museum upload

Encountering the Museum

Readings:“The History of Collecting and the Growth of Art Museums,” 4-14.

Terms/Concepts:museum, mouseion, muses, treasury, pinakotheke, chapel, ambulatory, reliquary, wunderkammer, Enlightenment, white cube, framing devices,

Monument List: Treasury of the Siphnians,

Sanctuary to Apollo at Delphi, Greece, 550-530 BCE.

Domenico Remps, Scarabottolo, 1675.

Hubert Robert, Design for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, Paris, 1796.

Resnick Pavillion, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Artist

Art Viewer

Context

Cont

ext Context

WhereWhen

Defining the Museum

Etymologically: Our word museum comes from the word “mouseion” or “home of the muses.”

Denotatively: a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.

Historically: locations where the collections and riches of a kingdom or a single person are kept.

The Mouseion:“The Home of the Muses”

Baldassarre Peruzzi, Apollo and the Muses, 1514-1523.

Clio = History Thalia = Comedy

Erato = Love Poetry

Euterpe = Song Polyhymnia = Hymns

Calliope = Epic Poetry Terpsichore = Dance Melpomene = Tragedy

Urania = Astronomy

Treasury of the Siphnians, Sanctuary to Apollo at Delphi, Greece, 550-530 BCE.

Treasury of the Siphnians, Sanctuary to Apollo at Delphi, Greece, 550-530 BCE.

Propylaia (center), Temple of Athena Nike (right), Pinakotheke (Left). Acropolis, Athens. c. 450-430 BCE

Pinakotheke

Propylaia

Temple of Athena Nike

Library at Alexandria, Egypt, c. 323-31 BCE.

Museum at Alexandria, Library of Alexandria, c. 323-31 CE

Museum at Alexandria, Library of Alexandria, c. 323-31 CE

The Middle Ages:Reliquaries and Chapels

Radiating Chapels and Ambulatory, St. Denis, Cathedral, Paris, France, 1145.

The Middle Ages:Reliquaries and Chapels

Radiating Chapels and Ambulatory, St. Denis, Cathedral, Paris, France, 1145.

The Middle Ages:Reliquaries and Chapels

Radiating Chapels and Ambulatory, St. Denis, Cathedral, Paris, France, 1145.

Chapel Ambulatory

The Middle Ages:Reliquaries and Chapels

Apse with Reliquaries, Ste. Chapelle, Paris, France, 1370 CE.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

European Trade Routes of the 15th and 16th century.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

Musei Wormiani Historia, Italy, 16th century.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

Domenico Remps, Scarabattolo, 1675.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

Schloss Ambras, Kunst- and Wunderkammer, 17th Century.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

Schloss Ambras, Kunst- and Wunderkammer, 17th Century.

The Early Modern:“Wunderkammer”

William van Haecht, Kunstkammer of Cornelius van der Geest, 1628.

The Early Modern:Private Collections

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1658.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, opened 1683.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

The British Museum, London, founded 1753.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

The Enlightenment Room, The British Museum, London, opened 1759.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

The Enlightenment Room, The British Museum, London, opened 1759.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

The Louvre, Paris, Opened to the public in 1793.

The Enlightenment:Pictures go Public

Hubert Robert, Design for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, Paris, 1796.

Almost nothing displayed in museums was made to be seen in them.--Susan Vogel

A Kuba woman’s wrapper, a Zande hunting net and a metal currency from Zairein the “Art Gallery Display”

A Kuba woman’s wrapper, a Zande hunting net and a metal currency from Zairein the “Art Gallery Display”

A Kuba woman’s wrapper, a Zande hunting net and a metal currency from Zairein the “Art Gallery Display”

A Kuba woman’s wrapper, a Zande hunting net and a metal currency from Zairein the “Art Gallery Display”

Zande Net Jackie Winsor, Double Circle

Framing Devices in Museums

Choice of objects to display.

The grouping or separation of objects.

The categorization of objects.

The location of displays. The design of displays. The didactic materials.

Museums “frame” our understanding and interpretation of cultures and historical periods.

Museum Displays Can…

Tell a story. Create relationships. Contextualize objects. Lend importance to

objects. Declare an object to be

an artwork or an artifact.

Navigating Space

Daniel Liebskind, Hamilton Building, Denver Art Museum, 2011.

Navigating Space

Plan of the Hamilton Building and the North Building, Denver Art Museum.

Navigating Space:The White Cube

Resnick Pavillion, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Navigating Space

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, founded in 1980.

Grouping

Thunder Bay Museum, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Grouping

Lawrence A. Fleischmann Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Grouping

Grouping

Grouping

Portland Art Museum

Positioning

Paris Salon, 18th century.

Positioning

Lighting

Lighting

Oklahoma City Museum of Art

Lighting

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

Reading Room, Denver Art Museum, 2011.

The Enlightenment Room, British Museum

Questions to ask yourself…

1. How does the space operate? Is it small? Large? Does it encourage or discourage interaction with the art or others?

2. What is the scope of this exhibit? What objects are chosen? Why might they be chosen? What are you supposed to learn?

3. How are objects displayed? Are they grouped together? Separated? What relationships do you see among objects?

4. Are objects presented as artworks or artifacts?5. How are the space and objects lit? Is the room bright?

Dark? Does the lighting add a sense of drama? Does it highlight particular objects?

Major Goals

How does the development of public museums follow the same developments of artists and patrons?

What is the significance of Susan Vogel’s statement: “Almost nothing displayed in museums was made to be seen in them?”

How do museum displays impact how you perceive a particular culture or set of objects?