Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Museum Skepticism

    Uploaded by

    Fernanda_Pitta_5021
    13 views27 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    13 views27 pages

    Museum Skepticism

    Uploaded by

    Fernanda_Pitta_5021

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 27
    MUSEUM KEPTICISM 064 C34 m, Pour DAVID CARRIER Veiner MUS ZUM SKEPTICISM A History of the Display of Are in Public Galleries, DEDALUS - Acervo - MAC ANTONY 21500007930 DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Duthamand London 006 “Beauty and Art, History and Fame and Power” ON ENTERING THE LOUVRE Representation in general has indeed a double power—that of ren- dering anew and imaginaily present, not to sy living, the absent and dhe dead... if epresenaton reproduces nor oly de Fcto but also de jure the conditions that make it eproduction possible, chen we understand shat its in the incerests of power to appropiate it for ise Representation and power share the stme nature. Just as works of art require interpretation, so too do the museums in ‘which they are displayed. But while everyone understands the need to explain visual are by identifying its iconography and social sigi and by placing individual paintings in historical narratives, the idea that museums also require such analysis i less familia! ‘That may seem sur- prising, for we certainly interpret them informally. When approaching wwe udge the architecture. Upon entering we sense ifthe ingressis inviting and the foot plan easy to follow: Reading wall labels, we reflect upon the provenance of objectsin the collection and the roles played by curatosin organizing cher display. We readily think about che visual relationships of che works of art on display. And thanks to Nietzsche's genealogy of Chistian morality and Foucaul’s books about madness and the prison, ‘we are very aware that instcutions can be interpreted. As Alexander Ne~ hhamas writes, “Genealogy is interpretation in the sense that it teats our ‘moral practices not as given but as texts, as signs with « meaning, as 18 oN ENTERING THE LoUeRE ‘manifesations ofa will to power that this interpretation tis to reveal.” Because Nietrsche and Foucaule ae interested in politcal power, their ‘ways of thinking are very suggestive for our present purposes. ‘The literature of arc is devoted to individual paintings, And so the argument of my Principles of Art History Waiting was relatively easy to work out, for identifying it merely required examining the practice of| rt historians. Locating my present analysis was more difficult, because alchough art museums have been much discussed recently, there is less articulated awareness that we interpret them as total works oFart. When 4 painting or sculpcure is given a suggestive analysis, what I allan inter- pretation by description, then its appearance changes before our eyes.’ Forexample, Rudolf Wietkower ays thatin Bernini's Fetasyof Se. Teena, Comaro Chapel, 8. Maria della Vitoria, “ditected heavenly light sanctfies the objects and persons struck by it and singles them out as recipients of divine Grace... we realize that the moment of divine illi- ‘mination’ passes as it comes."* When he adds that “here in the ambi- ‘ent air of a chapel (Bernini did whae painters tried to do in ther pic- utes," use real light, his account cartes real art historical weight. When ‘Adrian Stokes writes thatthe Figures in Cézanne's The Large Basher in the National Gallery, London, could “suggest a quorum of naked tramps ‘camped on top of rallway carriages as the landscape roars by from lef to righ." he changes how we see that picture? And Arthur Danto'sdescrip- tion of Cy'Twombly’s Leda and she Swan projects strong incerpretation of tha abstract paincing, calling it “the eto degree of writing, drawing, painting, composition, somehow achieving —at is greatest achieving — 2 certain stammering beauty, where the base elements are possibly even transformed inco elegant whispers. There is an almost Taoist political ‘metaphor hete for those who seek such things.”* Much are waiting —by ‘Vasari in the sixteenth century as well as by Ariforum critics today—is incerpretation by description ‘A strong interpretation changes dramatically, peshaps permanently, hhow artis seen. The aim of successful incerpretations, Leo Steinberg ‘writes is “thac chey be probable if not provable; that they make visible what had not previously been apparent; and chat, once stated, they s0 penetrate the visual matter that che picture seems to confess itelf and the interpreter disappears”? A Marxise commentator characterized this activity in political terms: "Interpretation is not an isolated act, but cakes Ow ENTERING TIKE LOUVRE. 19 place within a Homeric batlefied, on which a host of interpretative op- tions are either openly or implicitly in conflc."