Save
Save chapter to my Bookmarks
Cite
Cite this chapter
Print this chapter
Share
Share a link to this chapter
Free
Index
Daniel H. Weiss
Description: Why the Museum Matters
Why the Museum Matters
Index
Author
Daniel H. Weiss
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2022 by Daniel H. Weiss
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23605
View chapters with similar subject tags
Chapter images ()
Loading image navigation...
No image index could be found for this publication.
Close this Panel
Show previous images Show next images
Index
abolition of museums, 120, 146
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris, 34
accountability, 101, 117, 119, 136, 165
Acropolis, Athens, 15, 27, 60
activism, centered on museums, 101, 121–22, 130, 140, 146–49
Adams, John Quincy, 26
admissions policies, 104–8, 164
Albani, Alessandro, 29
Alexander the Great, 16
Altes (Old) Museum, Berlin, 59–60
American Museum of Natural History, New York, 110
ancient Near East, 11, 32–33
Appiah, Kwame Anthony, 127, 139, 166–67
archaeologists, 32
architecture, of museums, 55–63
Arch of Titus, Rome, 18–19
Ark of the Covenant, 18
art collecting: in the ancient world, 11–22
by British Museum, 31–34
ethics of, 33, 37–40, 119, 130–37
Eurocentric basis of, 126–28
expansion of, beyond Western culture, 128, 137–42, 152
by the Louvre, 37–39, 42
by The Met, 46
museums’ long-term commitment to, 154–55, 157
in public museums, 5
tax laws related to, 46, 156, 177n6
in United States, 19–21, 154–57. See also colonialism; cultural property; plunder
Art Institute of Chicago, 3, 45
Ashmolean, Oxford University, 28
Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), 114–16
Athens: Acropolis, 15
Parthenon, 27, 33
Porch of the Caryatids, 60
Atrium Libertatis, Rome, 21, 149
Augustus, 26
Baker, Hannah, 120, 146 Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski), 96–98
Thérèse Dreaming, 96
Baltimore Museum of Art, 156 Bambach, Carmen, 66–68
Barndt, Kerstin, 61
Beccaria, Cesare, 24
behavioral racism, 93–94
Bellini, Giovanni, St. Francis in the Desert, 72
Bellows, Henry, 126
Benin Bronzes, 133–36, 140, 167, 180n15
Black, Hannah, 92–95
Black Lives Matter, 85
Blanchard, Thérèse, 96
blockbuster exhibitions, 64–65
Boardman, John, 13–14, 16
boards of trustees, 111–19, 165
Boston, 129
Botton, Alain de, 57
Bradish, Luther, 26, 28
Breuer, Marcel, Whitney Museum of American Art building, 69–73
Bright, Parker, 92–95
British Museum, London, 2, 30–34, 41, 77, 129, 130
Bromwich, David, 138
Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 27, 33
Caesar, Julius, 19–20
Campbell, Thomas, 115
cancel culture, 76, 80–81
Canova, Antonio, 39
Capitoline, Rome, 2, 28–31, 41, 42
Capponi, Alessandro Gregorio, 29–30
CEOs. See chief executive officers
change, in museums, 58–59
Change the Museum (CTM), 120
chief executive officers (CEOs), 111–12
Chipperfield, David, 60–62
Choate, Joseph C., 44, 125
Christiansen, Keith, 85–87
Cicero, 17–19
civic and political role of museums: community-oriented, 99–124
contemporary, 145–46
ethical import of, 73–74
in Greece, 13–14
importance of, 6, 20–21, 41, 145–46
intellectual exchange as component of, 75–98
in Rome, 20–22
in United States, 43–45. See also public sphere
Clement XII, Pope, 29–30
Cleopatra, 26
collaboration, museums’ practice of, 166–67
collecting. See art collecting
Collins, Ronald, 84
colonialism, 32–33, 37, 119, 129, 133–34, 140–41. See also cultural property
Comfort, George Fisk, 126
common ground/humanity, 6, 8, 73, 78, 80, 89, 123, 139–41, 148–49, 166–67
community resource, museums as, 99–124
accountability concerns, 101, 117, 119
critiques and recommendations, 119–24, 168
