Art Museum Collections Research Articles

Discovering art online: Digitising university art museum collections

Discovering art online: Digitising university art museum collections

Art museum collections in the light of social media : typology of the possibilities of presenting art collections on social media in the Czech Republic

Art museum collections in the light of social media : typology of the possibilities of presenting art collections on social media in the Czech Republic

Picturing Political Power: Eighteenth-Century Korean Portraits in San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

Picturing Political Power: Eighteenth-Century Korean Portraits in San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

Documentary archive of Alexander Gaush (1873–1947) in the Simferopol Art Museum collection. Letters of Igor Grabar

This article classifies the archive of Alexander Gaush in the Simferopol Art Museum funds and studies the texts of individual documents. Alexander Gaush (1873–1947) was an artist and graphic artist, participant of exhibitions of the Academy of Arts and the World of Art artistic movement, one of the founders of the New Society of Artists, curator of the Museum of Old Saint Petersburg, professor of painting, a talented teacher. A number of archive documents were previously studied by the chief curator of museum funds Leonarda Rybnikova, the Crimean art critic Sergey Pushkarev; individual pages of the artist’s biography were illuminated by the employee of the State Museum of Saint Petersburg History Lyudmila Aksenova. The archive documents can be classified into two sections: the first includes letters and handwritten documents authored by Alexander Gaush; the second includes letters addressed to A.Gaush and various documents related to the life and work of the artist and his wife Lyubov Gaush (1873–1943). Among A.Gaush’s correspondents are prominent artists: Eugene Demmeni (1898–1969), Nikolay Root (1870–1960), Alfred Eberling (1872–1951), Igor Grabar (1871–1960). The letters of Igor Grabar, sent in 1946–1947, allow us to see a picture of the artistic life of this time. The text of these letters sheds light on the history of the portrait, which A.Gaush, with the assistance of Igor Grabar, tried to transfer to the Russian Museum through the Leningrad Purchasing Commission. A number of facts suggest that this work of art was the Portrait of Lyubov Gaush created by Alexander Sokolov, which was transferred by A.Gaush for temporary storage to the Simferopol Art Gallery in 1946 and accepted into the main fund in 1949.

Children's art museum collections as Linked Open Data

Children's art museum collections as Linked Open Data

Children's art museum collections as Linked Open Data

It has been recently argued that it is rather beneficial to cultural institutions to provide their datasets as Linked Open Data, to achieve cross-referencing, interlinking, and integration with other datasets in the LOD cloud. In this paper, we present the Greek Children's Art Museum (GCAM) linked dataset, along with dataset and vocabulary statistics, as well as lessons learned from the process of transforming the collections to HTML-embedded structured data using the Europeana Data Model and the Schema.org model. The dataset consists of three cultural collections of 121 child artworks (paintings), including detailed descriptions and interlinks to external datasets. In addition to the presentation of GCAM data and the lessons learned from the experimentation of non-ICT experts with LOD paradigm, the paper introduces a new metric for measuring datasets quality in terms of links to and from other datasets.

Smallpox scars in a 19th-century portrait at the Turku Art Museum.

During the 18th and early 19th century, smallpox (variola) was a leading cause of death, in children especially. In Finland, the percentage of deaths among children aged 1–10 years was between 20% and 30%.1 Sixty-five to 80% of survivors displayed facial pockmarks.2 To our knowledge, there are few identified artistic depictions of patients with variola. Painters usually refer to smallpox through portrait of Edward Jenner (James Northcote, Edward Jenner, 1803, National Gallery Portrait, London) or active vaccination sessions (Vicente Borrás y Abellá, Vacuna ción de niños. ca. 1900. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid),3 but rarely to patients. In 1626, Sustermans painted several portraits of Grand Duke Ferdinand the Second of the Medici at various stages of the disease.4 We report here about a portrait by Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931) from 1893 entitled ‘Pockmarked Boy from Savo’ (Rokonarpinen savolaispoika) that currently belongs to the Turku Art Museum collection. The artist painted the motif at Vehmersalmi, near Kuopio, in the Northern region of Savonia, along with some other canvases. The portrait depicts a Finnish boy in his teenage years, probably between his 10–15 years. He sits from ¾ and avoids looking directly at the spectator. His face is riddled with medial facial skin-coloured scars, and a slightly hypertrophic red scar is notable near the left nasolabial fold. The disfiguring scars left by the infection may explain the seeming sadness of his look (Fig. 1). The first country in Europe introducing obligatory smallpox vaccination was Bavaria in 1807. In Finland, Jennerian vaccination was carried out as early as in 1802 under the impulsion of the Finnish Economic Society (Finska Hushållningssällskapet). Along with other measures, vaccination led to a decline of smallpox mortality during the early 19th century in the country.1 Smallpox may be confused with other conditions, mainly chickenpox. It is also known that, at the time, common people in Finland used to call all skin eruptions rokko or rupuli (poxes) leading to possible misdiagnoses in case of deaths.1 It can be discussed whether the sitter had smallpox or chickenpox. However, smallpox was also easily diagnosable at the time and the last ‘great’ smallpox epidemics in Finland occurred in 1880–1882, 13 years before this portrait. The scars appear also quite deep compared to those from chickenpox; therefore, there is no reason to doubt the origins of the boy’s pockmarks. At the time of the painting, smallpox mortality dropped to 3.6/10 000 inhabitants,1 and at the turn of the 20th century, smallpox was not endemic in Finland anymore.1 Akseli Gallen-Kallela may have chosen to represent the marks of a soon by-gone disease in Finland. The author is indebted to Christian Hoffmann, Curator at the Turku Art Museum, Finland, for suggesting this artwork and additional input regarding the manuscript.

