How Museums Institutions Shape the Art World - Research Paper Example

Number] How museums s shape the art world and in turn, how art and artists have critiquedand sometimes transformed these institutions? Museums were made years ago for the purpose of preserving art and history for the future generations (Opoku 2). For some, it may be an entertainment, but for most it is an educational institution that highlights the importance of certain things that existed in the history (Bennett 6). The collection of historic signs and arts is displayed to the public at large. Some of the most famous and world famous museums are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art goes back to the early 1866 in Paris when a group of Americans decided to create an institution and gallery of art so that the art and art education could reach to the people of America. The New York State Legislation then incorporated the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Incorporation Act in 1870. The purpose of this act was to allow the Metropolitan Museum to serve as a Museum and Art Library in the city and further encourage and develop the study of fine arts and the application of arts in advancing the general knowledge. Eastman Johnson was the artist who acted as the co-founder of the museum, and the former Civil War Officer was the first director under the guidance of whom the holdings of the museum consisted of a roman stone sarcophagus and 174 European paintings. Since its formation, Metropolitan Museum of Art had many additions to its outside view and the building. It also had many additions in its collection of Art works, and is now holding some of America’s best art contributions. There are seventeen separate departments for the collections in Metropolitan. Each of the departments has specialised staff and a department of scientific research and conservation. The permanent collection that the museum holds includes paintings and sculptures of almost all the European masters, American and modern art, and also holding of the African, Asian, Oceanic, Islamic and Byzantine Art. Furthermore, the museum also has a collection of musical instruments and weapons from all around the world. The museum holds more than 13,000 artworks currently. Despite the controversies in 2009 related to the book Rogue’s Gallery by the journalist Michael Gross, and the criticisms that the museum faced, they plan to expand their collections and area in the future. The Metropolitan Museum of Art works under the policies of the State and acquires the world-class paintings. They have acquired artworks that hold immense value and have added to the contribution of promoting art to the new generation. It will further enhance their approach and give a boost to the education of the new generation. They will add to their collection pieces of art from the history that will give a new way of exposure to the learners. The Museum of Modern Art is situated in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It has the best collections for modernist art and is known to be the most influential museum for modern art n the entire world. The museum was opened in 1929 and was the first of its kind. It was exclusively formed through the idea of promoting modern and contemporary art forms. It was also the first to exhibit European modernization. The museum started off with eight prints and one drawing. Its first exhibition displayed paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Seurat. The museum started with six rooms of galleries and then later expanded to three temporary locations within the next ten years (Grunenber 26). The museum also gained the international prominence with Picasso, the world famous artist. He contributed greatly to represent a significant interpretation of Picasso for the future art scholars and historians. The museum also holds great significance of the works done by famous modernist architects Philip Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone. Many international artists also contributed in this museum’s collection and added to its value. The museum’s collection holds the modern and contemporary art work which includes the work of architecture, photographs, drawing, printing, sculpture, film and electronic media. Despite the controversies occurred in 1969 in the opposition of the Vietnam War, the museum managed to form a position among the artists. The museum was criticized and degraded for opposing the war in collaboration with a group of artists. The Museum of Modern Art has greatly been the attention seeking museum for many of the artists and learners of the new generation. It has been a medium for education for modern arts and contemporary arts. These forms of arts are greatly used in this generation and thus this museum acts as a great contribution in the world of arts to create a new form of learning. The museum is continuing its expansion with the future plans of spreading more awareness about the forms of arts that are modernized forms. These greatly help the students of the modern era. The museum is likely to see great expansion in the future for these forms of arts as these are the ones being used by most of the modern artists (Storr 31). Whitney Museum of American Art was founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney who was a famous sculptor and was fond of collecting art works. Whitney collected 700 works of American Art and decided to gift them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art who declined her gift and that forced her to open her own museum with her collection. She opened the museum at her own residence. She focused on mainly the work done by American modern artists. She concentrated on displaying the new works done by the American artists. With the passage of time, Whitney expanded her space for the new collections that increased immensely. Sooner she has a huge museum displaying more than 18,000 works of art by the most famous and renowned artists (Fraser 33). Today, the museum has a hold on to the American modern art and displays many of the art works by famous artists such as Ronald Davis, Robert Henri, Grace Hartigan, John McLaughlin, Man Ray, Arthur Dove, Eva Hesse, Ronnie Landfield, John Marin, Bruce Nauman, Morgan Russel and hundreds of others. The museum also holds collections of photography which was introduced in 1991. Whitney also has a website that shows ‘Net Art’ which is updated monthly. Whitney Museum of American Art has greatly contributed as a cultural institution that gives the opportunity to many of the current artists and learners to get more knowledge about the sculptures, photography and net art. The museum’s future plans are to expand its art works from the contribution of the many great artists of the current era. There are continuously additions made in the museum for the new generation. It adds to the value of the museum. They are also on a current building project and making plans to further expand their area and space for the new collection. There have been many government donations to the museums that have enabled the museum to expand its area and collections with the most expensive and valuable collections of art work. These museums have greatly contributed in the art world of the past centuries, of the current time and of the future generations. These museums have contributed to the cultural capital of the city by preserving the art works that were valuable and that held historic significance. