Your Friendly Neighborhood Museum Rebel
Aug. 19th, 2002 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disbelief11 The scene opens upon a gallery in an art museum. The slightly thick air seems to swallow all noise from the room. A group of people – perhaps fifteen or twenty – are scattered throughout. They all stand at a respectful distance from the artwork. One or two are scribbling away in sketchbooks; the rest of the people stand in silence.
The progression of the viewers around the room looks like a sort of waltz; an observer might wonder if there is perhaps a stopwatch and choreographer controlling their movements from piece to piece.
Besides the viewers there are the museum security guards. Resplendent in polyester pants and oversize blazers sporting official looking patches, they pace the room. They look as if they would rather not be there.
Enter the two main characters, VisitingSister and FavoriteSister. Unlike the other people, they are talking to each other about the art (not in a loud voice, but not sotto voce either), pointing out things they like and dislike. They crisscross the room, spending time at whatever catches their eye, sometimes singly and other times together. Occasionally, one of the sisters will laugh, drawing a stern eye from both the guards and the other people in the room.
**********
Art History is a subject that fascinates me. Picasso said, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.” It is a thrill for me to learn about the life of the artist, his or her training, the symbolism of the elements in the work, the cultural atmosphere that spawned the ideology behind it, etc. But who in the hell ever decided that the viewers in the museum should act as though they are at a funeral?
Think about all the stories you have heard about artists. How many have been outside the norms of the society they lived in? How many lived a lifestyle considered immoral or reprehensible? How many used their work to subvert the accepted artistic and/or political climate of the time?
Given all that, what the hell is wrong with a little discussion and (gasp) even laughter in a museum? Dammit, given the reaction of the guards, you would have thought I was defacing the Mona Lisa or something. Within a few moments of entering the museum, we had security guards following us. And I received 3 separate admonitions from the rent-a-cops:
First, I was told I was too close to one piece. It was Allegory of Nature, a Dutch work from 1567. The painting was behind glass and the combination of the glare from the poor lighting and the intricate detail of the piece really cried out for a closer examination. I was about a foot away from it. Did I mention it was behind glass? Short of ripping the thing off the wall, it was protected from my mere presence by the layer of glass.
Then I was told not to touch the Plexiglas sign that described the ancient Roman jewelry we were looking at. Mind you, I wasn't touching the display case or the antiquities themselves. I just accidentally touched the sign when I was pointing something out to my sister. The $20 Plexiglas placard.
Lastly, the creepy old man security guard who was following me around treated me to a lengthy and patronizing lecture about how my backpack purse could catch on one of the pieces if I was careless. This said to me in a giant gallery space featuring several enormous paintings. I was standing smack dab in the middle of the room, 20 to 30 feet from any actual artwork. But hey, I could understand his concern. Except that I noticed that I was the only one in the room who got that lecture, despite the fact that several other people had backpacks and courier type bags with them.
And don't get me started on the lame-ass customer service we were treated to in the museum gift shop.
But there were some good aspects to the museum visit. I fell in love with two pieces I hadn't seen before: Heavy Circles by Vasily Kandinsky and the small and amazing Reclining Nude by Jean-Antoine Watteau.
Hmm, wonder how much trouble I can cause at a bigger museum?
The progression of the viewers around the room looks like a sort of waltz; an observer might wonder if there is perhaps a stopwatch and choreographer controlling their movements from piece to piece.
Besides the viewers there are the museum security guards. Resplendent in polyester pants and oversize blazers sporting official looking patches, they pace the room. They look as if they would rather not be there.
Enter the two main characters, VisitingSister and FavoriteSister. Unlike the other people, they are talking to each other about the art (not in a loud voice, but not sotto voce either), pointing out things they like and dislike. They crisscross the room, spending time at whatever catches their eye, sometimes singly and other times together. Occasionally, one of the sisters will laugh, drawing a stern eye from both the guards and the other people in the room.
**********
Art History is a subject that fascinates me. Picasso said, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.” It is a thrill for me to learn about the life of the artist, his or her training, the symbolism of the elements in the work, the cultural atmosphere that spawned the ideology behind it, etc. But who in the hell ever decided that the viewers in the museum should act as though they are at a funeral?
Think about all the stories you have heard about artists. How many have been outside the norms of the society they lived in? How many lived a lifestyle considered immoral or reprehensible? How many used their work to subvert the accepted artistic and/or political climate of the time?
Given all that, what the hell is wrong with a little discussion and (gasp) even laughter in a museum? Dammit, given the reaction of the guards, you would have thought I was defacing the Mona Lisa or something. Within a few moments of entering the museum, we had security guards following us. And I received 3 separate admonitions from the rent-a-cops:
First, I was told I was too close to one piece. It was Allegory of Nature, a Dutch work from 1567. The painting was behind glass and the combination of the glare from the poor lighting and the intricate detail of the piece really cried out for a closer examination. I was about a foot away from it. Did I mention it was behind glass? Short of ripping the thing off the wall, it was protected from my mere presence by the layer of glass.
Then I was told not to touch the Plexiglas sign that described the ancient Roman jewelry we were looking at. Mind you, I wasn't touching the display case or the antiquities themselves. I just accidentally touched the sign when I was pointing something out to my sister. The $20 Plexiglas placard.
Lastly, the creepy old man security guard who was following me around treated me to a lengthy and patronizing lecture about how my backpack purse could catch on one of the pieces if I was careless. This said to me in a giant gallery space featuring several enormous paintings. I was standing smack dab in the middle of the room, 20 to 30 feet from any actual artwork. But hey, I could understand his concern. Except that I noticed that I was the only one in the room who got that lecture, despite the fact that several other people had backpacks and courier type bags with them.
And don't get me started on the lame-ass customer service we were treated to in the museum gift shop.
But there were some good aspects to the museum visit. I fell in love with two pieces I hadn't seen before: Heavy Circles by Vasily Kandinsky and the small and amazing Reclining Nude by Jean-Antoine Watteau.
Hmm, wonder how much trouble I can cause at a bigger museum?
