Museum skepticism: a history of the display of art in public galleries

Abstract

Acknowledgments ix Overture 1 1. Beauty and Art, History and Fame and On Entering the Louvre 17 2. Art and Power: Time Travel in the Museum 39 3. Museum Skeptics 51 4. Picturing Museum Skepticism 74 5. Art Museum Narratives 91 6. Isabella Stewart Gardner's Museum 110 7. Ernest Fenollosa's History of Asian Art 126 8. Albert Barnes's Foundation and the Place of Modernist Art within the Art Museum 146 9. The Display of Absolutely Contemporary Art in the J. Paul Getty Museum 165 10. The End of the Modern Public Art Museum: A Tale of Two Cities 181 Conclusion: What the Public Art Museum Might Become 208 Notes 225 Bibliography 269 Index 305