* True enough, but in ‘our bourgeois society, debate abou conilicting interpretations, include ing Marsst accounts, is posible. T, J. Clark’ justly famous discussion ‘of Manet’s A Barat the Flier-Bergive says: “The gil in the mieror does seem to be part of some. facile narrative... . Bue that cannot be said ‘of the ‘el’ barmaid, who seands at the centre, returning our gaze with such evenness, such seeming lack of emotion or even interest. There isa ‘gentleman in the mirror... . Whois this unfortunate, precisely? Where is he? Where does e stand in relation to her, in relation tus?" Once close concentation was focused on the relationship of the barmaid to che mirror, elaborate attention was soon devoted to Clark’ questions. My Pousins Paintings reinterpret Apollo ane Daphne: “The two figures, oe secing and the other blind to his desire, face one another directly. Be- «cause our point of view isc right anges to them, wesce both che desiring, Apollo and the oblivious Daphne... . our presence is needed to link the figures, but their eriangular arrangement exists independently from us" Earlier commentators treat Poussin as an impersonal classics, but perhaps my incepretaton will cause reexamination of that cliché." ‘Museum scholars, too, engage in interpretation by description, chang ing how the building and collection are seen. When, for example, you learn thatthe central domes of older museums allude to the temple of the muses of realize that walking up che encrance stairs elevates you out, ‘of ordinary telity into the att world, then you will ee such domes and «naire differently. Mieke Bal analyzes the impressionist galleries in the Mecropolitan Museum, noting that "pate of the intended meaning of the space as it has been arranged is to be minimally vi sive; this is how the expository agent, including ts authority, makes tel invisible." Carol Duncan interprets the Morgan Library: “The room, today preserves much ofits original look, so much so, in fact, cha visicors can barely examine its contents.” And Albert Levi describes the Price Se, unineru- 8 “a presentation of works of art in thei naked individuality, a temple ‘of pure aesthetic experience, a viral embodiment of the idea of heart museum as an exclusive asembly of nothing bur masterpieces” Once you look, hen you will ind many such interpretations by description. “The sles af museum interpreters areas diverse as those of art histort- ans. Goethe tells of his wise o the museum in Dresden, “in which splen- OO dourand neanes reigned wgether he deepest alles... imparted 4 Feeling of solemnity. which so much .. resembled the sensation with which one reads chuteh he objets. seemed here. set, ‘up only for che sacred purposes of at" Stephen Greenblatt intesprets the Musée d'Orsay, noting that “by moving che Impresionis an Post nmpessonist masterpieces into proximity withthe wok of fr ess well, known piers. whats been sacrificed... visual wonder centered ‘on the aesthetic masterpiece." Donald Pesos fers a highly complex analysis of Sir John Soane’s Maseum, London: "You have... series of| progressions mapped out choughout che museunis paces from death ‘life to elightenmen; fom lower to higher fa dark to ight rom mull colosto thei resokatonasbilne whit light... Soanestands tthe pivecal pont ofall of his” Elizabeth Gray Buck argues tha Gus ‘ve Morus maseum in Pais “prevented the French government fiom pressing his painings iat anonymous ideslogical service for the greater tory of France and che painaine"™ And Wan Gaskill cams that in ‘the Nacional Gallery London, “by alerting the Vermeer with church insite curator “pointedly avoide a comparison beeween Vermie's ‘domestic interiors and those of his contemporain." Victoria Newhouse dewoes2 lively book to intxpetation by destip- tion of the art museum, She citczes the Metropolitan Museum Foren- largng che orginal fone steps: “The new sens made the fagade appeat ‘be part of large horizontal background.” And se argues hatin the J. Paul Gesy Museum “the excess ofthe new, galleries undercore the shortcomings ofthe collection." Js at comparative suis are im portant olteray scholars, so what might be clled snuseum incertex- ‘ual, comparisons beeen insicutions, provid essential perspectives, Douglas Davis for example, discuses how Arata Ibozakis Museum of ‘Contemporary Art Los Angeles, “ousts wih the meaning of his inceroe and his ations cient by covering his roof with pyramids that ineviably recall Egypt and its stark, dey landscape,” showing cat the museum is in a culural desert He is more sympathetic to BS. sn Long lind City, praising the “rsticty” ofthe syle which “springs lost eniely from is vial Yound container’ "the public school building restored by the architect Shael Shapiro. Whether o noe you agree, nce attention is called to such Features, you will probably se these museums dierent A fall discussion ofall che major a insitucons i needed, for the wo ‘older survey histories now ate dated Buc much can be learned, 1 wil show; by close serutiny of just few museums Some museums displaying old paincings are spaces with a grand his- tory oftheirown, When visting we may readily move from seeing at to reflecting upon the events that rook place lang. ago in che galleries where ‘we stand. That is noc mete ide, flighty speculation, for history can be relevant co sexing the paintings now hanging, especially when chs art played an importane role in the museums history. In his discusion of “understanding a work of a,” Richard Wollheim argues, “However far ‘we