economic aspect of, 100
funding of, 106–9
ideal of, 141
leadership of, 111–19
The Met and, 159
as motive of museum antecedents, 22
representativeness as issue for, 113–14, 119
strategies for, 102, 153
US museums, 44, 46–49, 99–101, 153, 159–60, 168
Cone, Claribel and Etta, 156
controversy: admissions-related, 107–8
cultural property–related, 33, 37–40, 47, 119, 130–36
over deaccessioning, 114–16
donor-related, 109–11
Elgin Marbles, 33
exchange of ideas and, 2, 68, 75–76, 78–79, 81–82, 85–87, 90–96
the Louvre and, 38–40, 58–59
The Met and, 68, 85–87, 90, 96–98, 107–8, 110–11, 131–33, 147
museums as site of, 2, 75–76, 95
race-related, 68, 81–82, 85–87, 90–96
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and, 81–82
trust related to, 166
universalism vs. particularity, 140
Whitney Biennial and, 90–96
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., 3
cost disease, 164
Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 159
Cottonian Library, 31
Covid pandemic, 114, 145
cultural identity, 41, 138–42
Cultural Institutions Group, 107
cultural property: controversies over, 33, 37–40, 47, 85, 119, 130–36
legal issues concerning, 17, 32, 39–40, 130, 133–34, 136, 180n15
in museum collections, 33, 37–40, 119, 129, 130–37
Napoleon’s plundering of, 38–39. See also colonialism; plunder
culturism, 138
Cuno, James, 89
Curran, Kathleen, 56
Cyrus the Great, 12
deaccessioning, 114–16
Decolonize This Place (DTP), 120, 146–47
Delphi, sanctuary of, 7–8, 15
democracy, museums in relation to, 5–6, 14, 43–46. See also civic and political role of museums
Denon, Vivant, 38–39, 42
Dickens, Charles, 27
donors, 109–11, 156
DTP. See Decolonize This Place (DTP)
Dyke, Anthony van, 35
economic contributions of museums, 1, 100
education and intellectual exchange: controversy associated with, 2, 68, 75–76, 78–79, 81–82, 85–87, 90–96
cross-cultural, 55, 138–39, 141
as function of museums, 20–22, 25, 32, 34, 38, 48, 54–55, 75–99, 138–39
as function of US museums, 42–46, 48, 125–26, 159
personal growth and transformation, 54–55, 57–58, 67, 72–73, 138, 160
rules of engagement for, 77–89, 94–95
Eiffel, Gustave, and Eiffel Tower, 59 Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of, 27, 33
Elgin Marbles, 27, 33
Elkin, Lauren, 97
encyclopedic museums: American, 130, 138, 154–57
British Museum, 31–32, 34
collecting practices of, 119, 152
and cultural identity, 138–42
evolution of, 59
Louvre, 34, 38, 42
The Met, 69, 128
museums’ practical commitment to, 158
nature of, 5, 38, 56, 59, 89, 139–42, 154–58, 167
universalist vs., 157
endowments, 108, 118, 163
Enlightenment: American practice of principles of, 43–44, 47
betrayal of ideals of, 37–38, 40
French Revolution as outgrowth of, 35–36
leading figures of, 24
museums as outgrowth of, 2, 11, 12, 30–31, 34–38, 89, 130, 142, 147
principles and ideals of, 24, 37–38, 60, 78, 89, 129, 142
progressivism of, 31, 41, 43–44, 142
public sphere as outgrowth of, 25, 77–78
Western-centrism of, 128–29
ethics and values: critiques of museum operations, 120
and cultural property controversies, 37–40, 119, 130–36
exhibitions’ foregrounding of, 68
Greek sanctuaries as manifestation of, 7–8
museums as manifestation of, 2, 44, 73–74
obligation for preservation of museums, 151, 153. See also accountability; transparency; trust
Euphronios Krater, 131–32
Eurocentrism, 126–28
exhibitions. See blockbuster exhibitions; special exhibitions
Farago, Jason, 72
Farnese Bull, 20
finances: admissions policies and, 104–8
boards’ engagement in, 165
collecting practices supported by investment in, 157–58
deaccessioning and, 114–16
operating expenses, 105–6, 114–16, 162–65
