically alter our mission and I think that would be a mistake.”

But both Cohn and Cuno agree that Allston could hold some promise for additional museum space.

“One can envision a kind of complex, maybe with a performing arts space,” Cohn says.

For instance, she suggests, HUAM could also find offices, temporary exhibition space and storage locations across the river—options that are all up in the air pending more “general planning” of Allston.

“At this point, everything should be rethought,” Cuno says. “We shouldn’t limit our thinking.”

—Staff writer J. Hale Russell can be reached at jrussell@fas.harvard.edu.