Worcester Art Museum — Attraction in Worcester

We visited the Worcester Art Museum (yesterday) whilst on a trip to visit local Universities. The surrounding area it is in is reasonably pleasant and there is plenty of free parking which is a welcome bonus. The staff was very pleasant and the museum itself is clean, spacious and has quite a few worthwhile exhibits. The museum sports not only paintings but sculptures, weavings, woodworking, jewelry, spectacular mosaics and a complete reconstruction of an actual room from France which was amazing. There are "big name" artists like Monet, Sargent, Turner, Renoir, Cassatt, Warhol... but it's the lesser known artists which drew my interest and attention. There was a modern "electronic" exhibit which was quite interesting. I think the artist might have been from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (could be wrong).

Now on the the not so pleasant: The lighting on some pieces is atrocious with glare right smack dab in the center of the paintings so most of them have to be viewed from an angle. Glass over some of the well known works (I do understand why) made it impossible to discern fine detail. While a majority have a description adjacent to the work there are a few rooms with either no description at all or "maps" which you have to play "guess the painting by number". One gallery (room) had just two Ipads to cover 2 rooms (and the ipads were only in one room not both rooms) which made it virtually (pun intended) impossible to match up the art with the description. There is a place for modern "tech" but this is not one of them.

Now the most unpleasant part: I'm not sure if it was because admission was free (month of August) but our experience with other "guests" was less than pleasant. There was a couple who insisted that their 5 -7 year old children be allowed to (literally) run free, scream and do whatever they pleased; A middle school aged group where the teacher/counselor spoke so loud (she should have known better) we had to leave the room and yet still heard her 2 rooms away; A high school aged (camp group) with seemingly NO SUPERVISION as they were so loud and obnoxious we actually had to say something to one of the kids ourselves.

I/we are highly in favor of exposing art to children of all ages but the lack of respect and etiquette by the simple act of being quiet was almost unbearable. Yes we tried to move to different rooms but total lack of supervision prevented the groups from staying together so they wandered all around. For all the camp groups and parents with young children, there was no attempt by either the supervisors or museum staff/security to say "hey, keep it down and have some respect for the other people who actually choose to be here and enjoy the art". I partly blame the museum for not stepping up and laying down the (obvious) rules. There is no absolutely way they didn't see or hear this because they were in the same rooms.

I'm confident this is not the norm (having unmanageable school/camp groups and obnoxious self entitled parents) and shouldn't dissuade anyone from attending the museum. We just wanted to make your aware that if you do encounter this situation the staff doesn't do anything to stop it.

One last note: While we didn't eat there, the smells and sight of the Cafe inside the museum was wonderful! All in all it was worth visiting if you're...

I've been visiting the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) on an occasional basis for decades, despite not living in the vicinity. Particularly given the size of the surrounding community, It continues to display an impressively varied "encyclopedic" collection, although as the buildings that house it have developed over the years, parts of the collection, notably including American and contemporary art, are less than favorably displayed and the circuitous traffic pattern can be difficult to navigate--and yes, this was the case well before the current massive construction reportedly intended to integrate their receipt of the late lamented Higgins Armory Museum collection. The European painting galleries manage to present a chronological review of painting traditions from early Italian gold leaf panels to works from the early twentieth century. There are several works by better known artists, ranging from a fine panel by Piero di Cosimo to canvases by J.S. Sargent, and many important artistic traditions are well represented, even if not necessarily by their foremost practitioners, although some of the works are hung so high, with such indifferent lighting, that they can be difficult to see. There is a fine medieval French chapter house permanently reinstalled off the Renaissance courtyard whose own floor is particularly noteworthy for its fine Roman mosaic, a relic from an earlier time when the Museum engaged in archeological endeavors. WAM also offers multiple rooms devoted to arts of Asian cultures. There is a regular program of special exhibitions, which in recent years have ranged from an extensive loan display of Rembrandt etchings to an installation from their own storerooms of several fine European tapestries, although the later would have benefited from more detailed and thoughtful labels. The WAM also has a long history of art educational endeavors to which an entire building is dedicated. For a time some years ago they had a very pleasant restaurant with table service, sadly long gone. Free parking is located across the street, but although technically accessible, the museum can be a challenge for those with...

My visit to the Worcester Art Museum today with my husband, daughter, and parents was, without exaggeration, the worst museum experience of my life. Despite having four adults closely supervising a child who has a lot of museum experience, we were treated like vandals by a staff member who clearly wanted to exercise power for no reason.

The incident began when our daughter got a little too close to the floor—yes, the floor, not even a mosaic one, the one everyone was standing on!

She wasn’t touching anything. My husband was speaking to her, not in English, when this staff member approached, loudly and condescendingly announcing, “Not to ruin the family fun, but you can’t touch anything.” She wasn’t even near the art! As if that weren’t enough, he then proceeded to announce LOUDLY over his walkie-talkie like some kind of security breach was happening: “multiple touches in the Chapter House.”

Really?!

What was even worse, this man followed us, staring and hovering, clearly uncomfortable that he couldn’t understand what we were saying. (We were saying, “Is he seriously going to follow us around like that? I just want to leave.”) It felt like blatant discrimination, as if hearing a non-English language was offensive to him. The whole experience left us feeling singled out and unwelcome.

We have taken our daughter to several much larger fine art museums and were never treated like this. Needless to say, we will NOT be returning.

UPDATE: After reading other reviews, I am deeply concerned that this employee's rude behavior was racially motivated. My husband is Asian, and it’s alarming to see a pattern of similar treatment towards other non-white visitors while this same staff member was all smiles and charm toward white patrons.

Worcester Art Museum needs to address this pattern of discrimination against patrons if they want to survive in through 21st century.

STOP ASIAN...