revenue sources, 104–8, 163–64
sources of funding and, 103–4, 106–7, 109–11, 117–18
and sustainability, 162–65
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 115
First Temple, Jerusalem, 18
Floyd, George, 81, 85, 229
Fox, Elizabeth Vassall (Lady Holland), 27
Franklin, Benjamin, 24
freedom of thought and discourse, 20–21, 75–81, 87
French Revolution, 35
Frick, Henry Clay, 156
Frick Collection, New York, 71–73, 156
fundamentalism, 87–88
funding. See finances
fundraising, 108–11
Fusco, Coco, 92
Garrels, Gary, 81–82
Germany, return of cultural property by, 135, 167
Getty, 132
Giamatti, A. Bartlett, 104
Gibbon, Edward, 24, 28, 45
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 24, 28
Goldberger, Paul, 74
Gold Coffin of Prince Nedjemankh, 132
Goldin, Nan, 147
government, funding provided by, 47, 99, 103
Goya, Francisco, 94
Grand Tour, 25–29, 31, 41
Great Library of Alexandria, 19
Greece, 7–8, 13–16
Guelzo, Allen, 148
Guggenheim Museum, New York, 110, 147
Habermas, Jürgen, 25, 77–79, 88, 95
Hague Convention, 180n15
Hammurabi, 12
Hankins, James, 148
Harleian Library, 31
Harries, Karsten, 73–74
Hicks, Dan, 140
Hitchens, Christopher, 33
Hobbes, Thomas, 24
Homer, 14
Hoving, Thomas, 63–65, 131
humanity. See common ground/humanity
Hume, David, 24, 80
Hunt, Tristram, 122
ideas. See education and intellectual exchange
identity. See cultural identity; nation-building and national identity
identity politics, 140
Jay, John, 42–43, 173n10
Jewish Wars, 18
Josephus, 18
Kant, Immanuel, 24
Kendi, Ibram X., 93–94
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 101
Klemm, Gustav Friedrich, 24
Kronman, Anthony, 83
La Font de Saint-Yenne, Étienne, 34
Lauder, Leonard, 156
Layard, Austen Henry, 32
leadership, 111–19
Lehman, Robert, 156
Lenoir, Alexandre, 85
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 64
Lew, Christopher Y., 90–92
Lin, Maya, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 94
Locke, John, 78
Locks, Mia, 90–92
looting. See plunder
Louis XVI, King, 35
Louvre, Paris: author’s experiences of, 58–59
controversies at, 38–40, 57–58, 110
educational and intellectual function of, 77
founding of, 2, 30–31, 34–36
as model for museums, 30, 41–42, 129
Pei redesign of, 58–59, 70
works and collections in, 12, 37–39, 129, 130
manubiae, 17–18, 21. See also plunder
Mark Antony, 26
Matisse, Henri, 156
Merrill, Mia, 96–98
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Met): admissions policy of, 104–8
archaeological research in Egypt by, 167
architecture of, 55–56
author’s affiliation with, 4, 5, 55, 97–98, 107–8, 110–11, 132–33
community outreach of, 159
controversies at, 68, 85–87, 90, 96–98, 107–8, 110–11, 131–33, 147
Costume Institute, 159
economic contributions of, 100
educational and progressive mission of, 43–46, 77
encyclopedic character of, 2
founding of, 2, 42–44, 47, 101, 125–29
funding for, 104–8
mission of, 46, 108, 111, 125–29
special exhibitions at, 63–68
use of Breuer’s Whitney building by, 69–71
visitor experiences at, 55, 63–68, 159
works and collections in, 26, 46, 55–56, 125–29, 131–33, 136, 137, 155–56
Meyer, Karl, 46, 113
Michelangelo, 66–67
Pietà, 64
Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer (exhibition, New York, 2017–18), 66–68
Middle Ages, 23–24
Mill, John Stuart, 78–79
mission of museums: civic, 44–45
commitment to/fulfillment of, 46, 48, 101–2, 109–11, 113, 118, 121–22, 142, 147
community-oriented, 99–102, 109
cultural preservation as, 48, 85–87, 122, 137, 147–49, 153
educational, 42–46, 48, 125–26
ethical, 74
evolution of, 36, 47, 117, 118, 122, 141
finances linked to, 105, 107–10
intellectual-cultural, 75–76, 84, 87–90
leadership linked to, 111, 113–14, 117–18