gowih setting down what, as we sei, the work means ori, this can never be complet, just because experience, hence our experience ofthe ‘work can neverbe exhausted” Oras Scephen Bann writes, in effectively drawing out the implications of this claim: “The search for meaning — the process hats commonly calle ‘iterpeetation’—isa virally limit- less one, which can be terminated only by che arophy ofthe individual subject's desie to know... . Ta interpret he aesthetic object is inevi- ‘ably co measure its participation in the mulkple codes which govern the collective consciousness." We have a natural desire that our interpre~ ‘ations of visual atifacts be as full as possible, and that rquites taking account ofthe larger context in which works of art are displayed. The analogy chat Wollheim draws with “working through of phantasy” will guide our disussion of the multiple codes invoked by art museums. Henry James's memoit A Small Boy and Others gives a finely tuned in- ‘epretation of the Louvre: “had looked at pictures... but [had also looked at France and looked at Europe, looked even at Americas Europe itself might be conceived s0 to look, looked at history, a stil fle past and a complacently personal future, at society, manners, rypes,charac- ‘ets posibilties and prodigies and mysteries of fify sors. ..Such were at any rate some of the vague processes... of picking up an educa- tion," What we view, he suggests, are not just the individual paintings and seulpeures on display, but the museum as total work of at. The 2t- chitecturalscting can have a richly suggestive history Ieis necessary foram appreciation of thisseylevo remember the atmosphere in which ic grow, the struggles first berween Protestantism and Catholi Gam in the sixteenth century, Henri IV's decision co rerum coche Roman Church... then the spreading of ligios indifference, unlit becameall- wedi in the policy of Richelieu, che cardinal, and Father Joseph the Capuchin, who fought Prcestns in France but favoured them abroad, in both cates purely fr tenons of national expediency Knowing tha story prepares us to understand the at in the Louvte. [Nineteen Islan pictures acquited by Frangois I, dhe patron of Leo nardo who ruled France fom 1515 to 1547, ae still inthe museum?” Louis XIV had large collection of painsings and many French, Flemish, nd Italian drawings. And therewas kind of museum between 1666 and 1671 in the Gallery of Ambassadors, which contained a copy of the Car- racei ceiling inthe French academy in Rome and some alan paintings. But ths arrangement was ephemeral—and the king dd not display his newly aequited thirteen Poussins2" The French royal collection remained ax Versailles, During the Revolution the Louvre became a public art museum. “In the... Grand Gallery, are was tnsfarmed from an old-regime luxury, traditionally associated with conspicuous consumption and social privi lege, into national propery, a source of pattoce price and an instrument ‘of popular enlightenment,” James Sheehan writes2” In October 1792, jst after the old regime collapsed, the minister of the interior wrote: “This muscum must demonstrate the nation’s great riches... ance rus extend its glory through the ages and to all peoples: the national ‘museum will embrace knowledge in all its manifold beauty and will be the admiration ofthe universe... the museum... will become among the most powerful illustrations ofthe French Republic” The French enjoyed ths storchouse of treasures, which showed thie greatness. For- cigners who admited ar taken from many nations sw how powerful France was." About 5,000 English tourists visited the Louvre in 1802 Joseph Furington’s diary gives a detailed account, comparing Titan's ‘Peter Martyrto Domenichino's St. rome; oferingan elaborate commen- tary on Raphae!s Tansiguravon, with remarks by his fiend Benjamin ‘West; and looking closely at che Mantegna and Terburgh.S* In 1803, Dominique Vivant Denon, director of the Louvre, asked Na- poleon Bonaparte co inspect the new hanging: “The fs ime you wall through cis gallery, I hope you will ind that this exercise... already borings a character af ores, instruction, and casiiation. Iwi continue ow exteninG THE LowvEE 23 inthe same spirit forall the schools, and in afew months, while visiting the gallery one wll beable co have... a history course in the are of paie- ing.” By che mid-nineteenth century this gallery had arch history. In 1855 the English travel writer Bayle St.John wrote about his rst visit ro the Louvre soon after the barricades of 1848 were removed. Instead of being... the scene whercon the great tag-comedyof Power is «enacted, the focus of inuigues, and maneuvers, and jalouses, and dark suspicions, and daher ations, the home of royal pide or misery, the gay resot of courtiers and maids of honout, she tomb of virtue, she cynosure ofthe vulgar the great manufactory where sickly caprice or grasping am- bition of gloomy Fnaticism, plans wa against Foreign states oF masscts agains heredcal o insubordinae subjecs,—it has become the canguil ‘bac gorgeous eige ofa prodigious crowd of objets, pinepally of Ar ‘We soe there some fragments, a least, of che wrecks ofall

    You might also like