In the essay, “At the Buffalo Bill Museum, June 1988”, by Jane Tompkins, the author describes her trip to the museum and her perspective on the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. In her essay, she expresses her thought of the museum as, “the most disturbing places I have ever visited. It is also a wonderful place” (588). In the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, she admires the beauty, details, and veracity of paintings. However, she feels arts are not respected in there, for their meanings are altered. As Tompkins claims, “someone had taken the trouble to ferret out Remington’s statement of horror” (588). Moreover, she perceived, “Remington’s paintings and statues … are imperialist and racist” (590). In the Buffalo Bill Museum, there is no sign
On February 17, 1913 the International Exhibition of Modern Art, or the Armory Show, opened to the public. It is unlikely that the some 4,000 guests milling around the eighteen rooms of the 69th Regiment Armory in New York that night could have realized the extent to which the artwork displayed would set off a revolution that would sweep the nation. Response to the Armory Show, however, was sensational. During the month long exhibition the, Armory Show became the talk of the town. The galleries were constantly full of people who came to gape at the spectacle, artists who came to study or deride, and celebrities and socialites who came to see and be seen. Former President Teddy Roosevelt even made a visit to the show praising the spirit of modernity present in the venture, but distrustful of the so called ‘radical’ art of the European avant-garde. In his response to the show published in Outlook, Roosevelt commented: “It is vitally necessary to move forward and to shake off the dead hand of the reactionaries; and yet we have to face the fact that there is apt to be a lunatic fringe among the votaries of any forward movement.”[2] In this statement Roosevelt summarized the public reactions to the show.
James B. Gardner, “Contested Terrain: History, Museums, and the Public,” The Public Historian 26.4 (Fall 2004), 11-21
In this article Miller compares and contrast two pieces of artwork. the first one is a landscape painting by Albert Bierstadt called, Mountain Brook, and the second one is a sculpture called The Freedman, by John Quincy Adams Ward. Both pieces of work are apparently unrelated objects, due to them being created by different mediums and have different backstories. Both pieces were in a exhibition, where viewers were asked to question the historical, cultural, the representation of the nation, and race. Miller compares and contrast the many different ways to view the
Terror and mockery come together in the portraits of Cindy Sherman on display at the Crocker Art Museum. Walking into the large, dimly lit ballroom, one may begin to feel a slight sense of trepidation as the viewer looks around to find nine sets of beady eyes watching one’s every move. Sherman produced her History Portraits during the late eighties and early nineties, nine of which are displayed at the museum. In her portraits she uses lush fabrics, lavish jewelry, and false body parts to decorate herself in these self-portraits. Her portraits have been know to cause discomfort in the viewers who find the general stereotypes, depicted in her portraits, amusing, yet confusing and terrorizing.
My research of the museum has determined that this book probably is one of the best insights into the vision and mission that Autry had for the museum. The book is a catalog of historical representation of the arts and exhibits that were displayed in the museum in 1998. The book has many photos of the museum’s exhibits and arts for the period. The art in the book depicted is mostly of cowboys. The remaining portions of the book illustrates painting of western scenes, discussed the Hollywood embracing of
On Saturday, March 15, 2014, I visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The gallery #753, which is a part of so-called American Wing, features oil paintings of the revolutionary period in America. The paintings seen in this gallery celebrate heroes and hard-fought battles of the new nation. The most popular type of painting of that time remained portraiture. Portraits in extremely large numbers figured in interiors, where they were arranged to convey not only domestic, but political messages as well. Hence, it is natural, that such iconic figure like George Washington became a model for numerous artists of that era, including Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale, for whom Washington actually sat. Two exceptional portraits of Washington, the general and the the first President of the United States are highlighted in this paper.
On Thursday the 21st 2016 I attended the Blanton Museum of Art located in Austin on the campus of the University of Texas. When I was looking for art museum’s to attend to I noticed that the Blanton Museum was the first museum to pop up on the internet, which made me think that this would be the best museum for me to go to for this project. When looking up this museum I learned it is one of the biggest in Texas with about 18,000 pieces and it was founded in 1963. After I entered the Blanton, there was a huge opening in the middle with a staircase at the back. I had the choice of entering the section of the museum that holds the temporary pieces to the left or going up the stairs to the second floor which holds the permanent pieces
Ferguson, Russell. In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art. Los Angeles: U of California, 1999.
In her recent exhibition called “Down the River” in The Whitney Museum, she converts her 18,200-square-foot given space, into a jail. Her goal is to make you see how museums and jails are two sides of the same coin. She wants her audience to think about how there is not much difference between the two. “Art museums celebrate freedom and showcase invention. Prisons revoke freedom and punish transgression.” - she says of her work. Once you think about it, it’s true; museums collect art, but prisons encarcerate vilified people. Fraser also invites her audience to create a conversation on how museums (institutions who celebrate freedom) and prisons (institutions that invalidate freedom) have been growing at the same rate.
One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.
This painting, created in 1872, portrays different periods of expansion and technological improvement as the frontier line moved west. You can see the some of the themes that were displayed in paintings about the so-called “empire” of the United States. The painting spans from the east coast, and what appears to be New York City, to the unexplored west coast, inhabited by “savages”. This, and the angel displayed at the center of the painting, represent Manifest Destiny. The idea that the Native Americans were “savages” is indicated by the sun rising in the east, in territory already belonging to the United States, and the darkness in the west. This light can be construed as “Civilization bringing the light to the American West”. The angel in the center of the painting is also holding a book, titled “School Book”. We could take this to mean that Americans believe they are more educated than the Native Americans, and are bringing education with them westward. We can also see that the expansion westward displayed in this painting is causing the Native Americans and wildlife to be fearful and attempt to run away. Included here are deer, bears, and most importantly buffalo. The buffalo were important to the Native American way of life, as they provided not only food, but also utility. By taking the land of the Native Americans, and destroying their main source of food, resentment
Living in Northern Virginia allows me to visit a plethora of culture-enhancing sites around the Washington, D.C. area. For this assignment, I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. which is located a few blocks from the National Mall which features the more popular Smithsonian Museums such as the Museums of American History, Air and Space, Natural History and the National Gallery of Art. Information about the Museum can be found on their official website: https://americanart.si.edu/.
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is the home to some of America’s finest paintings, photographs, and sculptures of the people who have come to shape the America that we know today. The gallery features a comprehensive collection of the past 44 U.S. presidents and their accomplishments while in office. Its newest additions, two grand portraits depicting America’s first African-American President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, first debuted during Black History Month on February 12th of 2018 (National Portrait Gallery, 2015).
It is a story that provides the ultimate explanation of how two different people who are witnesses to a crime give completely different psychological recollections of the same event. The author reminds us that truth depends on the telling. Someone must step forward and tell that truth.
When I arrived at the museum, ticket in hand and was given a map of the grounds like at Disney World, I was ready to get started. I started my day going to the Museum of Art to see Ringling’s private European art collections. The galleries took my breath away and ready to view the art differently, learning the art history dynamic in class. The galleries were arranged by time and geography. The galleries were made for the artwork so elements of the art pieces were built in the architecture. John Ringling purchased large pieces of art and from the artist that were going out of favor at the time.