The Met, 46, 108, 111, 125–29
person-oriented, 45, 54, 84
threats to, 105, 108, 164
in United States, 2–3, 7, 42–49, 74, 99–101, 126–30, 169n1
Montebello, Philippe de, 132, 160
Monumenta Pollionis, Rome, 21, 149
Morgan, J. P., 46, 156
Morgan, Llewelyn, 20
Mould, Jacob Wrey, 56
Museum Island, Germany, 59–61
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2, 43–45, 101
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 103, 146–47
museums: abolition of, 120, 146
activism centered on, 101, 121–22, 130, 140, 146–49
antecedents of, 7–8, 11–22
change and permanence in, 57–59
collaborative efforts of, 166–67
contemporary challenges facing, 3–5, 7, 47–49, 76, 119–24, 145–47, 150
emergence of modern European, 2, 28–41
encyclopedic/universal, 5, 31–32, 34, 38, 59, 89, 119, 128, 130, 138–42, 152, 154–58, 167
European compared to US, 2–3, 42–47, 99, 126–27, 129, 137, 145, 154
future of, 120–24, 149, 152–54, 161–68
ideals and aspirations upheld and nurtured by, 44–45, 53–55, 57–58, 72–74, 123, 141, 148, 149–51, 160, 168
leadership of, 111–19
relevance of, 158–61
significance of, 1–3, 5, 8, 151, 168
sustainability of, 48, 55, 74, 103–4, 107, 111, 123, 149, 153, 157, 161–65
in United States, 2–3, 7, 42–49, 74, 99–101, 145, 150, 154–56, 166, 169n1
as works in progress, 48, 56, 74, 151. See also civic and political role of museums; community resource, museums as; finances; mission of museums; place and space, museums as; places of consequence; visitor experiences
Napoleon, 37–38, 40
Naram-Sin, 12
National Archaeological Museum, Athens, 15
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 57, 103
National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., 135
National Portrait Gallery, London, 110
National Socialism, Germany, 61
nation-building and national identity: as motive of museum antecedents, 13–15, 22
museums as component of, 1, 2, 41, 44
Nebuchadnezzar II, 11–12, 18, 38
Nefertiti, bust of, 62–63
Neiman, Susan, 95, 129, 141 Nelson, Elyse, 68
Neo-Babylonian Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, 11–12
Neues (New) Museum, Berlin, 59–62
neutrality, of museums in civic context, 121–22, 146–48
Newhouse, Victoria, 70
New-York Historical Society, 26
Nigeria, 133–36, 167
Nimrud, Neo-Assyrian palace at, 32
Nineveh, Neo-Assyrian palace at, 32
Old Royal Collection, 31
Olympia, sanctuary of, 7–8, 15
ownership of art. See cultural property
Palestinian issues, 146
Panero, James, 72
Panhellenism, 7
Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, 27, 33
Pausanias, 14, 15
Pei, I. M., 57–59, 70
Peirce, Charles Sanders, 83
permanence, museums associated with, 48, 54, 57–59, 75, 123, 153, 161
Perseverance Rover (rocket), 88
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 3, 45
Pillsbury, Joanne, 44, 126, 141–42
Pio Clementino, Vatican, 31
place and space, museums as, 53–74
Breuer building, 68–73
buildings, 55–63
diverse characteristics of, 53–54
ethical character of, 73–74
interiors, 63–73
Louvre, 58–59
meaning and significance of, 53–55
The Met, 55–56, 63–68
National Gallery of Art, 57
Neues Museum, 59–63
places of consequence, museums as, 53–74
civic, 99
ethical, 74
personal, 53–54, 57, 67–68
Pliny, 21
plunder, 12, 17–18, 21, 37–39. See also colonialism; cultural property
pluralism, 89, 104, 140, 150, 158, 166
Pollio, Gaius Asinius, 20–21, 30, 149
Pope, John Russell, 57
Porch of the Caryatids, Acropolis, Athens, 60
preservation, as museums’ mission, 48, 85–87, 122, 137, 147–49, 153
progressivism: of Enlightenment thought, 31, 41, 43
museums associated with, 3, 31, 41, 43–44, 46, 76, 77, 121, 123, 129, 142, 150
in United States, 43–44, 46, 129
