The 1920s
By 1923, the terracing of the granite hill at Fairmount had been completed and the foundations of the building, as well as the broad steps leading up to it from street level, had been laid. Designed as a vast Neoclassical temple with wings embracing an open court, the Museum's two outlying pavilions were constructed first in order to ensure a continued flow of city funds to complete the connecting central structure. The Museum's design echoes the simpler Neoclassicism of the little group of buildings by the Schuylkill River to the northwest, which were built in the 1820s to house the city's waterworks. Even before the shell of the building was finished, temporary galleries had been opened in 1924 on the schedule imposed by the wills of George W. Elkins and his father, William, and that of John H. McFadden. They had bequeathed magnificent painting collections on the condition that suitable galleries in the projected building be prepared within a reasonable period of time following their deaths. On March 26, 1928, the first finished section of the new Museum's interior, devoted to British and American art, was formally opened to the public.
It was during this important period in the Museum's history that the distinguished architectural historian Fiske Kimball (1888–1955) was appointed Director, in 1925. Under his leadership the Museum forged ahead to the front ranks of art institutions in the United States. In his capable hands was placed the responsibility not only for the architectural development of the interior plan, but also the acquisition of collections that would be worthy of the building and of the city.
Kimball lost no time in devising a unique plan for the installation of the Museum. On the second floor, the principal exhibition area, would be a series of galleries arranged in historical sequence, encompassing a selection of masterpieces in painting and sculpture along with architectural elements, furniture, and other objects of their time. This arrangement would, in Kimball's words, "enable the visitor to retrace the great historic pageant of the evolution of art." Where possible, these masterpieces were to be installed in actual interiors of the appropriate period. At once, Kimball set about acquiring many of the Museum's period rooms and finding donors to purchase them, sending his curators to Japan, China, France, England, and Holland.
The Museum was one of the first in the United States to use this method of display, creating "a walk through time" across the entire upper floor. According to Kimball's plan, the floor below would contain a systematic arrangement of specialized collections, such as paintings, ceramics, and furniture. The large, flexible spaces of the new building also allowed for temporary loan exhibitions, which in the 1920s ranged from contemporary Dutch prints to American Windsor chairs. Philadelphia's enthusiasm for its new Museum of Art was strikingly apparent, and in May 1929 the Museum Bulletin proudly proclaimed an attendance record of one million visitors during the preceding year.
