Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
The Sunday Review section of today’s New York Times had a wonderfully written, heartfelt piece by Susan Jacoby about the importance of art in our lives — and why the people of Detroit, poor or rich, deserve to have the great art that resides in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
It’s built around the Gates of Paradise (panel at right), and it’s so well done that I don’t want to quote it. Just read it, please. Maybe send it to Kevyn Orr and Michigan governor Rick Snyder.
You never know what will catch fire. A couple of years ago, the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum had a little sensation on its hands when it displayed a set of the Lewis chessmen. Attendance soared.
It was, probably, the little figures not the ivory they were made of that drew interest, but I thought of them when I learned recently about a project at the Courtauld Institute in London — in a task begun in 2008, it’s cataloging all known ivory sculptures made made in Western Europe ca. 1200-ca. 1530, as well as neo-Gothic pieces, and the other day it added 700 pieces to the online database. This created a mini-storm of interest.
Plus, some Scandinavian institutions recently joined the project, which already has a long list of collaborators. And the British Library just added two 14th century manuscripts embedded with ivory, one at right.
The project has its own website called Gothic Ivories, which went live in 2010; here are the people involved.
If this sounds like a throwback, compared to yesterday’s post on MoMA’s new Audio+, in a way it’s not. Gothic Ivories has interesting exploratory tools, too, though different ones — e.g., one that lets users compare four images at once, on the same screen. Registered users can also store their images, engage in forums, save their searches, etc. Casual visitors can view some sets of images created by other users, etc.
Above, at left, is one of the items in the database, known as the Kremsmünster diptych. Go to that page, and you’ll find much more information.
The site has a news section where it posts notice of exhibitions and publications.
There are many of these fascinating sites — when searched to see what had been written about the ivories, I found something comparing the site to the British Library’s Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts.
I also found a whole raft of sites about the Middle Ages, far too many to single out any here.
Happy browsing the the ivories.
Photo Credit: © Stift Kremsmünster, Kunstsammlungen (top)
Today, the Museum of Modern Art announced a new “mobile platform” and I tried out this new-generation audio guide. It’s called Audio+ — since it involves video too and, best of all, the ability to save and share selected information.
Introduced to visitors in Beta mode (which continues) in stages beginning last July 3, these devices — modified (or programmed) iPods Touch devices — replace the museum’s handheld audio wands.
Here’s how it works, my experience shows: You take the iPod on a lanyard and hang it around your neck. Then you take earphones, put them on, plug them into the iPod, and you’re off. Touch the screen for an introduction to the exhibition or permanent collection — I went to the American Modern: Hopper to O’Keeffe exhibition, as instructed by the press office (which held a session on digital initiatives). You can stop it at any time, or you can plug in the number of selected works to hear something about it (just like an audioguide) and — here’s the new part — you can take pictures with the iPod touch. The device automatically saves the audio you listened to, the pictures you took, etc. and — here’s the best part — the device lets you email your tour to your own email address. So when you get home, you have an email with the subject line “Hi, I went to MoMA and…”
Open it to get to “My Path,” which is a compendium of the videos you viewed and the photos you took (one of mine is at right). You can listen again to the audio bits you heard, and so on. The email reads:
Thank you for visiting The Museum of Modern Art. We hope your visit was an inspiring one and that you enjoyed using MoMA Audio+, our new mobile guide. Here is the link to your saved personal path:
LINK
You can also stay up to date on all that MoMA has to offer by signing up for E-News.
We look forward to seeing you at MoMA again soon.
“My Path” comes with a little dashboard for your visit, which includes how many works you looked at (actually, listened to — I looked at many more than were recorded), what years they covered, what mediums, and so on — versus the number that you could have looked at. “My Path” for me said I explored just three paintings (not true, but those are the three listened to guides for) made in the 1920s. I took 12 photos (including some labels, because I wanted to know the dates/names/donors, etc.).
The museum now has 2,000 of them available for visitors, who average 9,000 a day at MoMA, but officials there said there haven’t been any real problems with scarcity (people simply wait for returns, I guess). And since July 3, MoMA says (in a press release):
…more than 160,000 visitors have taken advantage of its numerous features, taking and sharing more than 700,000 photos and accessing and sharing their saved personal paths. Antenna International provides the mobile guide operation, including staffing, device distribution, and audio production.
