Don’t Miss The Panorama

The Queens Museum Of Art

By Josh Parish

Getting Started

Part of the museum’s permanent collection includes this original artwork of the Kodak Pavillion for the 1964-65 World’s Fair.

The Queens Museum of Art is as much a historical archive as it is an art museum. The New York City building, which houses the museum, is itself an artifact; it accommodated the original General Assembly of the United Nations before it relocated to the east shores of Manhattan in 1951.

Admission to the QMA is a suggested donation of $5 for adults, $2.50 for seniors and students with ID. Kids 5 and under are free.

After shelling out, the first piece of art you’ll encounter may seem slightly enigmatic for a Queens-themed museum—it’s a reproduction of Michelangelo’s Pietà.

The statue stands as a memorial to the 1964-65 World’s Fair. It was where city commissioner Robert Moses negotiated, according to the title card on the casting, “an unprecedented and controversial agreement” with Pope John XXIII to ship the real sculpture from the Vatican to the Fair. It’s a worthy subject for a memorial, and you can bet it was a controversial event; until then, Pietà hadn’t been moved from the holy city since 1499. (In true New York style, the sculpture was presented in a production by Broadway stage designer Jo Mielziner complete with Gregorian music and flickering blue lights.)

Digging In

The area east of Flushing Meadows is only a small portion off the Panorama’s view of the city.

Just beyond the master’s cast is a tribute to a different World’s Fair—the one held in Flushing Meadows in 1939 and 1940. The event was held in the final years of the Great Depression, and the artifacts in the QMA collection make clear a consistent theme of the Fair: the future.

General Motors even produced “Futurama,” an entire exhibition dedicated to experimental engineering, for the show. Models of sleek, art deco-inspired vehicles, streamlined souvenir ashtrays and space-age sugar shakers from the exhibit are on display.

So are plenty of other trinkets proving the Fair’s scope: A preserved uniform for the Girl Guides (the group of young women hired to help visitors navigate their way through the tangle of pavilions, food tents and exhibits), and the original pullout map of attractions published in the New Yorker —a warm, smile-inducing piece of a vintage style if nothing else. (Don’t miss the architectural model for the New York City Building hidden behind the leftmost wall at the front of the exhibit, either.)

To the rear of the 1939-40 exhibit is that of the 1964-65 World’s Fair. As you walk through, remember these two fairs gave birth to some of Queens’ most popular and best-known cultural attractions. Where ’39-‘40 gave the borough the New York City Building, ’64-’65 left two other Queens standards in its wake—both the Unisphere and the Panorama of the City of New York were originally exhibits.

You’ll find the original model for the Unisphere behind glass here, along with memorabilia from the (fittingly sponsored) Sinclair Dino-land exhibit, the oil company’s display of giant dinosaur models.

And don’t forget the Panorama was originally a ride. Near the back wall of the exhibit sits one of the original “helicopter” cars; it once ferried riders above and around the Panorama, simulating 3,000- to 20,000-ft. views of the city.

Finishing Up

The helicopter ride may seem like a fun, even silly, idea, until you step above the Panorama itself; then it seems downright vertigo-inspiring. This is one of the coolest pieces of art in Queens. The room-sized model, created by Robert Moses and Raymond Lester, was the world’s largest scale model when it appeared at the ’64 fair. Watch out as grandma takes her first steps along the ascending ramp—the carpeted floor suddenly turns to Plexiglas and she may find herself disconcertingly floating 10 feet above Staten Island.

The QMA’s only other permanent exhibit is the Tiffany In Queens Collection, just above the Panorama on the second floor. The collection shows off some gems from Tiffany’s manufacturing career, which began in a small factory in Corona in the 1880s. And these aren’t just window-dressings; the collection also features Tiffany’s ornate lampshades, his 20th Century twist to the colorful panes once found exclusively in churches across Europe.

Check out the special audio-visual demonstrations on the manufacturing of the glass, too; watching the fiery process will give you a new respect for the end result.

Temporary exhibits change several times a year and usually feature artists with a local connection. To find out what’s showing currently, visit the museum’s website, www.queensmuseum.org.

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The Queens Museum Of Art
New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
(718) 592-9700

www.queensmuseum.org

Through Sept. 4: 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Wed.-Sun. After Sept. 4: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., Noon-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Suggested donation $5 adults, $2.50 seniors and students with ID, members and kids 5 and under free.