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Mellon And MoMA: A New Kind Of Research Team?

April 30, 2013 by 1 Comment
Keifer-WoodenRoom

Museums conduct all kinds of research, if sometimes fitfully. Recently, I learned of a new effort, though, which might break some ground. It brings graduate students and faculty to a museum's collection. It's happening at the Museum of Modern Art and funded by the Mellon Foundation, though neither one of them has published a press release. The best information I found online was in the form of a job posting. It's for the role of "museum research project coordinator," and despite the low-end title and mostly administrative duties, it requires … [Read more...]

04/30/13 5:41 PM | filed under: Curatorial Matters, Research, Uncategorized |

It Pays To Nag: SMU Creates An Arts Research/Data Center

February 12, 2013 by 3 Comments
BowenJose

Someone's listening. I've not been the only one who's called repeatedly for more and better information -- real data -- on the cultural world, but I've been in that camp for a long time. (For example, see here and here.) Tonight, Southern Methodist University in Dallas is announcing an answer to those pleas: the creation of a National Center for Arts Research there. It will, according to the announcement, "aggregate and analyze the largest database of arts research ever assembled in order to create the most complete picture of the health … [Read more...]

02/12/13 7:00 PM | filed under: Research, Uncategorized |

Jim Cuno Takes On The Art History World

November 20, 2012 by 9 Comments
JamesCuno

I'd never heard of an online publication called The Daily Dot until it was called to my attention yesterday because, of all things, the president of the Getty Trust -- Jim Cuno -- had written an op-ed piece for the site.  And in what seems strange to me, his piece has more Facebook likes (262 at this writing) than any other op-ed on the new opinion page -- weird considering the esoteric subject. But maybe, perhaps, not quite so weird because Cuno chastises art historians for being behind when it comes to digital technology, and the site … [Read more...]

11/20/12 9:12 PM | filed under: People, Research, Technology, Uncategorized |

It’s Another Getty Coup: Big Acquisition

October 18, 2012 by 3 Comments
store_windows1

Buying an archive might not seem as sexy as buying a painting or a sculpture, but today the Getty Research Institute announced a wonderful acquisition: the archive of Knoedler & Company Gallery,  which is widely cited as New York's oldest art gallery. It has operated here since the mid-19th century. The acquired records date from about 1850 to 1971 -- comprising a "vast trove of diverse original research materials including letters, telegrams, albums, sales books, stock and consignment books, card files on clients and art works, rare … [Read more...]

10/18/12 4:10 PM | filed under: People, Research, Uncategorized |

Toledo Museum Calls Out “Hey, Baby, Wanna See My Paintings?”

June 4, 2012 by 2 Comments
PurpleGolubchik2_web

Art museums everywhere are searching for and trying to appeal to younger audiences, but the Toledo Museum of Art may just have everyone beat. It's offering "baby tours" designed for parents or caregivers with infants up to 18 months old -- one baby per adult please. And no strollers. Now, many art museums have family programs, but this is the first time I've seen one offer an initiative like this. (Do let me know if I'm wrong.) I learned of these baby tours in the TMA's ARTMATTERS May-August magazine and they seem noteworthy. The … [Read more...]

06/4/12 10:23 PM | filed under: Museums, People, Research, Uncategorized |

Detroit Institute’s Facebook Experiment: The Results Are In

April 4, 2012 by 1 Comment
Sloan-McSorley's

How good a marketing tool is Facebook? That question was posed in my Feb. 29 post here about the Detroit Institute of Arts, which offered Facebook fans free admission during March. Now we know, and the answer is pretty good. The DIA says that 3,335 visitors took advantage of the free offer -- an average of almost 160 people for each of the 21 days (the institute is closed Mondays and Tuesdays) of that month. Visitorship overall during the month was also higher, year-on-year, despite the fact that there was no blockbuster exhibition. To … [Read more...]

04/4/12 1:45 PM | filed under: Museums, Research, Uncategorized |

The Ghent Altarpiece: Ready For Its Close Up

February 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
1045_20111716_1of11

Of all the art works in the world, the Ghent altarpiece is one of the most admired -- and now it will perhaps be one of the most studied, certainly the most studied from afar. The Getty Foundation on Friday announced that it was making available a website that will allow deep technical study of the 1432 work by Hubert and Jan can Eyck. Viewers can zoom in and look at all of the oak panels in macrophotography, infrared macrophotograpy, infrared reflectography and x-radiography. Here's what the Getty did: "Each centimeter of the … [Read more...]

02/26/12 7:04 PM | filed under: Research, Technology, Uncategorized |

The MacArthur Foundation, The Moth And The Arts

February 16, 2012 by 2 Comments
100718Creativity

Last fall, when the National Endowment for the Arts announced the creation of an Interagengy Task Force on the Arts and Human Development, I didn't pay too much attention. I should have. And what prompted me to reconsider was today's announcement that, of all the creative activities being offered by all the creative arts institutions and organizations in the world, the MacArthur Foundation chose to give the one arts-related award among its 2012 grants for Creative and Effective Institutions, of 15 awards, to The Moth. $750,000 because it's … [Read more...]

02/16/12 1:12 PM | filed under: Research, Uncategorized |

Shocker News: Why Galleries Are So Empty

February 9, 2012 by 11 Comments
empty galleries

Today's Telegraph contained startling news from the U.K. that makes me wonder about the U.S. ...Four in 10 children have never seen the inside of an art gallery, while 17 per cent haven't visited a museum with their parents. ...a quarter of children haven't been to the theatre, while six in 10 have never heard or been to a classical music concert. One in 10 kids hasn't even left their home town to visit other cultural sites in the UK. And half of parents admit they make little effort to educate their children on culture or history, … [Read more...]

02/9/12 6:45 PM | filed under: Museums, Research |

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