Творческие поездки художников и комплектование музейных коллекций Ставрополья в 1950–70-е гг.

The cultural aspect of artistic communication on the example of museum collections in the Stavropol museums is discussed in the paper. The relevance and novelty of the topic are determined by the fragmentation of cultural and historical research, including pictorial art in the Stavropol Territory during the Soviet period. The historical approach is used in the analysis of works from art museum collections. The events in the artistic culture of the Stavropol in 1950s–1970s are analyzed. It is noticed that the organization of artists creative trips around the region with the aim to provide them possibility for village life exploring and for collecting necessary field material was new at those period. The results of the trips were creating of compositions reflecting political issues of the period under review (development of virgin lands, active construction, reclamation). The main themes and ideas of works of art in which local artists reflected regional history are considered on example Stavropol museums collections. The materials of the research can be used both in museum trade and in studying the local domestic history of this period.

L’engagement critique des guides bénévoles

The role of art museum educators has shifted from presenter of information to facilitator of dialogue. But as art museums pledge to be more accountable to — and representative of — a plurality of publics and narratives, what is spoken about with visitors? Given revolving temporary exhibitions and expanded readings of permanent collections, guides play a dual role of adult learner and educator. This article asks what learning opportunities equip art museum guides to critically engage with challenging subject matter. A qualitative research project grounded in the author’s reflective practice, it draws on interviews with newly trained volunteer guides. Responses suggest that guides’ relationships to challenging subject matter are multilayered and deserving of both personal and institutional attention. Findings point to a need for support that includes, but is not limited to, ongoing training. This article will contribute to the growing but limited scholarship on art museum educators’ learning, speaking to efforts by trainers and adult educators to foster reflexivity and critically embrace the potentially challenging and necessary dialogues inspired by art museum collections.

The use of the University of Tartu Art Museum collection in teaching between 1803 and 1918

ABSTRACTThe article studies the ideas and practices involved in implementing an art collection in university studies, focusing on a plaster cast collection. The history of museums began in Estonia with the reopening of the University of Tartu (1802) and, since then, collections have played an important role in teaching. This article concentrates on the features of the Enlightenment in Estonia in the context of university education. The University of Tartu was located on the periphery of Europe: on the one hand it was on the fringes of the Russian Empire and on the other hand in the sphere of German culture. Nevertheless, the university collections proved to be varied and were integrated into lectures and seminars, which was an innovative idea in Estonian education.

History of One Portrait

Irkutsk Regional Art Museum exhibition opened in September 2018 commemorated the 90th anniversary of the birth of Boris Timofe­evich Bychkov, Russian folk artist, corresponding member of Russian Art Academy, member of Irkutsk Regional Union of Artists and master of decorative glass. He had lived and worked in Irkutsk since 1962. A native of Moscow he graduated from Mukhina Leningard Higher Arts and Crafts College. For many years, he was an art director of Gusev glass manufacturing plant in Gus-Khrustalny. In 1962, he moved to Irkutsk and dedicated his whole life to Siberia. These are some of his art works known to natives of Irkutsk: stained glass windows «Irkutsk» in the hotel «Inturist», «The Blue Bird» in Bratsk community center, chandeliers in Irkutsk Music Theater, «Vostoksibsantechmontazh» and «Agrodorspecstroy» companies, and ornamental designs «Frozen sounds» and «Victory» in Irkutsk Art Museum Collection. Most of his designs and artifacts are stored in warehouses and are on exhibit in Irkutsk Art Museum, and all of them were featured in an exhibition. Besides the artist’s works, there were two other art works on display — «Portrait of B.T. Bychkov. Mural» and «Portrait of B.T. Bychkov on the optical glass» by painter-jewelers Natali and Arkadyi Lodyanovyh. This article is about the creative works of the glassware art artist himself and the story behind his portrait.

