New York’s Museum Stores Sell Arty Goods

Once upon a time, museums were strictly for looking. Now they’re also for shopping. Reproductions, one-of-a-kind crafts, original art and distinctive and sometimes exclusive designer items are featured, along with superb posters, cards and books.

Among Manhattan’s best-known museum shops is the MOMA Design Store at 44 West 53rd St. After decades of gradual growth, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) retail operation blossomed into the adjacent Design Store in 1989. It was followed by the opening of a branch at Grand Central Station in 1990.

Merchandise sold is the epitome of modern design. Products are screened by museum curators and are chosen for emphasis on sleek, simple styling and high-quality materials. The result is that classic examples of modern products by contemporary designers such as Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Marcel Bruer and Isamu Noguchi are included.

The shop offers a Noguchi glass and black-finished poplar table ($1,720), a Frank Lloyd Wright natural cherry-wood barrel armchair ($2,810), an Eileen Grey adjustable-height table of chrome-plated tubular steel and glass ($580).

Exclusive pieces include a leather B.K.F. butterfly chair ($495), Ira Howard Levy’s MOMA black-leather tote bag (made by Leowe, $310), Martin Moskof’s Alphapuzzle to teach children letters, colors and shapes ($35) and a Jack Stone children’s elephant briefcase ($25), Fernando Medina’s kits to make colorful clocks ($32.50) and Nikolai Suetin’s Russian suprematist porcelain demitasse cup and saucer set and platter (reproductions, $35 and $40 respectively).

Many MOMA items are available mail order. Call (800) 447-MOMA for a catalogue.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street), the largest art museum in the nation and fourth largest in the world, has expanded its retail business beyond museum walls to four additional locations in New York City, two in Los Angeles (South Coast Plaza and Century City Shopping Center), two in Connecticut and one each in New Jersey and Ohio.

The main shop, located off the museum’s main lobby, has an abundant selection of books on such topics as fine and decorative arts, travel for art lovers, artists and schools of art, costumes and collectibles. It also sells exhibition catalogues, post cards and greeting cards showing Van Gogh in Arles, Tiffany windows, Winslow Homer watercolors, Alexander Calder animals and other reproductions (from $10 for 24 cards).

The shop features reproductions from museum collections and other gift items such as engraved marriage boxes (17th-Century Dutch, silver plate for $59.50, silver for $185); hand-painted porcelain fruit boxes (Meissen, 1750, $15); Tiffany stained glass windows (from $68.50) and a brass art nouveau candlestick with a graceful female figure as its base (French, 1830, $225).

Jewelry reproductions from Asian, Egyptian, Greek and Islamic collections include Chinese dragon circle pins (5th to 3rd centuries BC, gold-plated, $49.50), Byzantine earrings (circa 6th or 7th century, 14-karat gold with aquamarines and pearls, $1,595). There are neckties ($35), umbrellas ($48) and totes (from $25).

The Met’s mail order department, (800) 635-5355, publishes catalogues nine times a year.

The International Center for Photography shops (1130 Fifth Ave. at 94th Street and 1133 Sixth Ave. at 43rd Street) have books on photographers and all aspects of photography, as well as post cards, posters, photo albums ($20 to $60) and picture frames ($15 to $72).

Framed tintypes from the 1870s are $20 to $30. Original photos by artists whose work is on exhibit are $350 to $500. T-shirts bearing the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko and Barbara Kruger cost $15 to $20.

The Museum of the City of New York shop (Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street) offers books that chronicle New York’s changing skyline and offer information on the city’s history and culture.

The shop also sells nostalgic city children’s toys from tops and yo-yos to street chalk, jacks, marbles ($1 to $15) and paper dolls with historical costumes from Colonial America and the Civil War ($4.95 to $9.95).

The Jewish Museum (Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street) is temporarily housed during building renovations at the New York Historical Society (Central Park West and West 78th Street, near the Museum of Natural History). The shop features books about anything related to Judaism.

It also sells ceremonial items for use during Jewish holidays: reproductions of 1900 Vienna Seder plates for Passover (ceramic, $225), hand-embroidered matzo cloths (from $65), large Elijah cups in silver or hand-painted porcelain (from $135) and Wolpert brass reproduction Hanukkah lamps ($185). Calendars, greeting cards and Jewish marriage contracts ($36) are reproduced from museum collections.

The Museum of Natural History (Central Park and West 78th Street) has a spacious two-level shop with books and gift items that reflect the world’s natural wonders and diverse cultures.

It has an exceptional list of astronomy and geology books, reproductions from ethnology collections and mineral specimens. Ethnic crafts include African and South American soapstone and wood sculptures ($10 to $225), baskets ($7.50 to $50) and clothing.

Indonesian batik jackets cost $65 and Indian silk batik scarfs cost from $25 to $35. Native American handcrafts, including Pueblo pottery (from $65) and fetish necklaces ($95 to $595), are featured.

The shop’s collection of dinosaur gifts includes T-shirts (from $12), neckties ($25) and lunch boxes ($22). For children, the Junior Shop in the basement sells mineral kits (from $4) and stuffed animals (from $6).

The Museum of American Folk Art’s shops (Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th streets and at 62 West 50th St.) sell decorative folk arts from necklaces made from comic strips ($10) to wooden whirligigs (Uncle Sams, Abe Lincolns and others, from $125) to hooked rugs (from $350). Bird decoys from paperweights ($10) to full-size geese ($100) to carved wood fish decoys, some with metal fins or tails ($50 to $250).

There are hand-painted wooden game boards ($50 to $150) and pottery cat plates and mugs ($10 to $55). In addition: original art and folk art books include academic studies and how-to’s. Crib-size handmade quilts ($85) and special quilt-related books and materials are stocked to reflect the museum’s third Great American Quilt Festival, which will be held May 1 to 5.

In SoHo, the Museum of Holography shop (11 Mercer St.) sells books that explain the three-dimensional photographic process, as well as holograms of William Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter, cats, dice, hippos and other creatures (from $20). There also are holographic T-shirts ($10), earrings ($3 to $8), watches (from $13) and eyeglasses ($12). Key chains are $2.50 to $4.

The Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn), the city’s second-largest museum, which contains fine and decorative arts, has two well-stocked shops.

The Gallery Shop has a wide variety of art books and one-of-a-kind artifacts and crafts from around the world: hand-blown Mexican blue glass goblets ($12.50), hand-woven Peruvian rugs ($60 to $200) and quilted wall hangings called molas , $40 to $125, Panamanian tightly woven, brightly colored jackets with geometric patterns ($75 to $150), Chinese Cinnabar ($30 to $40) and cloisonne necklaces ($25 to $75).

The second shop, artSmart (The Children’s Shop at The Brooklyn Museum), sells paint sets ($15 to $25), Indian bamboo and reed flutes (50 cents to $10), mobile kits ($15 to $30) and informative board games such as “Listening to Nature,” ($14), which teaches children about natural phenomena, and “Africa Map,” ($8.95), which teaches geography. Both shops have excellent books.

Museum shops give museum members 10% to 15% discounts. Admission fees are not required for access to shops.