NYC's Singular Small Museums

Small-scale museums (and house museums), from Noguchi's sculpture-filled garden to a little-known wood sculptor's studio in Greenwich Village

OF COURSE, we’re never going to tell you not to go to the Met, in all its 2.2 million-square-foot glory (and boy is it glorious), but after collective decades of exploring NYC’s heavy-hitting world class museum circuit, we are reminded, again and again, of how captivating the smaller, hyper-specific, underrated spots can be. Singular in their creative vision, these small-scale museum spaces are tucked away in houses/studios/libraries across the city, hidden in plain sight, without overwhelming crowds and more often than not, with a sense of intimacy, peacefulness and cult of personality.

NOGUCHI MUSEUM / Long Island

At 27,000 square feet, the Noguchi Museum is not exactly quaint, but its indoor-outdoor configuration makes it a peaceful and intimate immersion into the magical, abstract world of Isamu Noguchi. Known for his sculpture, public artworks, and modern furniture made with Herman Miller (and iconic ethereal Akari lanterns you’ve admired everywhere), Noguchi conceived and designed the two-story corner building himself, creating the very first first museum in America to be established by a living artist for their own work. If you’re already a devout Noguchi admirer, it might feel like a temple to his abstract modern sculpture, which, I think, is the point. The work stands for itself. If you don’t know much about this incredible man, read up before your visit, as there aren’t many placards or educational/bio materials posted. He was, after all, friends with Buckminster Fuller, had a steamy affair with Frida Kahlo, and was the only person in history to volunteer himself to the Japanese internment camps of the 40s to try to make them more humane.