Salon Pictures, Museum Records, and Album Snapshots: Australian Photography in the Context of the First World War

Among the various new modes for making photographs that were explored by Australian photographers in the first decades of the twentieth century, three in particular – Pictorialist images, authentic records, and personal snapshots – had far-reaching implications for the institutions of Australian photography. Pictorialist photographs are now the foundation of many Australian art museum collections; photographic records produced at the time have become iconic in Australian public history, forming the backbone of many social history collections; and personal snapshots from the period are increasingly reproduced in social histories. Historians of Australian photography have discussed and analysed each of these modes1, but they have tended to treat them separately, or even in opposition to each other, and to concentrate on the distinct careers of individual photographers. This article looks at this crucial period, and these key photographic modes, from the point of view of the worldwide networks and systems for the distribution, exhibition, collection, and indexing of photographs. We show how these modes, far from being distinct, overlapped one another as each grappled with the same issues of nation, history, and memory, and as each articulated their nationalistic concerns through international networks and idioms.

‘The Most Fascinating and Well-Designed Artifacts of Our Time’: Collecting and Exhibiting Contemporary Guns in the Art Museum

Guns are usually designed with great attention to their aesthetic, ergonomic, and functional component parts. Yet, their contemporary manifestations are considered so culturally and symbolically fraught – especially in the United States – that guns produced in the last century have rarely been presented as industrial objects worthy of sustained and close reflection within the context of a major design exhibition or art museum collection. This article considers the few recent exceptions, the legacy that curators and design historians have inherited and recently mobilized around guns in the design canon, and the future of public conversations in the art museum around contemporary intersections of design and violence.

History, Analysis and Attribution of Japanese Arita Porcelain (with Reference to the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum Collection)

With reference to the collection of the Irkutsk Regional Museum, the article outlines the history of Arita porcelain, one of the leading ceramic centers in Japan. The author enumerates the founders of the technique, also illustrating sustained progress in ceramic production, which became a competitor of Chinese porcelain in Europe. The author discusses how Japanese potters succeeded in producing valuable porcelain products which were bought, in addition to Dutch merchants, by Chinese traders. Special attention is paid to the Meiji period, a time of transition that saw the formation of modern Japanese culture. During this period there was a modernization of traditional modes of production, but the identity of national culture was kept intact, which was reflected in the porcelain decoration designs. The author characterizes artistic styles of decoration (Kakiemon, Iro-Nabeshima, and Nisikide Imari) that received worldwide fame. Masters that created them became a national treasure of the Japanese people as they both preserved the generations-long techniques and demonstrated a profound knowledge of production cycles of individual ceramic enterprises. The article analyses porcelain from the museum collection as a source that altered the Europeans’ view upon arts and crafts of Japan that had been perceived as underdeveloped previously. The article contains data on the brands and authors’ inscriptions on the porcelain ware of the period.

Open art: MOOCs, copyright and the art librarian

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have transformed the Higher Education sector world-wide, educating diverse audiences through Open Access content and resources. Very few have been integrated into the museum experience; however there is signifi cant potential for MOOCs to revolutionise access to the collections of art museums and galleries. This article presents empirical evidence drawing from a review of literature, and provides a case study into copyright challenges encountered using art images and video in a MOOC environment. Specific examples have been selected from the FutureLearn/ Monash University Creative Coding MOOC launched in June 2014, discussing the role that an Art Librarian plays in this process. This will be of interest to a broader museum and gallery audience, embarking on provision of online educative programs for users.

Ten Commandments for Effective Anthropological Exhibits

For over 150 years scholars have discussed the efficacy and meaning of the museum and the social, political, racial, ethnic, and cultural variables they exhibit. At each stage of museological development this discourse has been crucial to advancing professional practices. Frederic H. Douglas, who served as curator of the Denver Art Museum's collection of American Indian Art from 1929 until 1956, was one scholar and practitioner who studied museum intent. Douglas asserted that museum displays should aestheticize American Indian art while simultaneously be accessible to non-native visitors. His assertions were grounded in the fields of psychology, anthropology, educational pedagogy, and art connoisseurship. In order to engage visitors, displays had to be intellectually stimulating and easily navigate the viewer without causing fatigue. Douglas's research into how visitors interacted with exhibitions led him to create Ten Museum Commandments for Effective Anthropological Exhibits. This paper delineates Douglas's experiences and observational research that led to his creation of these commandments and explores their connection to current museological practices.