universalism and, 142
property. See cultural property
provenance of objects, 13–14
public good, 6, 22, 42–43, 46, 103, 125, 149, 168
public opinion, 84
public sphere, 25, 49, 76–89, 92
Purdue Pharma, 110
Quintilian, 20
race, 68, 81–82, 85–87, 90–96, 119, 140
Raicovich, Laura, Culture Strike, 121–22, 146, 151
Raphael, 35
Rassam, Hormuzd, 32
Rauch, Jonathan, 79, 80–81, 95
Rawlinson, Henry, 32
Reign of Terror, 35
Richter, Gerhard, Birkenau Paintings, 94
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 15
Ripley, S. Dillon, 177n1
Roche, Kevin, 56
Rome, 16–21, 28–30, 45
Rubens, Peter Paul, 35
rules of engagement, 77–89
Ruskin, John, 31–32
Sackler family, 110–11, 147
sanctuary, museum as, 2, 53–54, 75, 149, 150
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 81–82
Sarr, Felwine, 135
Savoy, Bénédicte, 135
Schjeldahl, Peter, 94
Schutz, Dana, Open Casket, 90–96, 147
Second Temple, Jerusalem, 18 Serota, Nicholas, 54
shared governance, 111–17, 123, 148, 162, 165
Shutruk-Nahhunte, 12
Simon, Robert, 160–61
Skover, David, 84
slavery, 68
Sloane, Hans, 31
Smee, Sebastian, 120–21
Smith, Adam, 24
Smith, Roberta, 92
Smith, Zadie, 95
Smithsonian Institution, 103, 132, 135
special exhibitions: in Breuer Building, New York, 69–73
at The Met, 63–68
visitor experiences in, 63–73
Statuario Pubblico, Venice, 28
stele of Hammurabi, 12
stele of Naram-Sin, 12
Stüler, Friedrich August, 60–62
Suetonius, 21
sustainability, of museums, 48, 55, 74, 103–4, 107, 111, 123, 149, 153, 157, 161–65
Sze, Sarah, 98
Tate Britain, London, 15, 110
tax laws, 46, 156, 177n6
Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26, 56
Till, Emmett, 91–94
Till, Mamie, 91–93
time: embodied in museum collections, 55, 57, 62–63
museum architecture as record of, 55–57, 61–63
museums’ long-term commitment to collecting, 154–55, 157
visitors’ experience of, 73
Titian, 35
Titus, 18–19, 38
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 84, 87
Tomkins, Calvin, 45, 126
tourism: in Greece, 14, 15
in modern Europe and environs, 25–29
trade in art, 16–17, 28–29
Trajan, 21
transparency, 88, 108, 109, 115–17, 122, 136, 165
Treasures of Tutankhamun (exhibition, New York, 1976–79), 65
tribalism, 140–41, 150
trigger warnings, 97–98
Triumphs (public displays of plunder), 18
trust, 112, 117, 160, 164–66, 168
Tutankhamun, 65
Uffizi, Florence, 31
Union League Club of New York, 173n10
United Nations Week, 146
United States: European museums compared to those of, 2–3, 42–47, 99, 126–27, 129, 137, 145, 154
museums’ vision and mission in, 2–3, 7, 42–49, 74, 99–101, 126–30, 137, 145, 150, 154–56, 159, 166, 169n1
political and cultural crises of, 4, 119, 145, 150–51, 168
universalist museums. See encyclopedic museums
values. See ethics and values
Vaux, Calvert, 56
Verres, Gaius, 17–18
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 77, 110, 122
visitor experiences: author’s own, 58–59, 62–63, 70
in Breuer Building, New York, 72–73
content of collections as factor in, 137–38
factors contributing to, 54
at The Met, 55, 63–68, 159
personal significance of, 53–55, 57–58, 72–74, 138
relevance as concern of, 158–61
in special exhibitions, 63–73
temporal aspects of, 73
varieties of, 53–54
visitors. See tourism
Voltaire, 24
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 101, 169n1
Wagstaff, Sheena, 69–70
Wales, Prince of, 27
War Revenue Act (1917), 46
Wellington, Duke of, 40
white box spaces, 66–68
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, 90
Whitney Biennial, 90–93, 96, 147
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 69
World’s Fair (New York, 1964), 64
World War II, 60
Zuccaro, Anna, 96–97
why the museum matters