A Museum without an Audience.

BROOKLYN (New York, N.Y.); NEW York (N.Y.); NEW York (State); UNITED States

In the rich and varied history of the American art museum, there is hardly a sadder story than that of the institution that has lately, once again, changed its name from the Brooklyn Museum of Art to, simply, the Brooklyn Museum. Though it has occupied an elegant Beaux-Arts building designed by the illustrious firm of McKim, Mead & White since its founding in 1894 and though it boasts a number of important collections ranging from Egyptian antiquities to 20th-century modernism, this has remained through good times and bad a museum without a public. Residents of Brooklyn who are neither practicing artists nor art-world professionals are apparently indifferent to the pleasures of the visual arts and the many tourists who regularly visit New York rarely feel the need to venture beyond Manhattan's copious provision of galleries and museums in pursuit of artistic gratification.