When staying in or exploring SoHo, museum choices are not that numerous. Both the International Center of Photography Museum and the New Museum are in the Lower East Side, and so is the Tenement Museum. The Italian American Museum is in the Little Italy and so is the Museum of Chinese in America, while the downtown museums require anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes' walk. Heading north, either to Whitney or Rubins' will also mandate half-an-hour walk. Also, many art galleries are not in SoHo anymore, most of them have migrated to Chelsea by now. One notable exception is NYC Fire Museum on Spring St, by the westernmost boundary of SoHo, but while quite interesting, this museum caters to specific interests.
CIMA (Center for Italian Modern Art) fills this void perfectly, even though it's not a museum per se, and the premises are rather limited by size. However, the highly dedicated staff and their friendly welcome, the well designed exhibition space, the affordable admission, and interesting, often a times unique art installations, fully compensate for the Center's smaller size, and even offering as a trade-off a more intimate experience.
Guided tours are timed for specific time slots. Tickets are available online, on the Center's website. While at 421, Broome St, look for the doorphone by the marked plaque of CIMA. After announcing yourself, head to the elevator that is going to take you on the 4th floor.
The staff, as mentioned, will provide you a cordial welcome and invite you to help yourself to coffee and snacks in the kitchen.
The current exhibition of Alberto Savinio is briefly described by CIMA as follows. "The Center for Italian Modern Art is proud to present the first exhibition in the United States of the work of Alberto Savinio (1891–1952) in over two decades. Hailed by poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire as the paragon of a Renaissance man, Savinio was not only an exceptional visual artist and member of the Parisian avant-garde, but also a gifted pianist, composer, musicologist, set designer, critic, and writer. Yet despite his achievements, Savinio, the younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico, is today virtually unknown outside of Italy."
The exhibition, encompassing "25 rarely seen works", many of them from the private collections, will be on show until June 23. The Italian guide provided us with excellent lecture about the creative career of the artist and was very attentive to the visitors' comments and was equally very helpful in answering the questions.
Highly recommended.