The Smallest Museum of Modern Art

Yesterday my neighbour Inge Witt came up with an old book from the 80s, “The Museum of Drawers” (ISBN: 3-7-1650260-X). And I really fell in love with it. The subject of work is still worth having a closer look.

Between 1970 and 1977 the Swiss artist Herbert Distel worked on his Schubladenmuseum, a collection of miniature contemporary artworks. It is also known as “Le Musée en Tiroirs” and the “The Museum of Drawers”. Nearly all the contributions were created expressly for the museum.

“The Museum of Drawers”, a former box for reels of sewing silk from an old haberdasher’s shop, comprises 500 small rooms made up of 20 drawers, each with 25 compartments. The whole museum stands on the 501st work of art, the metal base by Ed Kienholz.

The work has been in possession of the Kunsthaus Zürich since 1979, when it was donated to the gallery by the artist and the Julius Baer Foundation.

“Almost 40 years have elapsed since Distel started work on the Schubladenmuseum, and some of the miniature objects it contains are now in a poor state of preservation due to the deterioration of materials and/or mechanical damage (e.g. damage in transit). The authority and expressiveness of the artwork is thus at risk of being undermined. In collaboration with Bern University of the Arts’ Department of Conservation and Restoration, a project was initiated for the purpose of conserving and restoring the Schubladenmuseum.” – Kunsthaus Zürich

The work has been in possession of the Kunsthaus Zürich since 1979, when it was donated to the gallery by the artist and the Julius Baer Foundation. The following two photographs are from the website of the Kunsthaus Zürich.