This year’s special Museums section of The New York Times, published today, was a real surprise: in contrast to last year, no one said anything really dumb. There was no nonsense about making museums into community centers or about everyone’s thoughts about art being equal. I couldn’t find anyone who deserved a raspberry.
Maybe the times have changed people — economic woes have been known to dispatch silly plans to who know where? Maybe silly thoughts, too.
On the other hand, a few people said things worthy of strawberries (though, truth be told, what they said was hardly heroic). Nonetheless, here goes — strawberries to:
Clara Drummond, co-curator of the Morgan Library and Museum’s* A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy: “Teaching is about engaging students by telling a good story and that’s what a good curator does, too.”
Bonnie Pittman, director, Dallas Museum of Art: “There’s nothing more exciting than watching someone standing in front of a work of art and their soul singing. We can make that happen more often if we do our jobs really well in museums.” Extra points for keeping the DMA “open until midnight once a month for informal programming” (though I’d like to know more about the informal programming).
Julia Marciari-Alexander, deputy director of curatorial affairs and co-interim director, the San Diego Museum of Art: “People are tending to realize that the idea of a national school, as well as the idea of media-based installation, needs to be reassessed. They tell just one story.” NB: notice that she did not pre-determine the outcome, but said “reassessed.” I hope.
And a few awards, not for quotes, but for leadership:
To the Getty Trust, Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Foundation, at first, but others, too, for starting, funding and orchestrating Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a multi-million-dollar investment in post-war California art, including the processing and collecting of archives and a series of exhibitions. They begin in 2011.
To (no surprise here) the Indianapolis Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum*, for leading the charge into technology in a good way, with art, not technology, as the star. As IMA’s Robert Stein, chief information officer, put it, “We are helping visitors learn the story behind the content.”
And, even though it is my own article, to Michael E. Shapiro, director of the High Museum, for leading the way on multi-year, multi-pronged partnerships.
* A consulting client of mine supports these institutions.