Art and Its Publics: Museum Studies at the Millennium (New Interventions in Art History)

Bringing together essays by museum professionals and academics from both sides of the Atlantic, Art and its Publics tackles current issues confronting the museum community and seeks to further the debate between theory and practice around the most pressing of contemporary concerns. Brings together essays that focus on the interface between the art object, its site of display, and the viewing public. Tackles issues confronting the museum community and seeks to further the debate between theory and practice. Presents a cross-section of contemporary concerns with contributions from museum professionals as well as academics. Part of the New Interventions in Art History series, published in conjunction with the Association of Art Historians. Art and its Publics: Museum Studies at the Millennium......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 List of Illustrations......Page 9 List of Contributors......Page 10 Series Editor's Preface......Page 11 Introduction......Page 15 1 A Brief History of the Art Museum Public......Page 23 2 Having One's Tate and Eating It: Transformations of the Museum in a Hypermodern Era......Page 73 3 Museums: Theory, Practice, and Illusion......Page 99 4 Norman Rockwell at the Guggenheim......Page 119 5 The Return to Curiosity: Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Museum Display......Page 139 6 Museum Sight......Page 155 7 Sacred to Profane and Back Again......Page 171 8 From Theory to Practice: Exhibiting African Art in the Twenty-First Century......Page 187 9 Reframing Public Art: Audience Use, Interpretation, and Appreciation......Page 207 Bibliography......Page 223 Index......Page 229 Art and its Publics explores the interface between the art object, its site of display, and the viewing public. Engines of democracy at their inception during the French Revolution, public museums have since fostered the democratization of art. As museum-going has increased dramatically in recent years, the question of "whose museum?" and how museums construct and engage their publics has taken on added urgency. The essays in Art and its Publics present a cross-section of current issues, with contributions from both sides of the Atlantic and from museum professionals as well as academics. Essayists tackle issues confronting the museum community and seek to further the debate between theory and practice around the most pressing of contemporary concerns A Brief History Of The Art Museum Public / Andrew Mcclellan -- Having One's Tate And Eating It: Transformations Of The Museum In A Hypermodern Era / Nick Prior -- Museums: Theory, Practice And Illusion / Danielle Rice -- Norman Rockwell At The Guggenheim / Alan Wallach -- The Return To Curiosity: Shifting Paradigms In Contemporary Museum Display / Stephen Bann -- Museum Sight / Anne Higonnet -- Sacred To Profane And Back Again / Ivan Gaskell -- From Theory To Practice: Exhibiting African Art In The Twenty-first Century / Christa Clarke -- Reframing Public Art: Audience Use, Interpretation, And Appreciation / Harriet F. Senie. Edited By Andrew Mcclellan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [201]-206) And Index. Writing some two hundred and fifty years ago, at the dawn of the modern museum age, the painter Charles-Antoine Coypel objected to the use of the singular "public" to describe the crowds who flocked to the exhibitions of contemporary art in Paris held at the Louvre: In the Salon where the paintings are displayed, the public changes twenty times a day.... This place can offer twenty publics of different tone and character in the course of single day: a simple public at certain times, a prejudiced public, a flighty public, an envious public, a public slavish to fashion....A final accounting of these publics would lead to infinity. Focusing on the interface between the art object, its site of display and the viewing public, this collection of essays tackles issues confronting the museum community and furthers the debate between theory and practice