As MoMA said, this is still in beta. There are kinks. But it does seem to me to be an improvement on anything else I’ve used at museums (NB: I have not tried Gallery One at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which had not yet gone live when I was last there). Normally — unless I know absolutely nothing about an exhibition — I don’t take an audioguide. But I can envision myself using this device, because I can send home what I did and use it again later.
I like it.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of MoMA (top)Â
San Antonio has a new museum, in an excellent location for visitors, and a clear mission that doesn’t duplicate another nearby museum’s — good signs for the future. I’m talking about the Briscoe Western Art Museum, which opened on Saturday. Situated on the city’s popular River Walk, in a restored historic building that once housed a circus museum, its inaugural exhibition contains about 700 objects, including Santa Anna’s sword (bottom), Pancho Villa’s saddle (top), and an Apache olla basket (middle).
Although the lobby contains a life-sized sculpture of cattle herds by John Coleman, officials say the Briscoe is not a museum of “cowboy art,” but rather will also collect art depicting and related to the American Indian and Spanish and Mexican vaqueros. In the collection or on loan now are paintings by E.I. Crouse and Maynard Dixon, among other things.
Here’s more about what is inside and more about the collections.
You may not like Western art and artifacts
(I do, btw), but there’s another reason to know about this museum. Again, as in Dallas, the San Antonio city officials and business executives are vocal about the importance of having museums. As reported by the Native American Times,
The Briscoe adds a new element to the city’s cultural offerings as the first dedicated Western heritage museum. Briscoe officials and city leaders see the new museum fitting into a well-established niche: the tourism industry. Located at Market and Presa streets on the River Walk, the museum is within easy reach of various tourist destinations.
“They’re a walk away from the Convention Center. They’re a walk away from the major hotels downtown, so it’s an added value to that experience,†said Felix Padrón, director of the city’s Department for Culture and Creative Development. “If we can encourage tourists to stay an extra day not only to go to the Briscoe but to the Tobin or other institutions downtown, that’s a win-win situation for all of us since we’re supported by the hotel-motel tax.â€
Pat DiGiovanni, CEO of Centro Partnership San Antonio, said cultural attractions such as the Briscoe are key to the effort to revitalize the city’s core. “This is the kind of asset we need to build off of if we’re going to have a vibrant, 24-hour, seven-days-a-week downtown,†he said.
Not that there weren’t troubles along the way. According to the San Antonio Express,
About 10 years in the works, the three-story museum initially was slated to open in 2009. It was delayed as the original design changed and the price tag grew from $18 million in 2006 to the final $32 million. More than $7 million in taxpayer funds has gone into the project, including $6.25 million from the county and about $1 million from the city. The rest of the funding has come from the private sector.
Former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who died in 2010, contributed $4 million to the project. The museum is named for him and his wife, Janey.
“The public-private partnership was such a successful model for this project,†said museum board Chairwoman Debbie Montford. “Private donors came together with both the city and the country to restore a building with great bones, and I think it’s energized this entire piece of the river. We’re so happy. I mean, we’re looking at each other and saying, ‘I can’t believe it’s finally here.’â€
There’s more to the story at both newspaper links.
Like art museums (see here), auction houses are increasingly “curating” their sales to themes. On November 5, Swann is presenting a sale called “The Armory Show at 100,” for example. And soon Phillips in London will offer “The Architect,” a sale of furniture and other objects created by architects, Christie’s South Kensington will present “The Art of Food and Drink,” and Sotheby’s will have “The Courts of Europe: From the Renaissance to the Rococo.”
Expect more. As Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas, told me of themed sales, “They are growing in importance and relevance.” Themes, of course, aren’t needed for the big evening sales where buyers are not entering the market, but they draw in new collectors to lower priced and less-prized art, by giving them a hook to latch onto — a story, context.
That was the subject of an article I wrote for The New York Times, in Sunday’s paper, headlined Auctions Organized by Theme, With a Narrative Pull.Â
Yes, this is driven by marketing, but I think it’s a good thing anyway. Themes draw more people into art, and they learn more about the art. Several of the titles could have been titles of museum exhibitions and, in fact, “The Armory Show At 100” is one — it’s the title of a show at the New-York Historical Society. That’s one of the lots, a nude by Alfred Maurer, at right.
It may be a fad — I don’t know how long it can last. But I’ve looked at a few catalogues for some of these shows, and they provide good information. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries