The Museum Visit

Paintings and other items combined in this arrangement at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

As part of my art history classes I require students to visit a museum and report on works of art. And by museum, I mean an actual museum, not a book or an on-line gallery. There are several good reasons for doing this.

Photography and its delivery of images can be deceptive; when printed in a book, a painting may not have the life and subtlety, or in some cases, the impact of the actual work. When viewed on-line, the image created by the illuminated pixels on your screen again, may present an image more vibrant than the original. Whether these are good or bad effects, they are still at least one step removed from the physical artifact.

What do you see when you see the actual work of art? For one thing, the scale. It is not uncommon when coming across a work of art you have only seen in reproduction to be struck by the size. No matter how good the image, facing a wall size work involves you in a totally different way. By the same token, you can search in vain for a work you have seen pictured, because you didn't realize how small a painting it was.

Another aspect missing in reproduction is texture. Until we have some new technology (and we undoubtedly will), images are flat and smooth,  but the surfaces of the art work will be readily apparent in real life (sometimes even providing a temptation to touch the art work).

A third aspect to the museum installation is the relationship among the various works on display. Sometimes this will be an arrangement of works similar in technique, country of origin or historical period, but as is seen more often now in museums, juxtapositions to compare and contrast, making the viewer see artworks in new contexts.

Not that there aren't downsides to the museum visit. In addition to "museum fatigue", when we try to take in too much, this pace can also cause us to spend too little time having a personal interaction with the art. There was an interesting article in the New York Times October 9, 2014 by Stephanie Rosenbloom that suggested we slow down when visiting a museum.

From the article:

When you go to the library,” said James O. Pawelski, the director of education for the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, “you don’t walk along the shelves looking at the spines of the books and on your way out tweet to your friends, ‘I read 100 books today!'” Yet that’s essentially how many people experience a museum. “They see as much of art as you see spines on books,” said Professor Pawelski, who studies connections between positive psychology and the humanities. “You can’t really see a painting as you’re walking by it.”

I have noticed when in museums, particularly ones with iconic works, the number of people photographing not just the works, but taking pictures of their companions in front of the work, or even "selfies" with the works. The reasons for this must be varied, and probably interesting. Have you done this? What does it say about your relationship to art? Reading the linked article may give you some thoughts.