An Apt and Noble Gift: Gorham's Rebekah Pitcher

This article explores the significance of a silver pitcher, given as a wedding gift from a father to his daughter in 1854. This early example of Gorham silver hollowware, now part of the Cincinnati Art Museum's collection, is decorated with scenes from the Biblical Old Testament story of the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24). The popularity and significance of the Biblical Rebekah in the mid to late nineteenth century reveals the symbolism behind the pitcher's design and a father's gift.

Capitalizing Art Museum Collections: Awkward for Museums But Good for Art and for Society

Though standard accounting practice requires that all assets of a firm be manifest in accounts, an exception to this principle allows museums to omit their entire collections from their balance sheets. As the collection of any top-rank museum has more value than the rest of a typical museum's assets put together, this practice greatly obstructs good institutional decisionmaking. The practice is justified by an assertion common in the museum community that the collection is not a financial asset, neither available for sale nor obligation as a loan security, and by a variety of other assertions regarding the cost of assessing it. These assertions are shown to be choices with no fundamental support beyond museum management comfort, or to be erroneous. The allocation of artistic patrimony across museums generates a return on investment below 1%, indicating that these assets are not being used efficiently to create the benefits museums (whether non-profit or public) are supposed to provide: no other organization would be allowed to control assets with such a low rate of return. Capitalizing collections is practical and would lead to a variety of beneficial changes in museum practice, on the criterion of inducing more, better, engagement with more art by more people.

SOCIAL CLASSIFICATION AND FOLKSONOMY IN ART MUSEUMS: EARLY DATA FROM THE STEVE.MUSEUM TAGGER PROTOTYPE

The collections of art museums have been assembled over hundreds of years and described, organized and classified according to traditions of art historical research and discourse. Art museums, in their role as curators and interpreters of the cultural record, have developed standards for the description of works of art (such as the Categories for the Description of Works of Art, CDWA) that emphasize the physical nature of art as artefact, the authorial role of the creator, the temporal and cultural context of creation and ownership, and the scholarly significance of the work over time. Collections managers have recorded conservation, exhibition, loan and publication history, along with significant volumes of internal documentation of acquisition and storage, that support the custody and care of artefacts of significant cultural value. But the systems of documentation and classification that support the professional discourse of art history and the management of museum collections have failed to represent the interests, perspectives or passions of those who visit [use?] museum collections, both on-site and online. As museums move to reflect the breadth of their audiences and the diversity of their perspectives, so must museum documentation change to reflect concerns other than the traditionally art historical and museological. Social tagging offers a direct way for museums to learn what museum-goers see in works of art, what they judge as significant and where they find or make meaning. Within the steve collaboration(http://www.steve.museum), a group of art museums is collectively exploring the role of social tagging and studying the resulting folksonomy (Bearman and Trant, 2005; Chun, Cherry, Hiwiller, Trant, and Wyman, 2006; Trant and Wyman, 2006). Analysis of terms collected in the prototype steve tagger suggests that social tagging of art museum objects can in fact augment museum documentation with unique access points not found in traditional cataloguing. Terms collected through social tagging tools are being compared to museum documentation, to establish the actual contributions made by naïve users to the accessibility of art museum collections and to see if social classification provides a way to bridge the semantic gap between art historians and art museums’ publics.

If Art Has No History, What Implications Flow For The Art Museum?

I have recently argued in various places that each kind (as the word is defined in the paper) has a history, and only kinds have histories. Because ‘art’ is shown not to be the name of a kind it does not name a kind with a history. This conclusion relies upon a meme-driven account of cultural evolution, providing historical studies in general with a rationale running intellectually parallel to that which sustains objective accounts of biological evolution. I propose that the word ‘art’ should not be used in the conventional way but as a name for the general category of memetic innovation, and the phrase ‘work of art’ as a name for the items of the class of entities inspected by an unprompted eye in search of memetic innovation. These arguments are recapitulated in a form encouraging speculation about their consequences for the art museum and gallery. One effect of a conceptual revision would be to widen the scope of the art museum: on the face of it, without restriction. In order to impose a practical constraint it is suggested that an institutional criterion might be applied to acquisitions and display policies, simultaneously and consistently with a rejection of the Institutional Theory of Art that is currently influential in the art world. It is further argued that the art gallery should be conceived primarily as a domain of entertainment with the underlying function of encouraging creative discovery by the unprompted eye, and not as an art-historically instructive domain. The art museum's collection will inevitably lend itself to study and presentation in various intellectually coherent patterns by cultural historians, but—if the thesis is correct—not by those ‘art historians’ who mistakenly suppose that a bogus ‘history of art’ provides an appropriate structure for the understanding of works of art.