Please add your one-paragraph summary as a comment to this post. Your paragraphs are due by November 3. Remember to revise, review, and proofread. Include the most important references.
Patrons, collectors, and dealers: summaries
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Michael Baxandall obituary
Why art history?
For discussion August 28: Why art history? What do we do when we do art history? What are our assumptions?
Assignment: Reflect here on the following questions (post by 8/27): What does art history mean to me? Why is this my major? What do I want to do with it? Read what your classmates have written and respond (before class) to at least one other writer.
Art in war
What happens when art is duplicated during wartime as a way to save it from the dangers of war?
An interesting article from the New York Times, July 31, 2009.
Gestapo confiscation
Hans Sachs, Berlin, before 1938
A Berlin, Germany court recently ruled in favor returning art posters to the son of the former owner, a Jewish dentist who fled Germany in 1938 with his wife and infant son. Many of the posters are currently in the permanent collection of the German Historical Museum in Berlin; the Museum will likely appeal the ruling. Dr. Sachs has collected approximately 12,500 posters, of which less than half are in the GHM; it is not know where the remainder are.
Read more in the Washington Post article, February 11, 2009.
Brandeis #4
President Reinharz is having a change of heart…
Protest is good!
Brandeis #3
An interview with President Reinharz of Brandeis University on NPR this evening.
Interpretation of art and museum practices
The National Portrait Gallery has recently rewritten the label describing former President Bush’s presidential portrait and accomplishments in office. The rewrite came at the request of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who objected to the wording, “the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq…” Senator Sanders wrote in his letter to the NPG, “When President Bush and Vice President Cheney misled our nation into the war in Iraq, they certainly cited the attacks on September 11, along with the equally specious claim that Iraq possessed vast arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. The notion, however, that 9/11 and Iraq were linked, or that one ‘led to’ to other, has been widely and authoritatively debunked.” See the article in the Washington Post (January 14, 2009) for the full story and the captions.
Labels are important! Should labels on works of art be “neutral” (if that is possible), descriptive, establish context? How much are museum visitors willing to read? How much time do you spend reading a lable compared with looking at the work? How does the label influence your appreciation of the work?
Arts Czar?
Recently, people in the arts communities have voiced an interest in President Obama establishing a Cabinet-level position in the arts…or at least some sort of executive-level post that coordinates funding and sets priorities across the arts. Quincy Jones was the first to express this interest, and other musicians have supported him. Other nations have Ministers of Culture, including France, Germany, and Finland. Would it work here? An article from the Washington Post (Jan. 14, 2009) offers some background.
More on Brandeis…
See CultureGrrl for further information on the Brandeis situation.