Countywide : Museum to Inspect Collection

Water seepage in a gallery and the art storage area of the Newport Harbor Art Museum has caused the cancellation of the traveling exhibition “Masculine Masquerade: Masculinity and Representation.” It was to have opened April 21.

The museum canceled the show because staff must use the exhibit space to examine all of the museum’s 2,000-piece collection. The works will be removed from storage and eyeballed in the galleries by conservators and curators to assess possible damage from increased humidity levels in the storage vaults.

Museum personnel say no artwork has suffered water damage, but the presence of water has increased the humidity levels in the vaults. The museum also will use the hiatus to examine the affected areas of the building and make necessary repairs or modifications.

To replace the lost show, the museum will enlarge its permanent collection show, called “Object and Image,” which will open April 15, according to officials. It is the third in a series by Newport Harbor chief curator Bruce Guenther.

The inspection process will take four to six weeks, beginning March 19 after the close of the current exhibition, “Jochen Gerz: People Speak.”

“Masculine Masquerade,” organized by the List Visual Arts Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explores the concept of masculinity as a social phenomenon and a personal narrative.