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds the valuable paintings from around the world which has greatly resulted in artists from around the world to visit and enjoy the paintings. Whitney has given specific importance to the American Art which means that she has given a new attraction to the artists of America to be able to display their works of art in this museum. Her approach towards the net art has also lead to many artists to find the platform to display their work. Other than the artists, the people interested in arts and learning arts are also attracted towards these museums because of several reasons. Museums have always been successful in attracting the people who value art and love new works. Metropolitan Museum of Art has seventeen departments that classify the work of the artists worldwide. This makes it easier for the art lovers to go and have a look in the department that catches their interest. These museums have relative information with each art display conveying the historic facts related to the art work which catches the eye of the art lover. In this way, the museums have greatly contributed in spreading the value of the art plus the historic valuables (Altshuler 2). The museums have greatly shaped the meaning of arts for the artists as well as for the people. Ever since the museums have been formed, there has been an immense growth and importance towards the arts. People have had a closer approach towards the art and the forms of arts. The museums have enabled the artists to portray their work and give an opportunity to the people to see it and learn from it. In the past, the artists would just make their art work and add it to their collections. The museums have given them the opportunity to convey their work and messages through that work to the people. Many new forms of art have also been idealized by the work of the old artists (Clifford 215). For the art lovers, these museums are next to paradise. Since years, art lovers and the ones who want to learn idealize these museums where they can go and study the art work that is done by their favourite artist. The best part is that they can also view the work of those artists who are not of their generation. They can go through the original work of those artists who have achieved worldwide fame and success. For these people, the museums act as institutions where they work for the development of their art skills. They learn and get education on arts via experiencing and observing. The fact that the museums stay updated with the recent works of the artists as well, allows the art lovers and learners to get more ideas and get to learn new things every time they visit. Museums can be helpful and attractive for both the artist and the student (Duncan and Wallach 448). Where museums give a new shape to art works of many artists, the artists have in return influenced the museums to a great extend. The art works have changed the meaning of museums where museums were previously known as just places where historic pieces were kept. The artists have greatly contributed in the holdings of the museums and to create them an institute for the new and young artists so that they are able to follow the footsteps and learn from the artists they follow. Museums have been greatly useful for the young artists who want to know more about art. It is a place where they can learn everything about arts and about any form of arts (Staniszewski 61). Through the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art it can be clearly seen that there have been big artists behind the formation of these museums. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded by a group of Americans that included businessmen, financiers and also some of the top artists. John Taylor Johnston had a personal interest in the collection of art works that he added in the collections of the museum. Furthermore, the artist Eastman Johnson acted as the co-founder of the museum. This shows how greatly artists have contributed in the establishment of this museum, and have also enlightened them by the art works they contributed. The Museum of Modern Art consists of a library that involves the books of many great artists and as well as individual files on them. It gives information about the history of modern and contemporary art. This has been greatly useful for the art students and the young artists learning these forms of art. On the other hand, the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art was herself a sculptor and a collector. She played an important role in giving the new direction to the museums and the artists who took part in the making of this museum. She introduced the new forms of arts like net arts through her website (Doherty 33). A museum in the cultural capital enables the city to be able to hold immense value both historically and artistically. Museums that hold some of the art works from all around the world such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, invite people from all around the world to see the display and the holdings of the museums. Such museums are recognized worldwide and contribute greatly not only to the cultural capital of the city, but also in the world of arts. Thus, they give importance to the city and to the art works that the museum holds. However, museums convey the message of art and peace to the people. They deliver them the beauty of art works and the different forms of art. Where people can see the display and exhibitions just for the sake of their interest, young artists can visit museums in order to learn more about arts, forms of arts and the artists. They would be able to get information about their favourite form of art and its origination. Museums greatly strengthen the society and the love of arts. It rather delivers the message to all the people, that arts are just as important and valuable as other subjects and courses. It somehow brings back the significance of arts that was once lost. Work Cited Andrea Fraser, “There’s no place like home,” Whitney Biennial 2012, pp. 28-33. Print Bruce Altshuler, Collecting the New: Museums and Contemporary Art, UK: Princeton University Press 2005, pp.1-13. Print Brian O’Doherty, Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, US: University of California Press, 1976. Print Christopher Grunenberg, “The modern art museum,” from Contemporary Cultures of Display, 1999, pp. 26-49. Print Carol Duncan and Allan Wallach, The Universal Survey Museum, 1 980, pp. 448-457. Print James Clifford. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. UK: Harvard University Press, 1988. Print Kwame Opoku. Affirmations and Declarations: Review of James Cuno’s Museums Matter, 2011. Print Mary Anne Staniszewski, The power of display: a history of exhibition installations at the Museum of Modern Art. NY: MIT Press, 1998. Print Robert Storr, “To Have and To Hold,” in Bruce Altshuler, Collecting the New, 2005, pp. 29-40. Print Tony Bennett. The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics. London: Routledge, 1995. Print Read More