A big raspberry goes today to one Henry Aubin, who — writing in the Montreal Gazette — wrote this:
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is also using imagination to reach new markets. It has already featured shows on Yves St. Laurent (fashion as art), cars, Tintin, e-art and John & Yoko. In April it’ll launch a show on Miles Davis (“Music is a painting you can hear”). Attendance is up by 84 per cent since 1993. Notes director Nathalie Bondil, “We’re in a healthy financial situation.”
I don’t know Aubin, but judging by that passage and the rest of his article, “The Changing Faces of Our Cultural Institutions,” we’d have a lot to disagree about. Ironically, the deck for his article says: “It’s possible to attract bigger and younger audiences without lowering standards.” His kicker is: “Dumbing down is just dumb.”
But he neverthe less cites examples — some, not all — of precisely that, as above. Hasn’t the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts had a successful show of art since 1993?
I can cite different examples that show attendance rising with exhibits of real art — art that doesn’t patronize people, that doesn’t suggest that they’re not up to looking at and appreciating the real thing.
Here’s one: Raphael’s La Velata has just finished its 10-week run at the Nevada Museum of Art in
On its last weekend, La Velata attracted 2,000 people to the museum, which kept its admission for the exhibit at $10, the usual fare. When admission was free, a sponsorship by
Arte ITALIA, La Velata lured 4,000 people in ten hours.
“These are incredible numbers for us and we plan to continue driving those audiences here with our upcoming exhibitions including Fernando Botero, Chester Arnold, Fletcher Benton and others,” Milon said.
Meantime, at the Portland Art Museum, where La Velata — borrowed from the Palatine Gallery in Florence — went first, total attendance for her was about 25,000 over 10 weeks. That’s despite a steep $17 admission fee.
In Portland, attendance did not increase except during the final two weeks. But the museum blames (credits?) that on its hanging in a small gallery, where visitors were limited to 15 at a time.
And in any case, the exhibition was successful enough to entice Portland to try something similar, with another great work of art. Details TBD and TBA.
La Velata is on her way to the Milwaukee Art Museum, where she will be on view beginning Saturday.