Are you looking for an exhilarating experience with History, Culture and Art? The Smithsonian Institute is the world’s largest museum and research complex. It consist of eighteen museums and galleries, The National Zoo and nine research facilities, with most of the museums located on the National Mall in the heart of Washington D.C. Most of the museums offer free admission and are all within a brisk walk of each other or along the metro transportation system.
In 1829, James Smithson, an English Scientist left his entire fortune to the people of the United States. What is so fascinating in this fact is that James Smithson never took a step inside the United States. James Smithson wanted to create an environment that would provide society with an increase and diffusion of knowledge. Therefore, in 1846, the birth of The Smithsonian Institute begun with the funds that were donated by James Smithson. Since that time, many visitors come yearly to endeavor an exhilarating experience in history, culture and arts, which is the foundation of what makes our world what it is today.
Within the many museums of the Smithsonian Institute, one of the museum that is available for tourist to visit is the American Art Museum. Originally, there were different locations that the Art collections were kept due to space limitations. These locations including the Art room within the Castle library and the US National Museum. In 1968, the collection of arts were all moved to the old patent office building and was renamed the Fine Arts and Portrait Galleries. This building itself offers a lot for one to admire with its magnificent and exceptional architectural features. The building is known for its Greek revival public architecture with its en...
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...als. In some of the paintings, a person could feel a sense of awkwardness when it feels that no matter where you were in the room it felt as if the eyes of the portrait were watching you. Observing the sculptures was just as infatuating as the paintings. The stories about how the sculptures came to be were both intriguing and educational.
The Smithsonian Institute offers an experience that we should all experience at least once in our lifetime. The appreciation for our History, Culture and Art. The museums offer something for everyone whether it be an art enthusiast, history enthusiast, or someone who enjoys science and technology. I found that The Smithsonian Institute’s mission state says it all in which they believe that the museums are “Shaping the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world”.
The art represented more than just sculpture. The art represented the social issue of racism by not having “black art” in a “white museum”. History shows us that black or African-American people have had a hard time fitting into this society because of the older days were black people were considered to be inferior to the “white
On my trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I decided to take my mother with me. While being in the museum, I decided to focus on “The American Wing”. In “The American Wing”, there are amazing pieces of art, jewelry, and antique silver. I was amazed on how each piece of artwork and item was carefully designed. They had an amazing design that you do not see now in days.
The Columbus Museum of Art is a place rich in local history. A place where items of historical and artistic value are stored for safekeeping and allow access for public viewing. The museum has several locally named galleries. It also has a cute children’s area, complete with artwork from little local artists from several schools in the area. The children’s area has several pieces of art that children may touch, like Chicken George. I remember touching that chicken when I would visit as a child. The area also has a mini art studio to cater to the little creative minds that pass through.
When you are looking at a painting or sculpture, you are not only looking at a work of art, you are looking at the soul and story of the artist. I was able to really see that when I went to the St. Louis Art Museum. The new sector that was added to the museum, in my opinion, was a fantastic addition to the overall museum. Looking at all the art periods and all the ways that artist conveyed their feelings with their works was a great experience. If someone were to ask me if it was worth coming to the St. Louis Art Museum, I would highly recommend it. This is an outstanding museum, from the building itself to the collections it houses. Going to it always reminds me how fortunate I am to have the Saint Louis Art Museum right here in my own backyard.
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
The exhibit that I viewed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was one about European Art between the years 1100-1500. This was a series of paintings, sculptures, architecture, and tapestry of the Medieval and Early Renaissance as well as objects from the Middle East. This exhibit was an important part of the history of the Philadelphia Museum of Art because for the first time, Italian, Spanish, and Northern European paintings from the John G. Johnson collection were shown. It gave me a good idea of what the paintings were like in these four centuries and reflected ideas of both the east and the west.
The purpose of paintings is to capture the image of something. Paintings have been around since prehistoric times and span all cultures. Paintings are seen as one image but can convey thousands of different meanings. Before photography, paintings were used to record important events. The Blanton Museum of Art is home to many different types of paintings. The paintings range from different landscapes in America to cowboys to Native Americans. There are five paintings in the Blanton Museum of Art that can convey an image and culture of the American Old West with vivid and detailed images of cowboys, Native Americans, and the landscape represented, which is an important aspect of American culture and the frontier spirit.
1. What is the difference between a. and a. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Lisa Law: A. Yes. Visual Journey 1998, http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/nmah/ve/lisalaw/1.htm>. 2.
With exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is one of the Nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time (“About the MCA”) . The mission of the MCA is to offer a direct experience to the public of modern day art and living artists. German architect Joseph Paul Kleihues designed the new building with seven times the square feet of its previous facility (“The Building”) . October of 1967 the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a symbol of modern art, culture, and the artist of our time. It is a stepping stone in history and will leave footprints in the heart of Chicago for many generations to come.
Historically, museums and galleries have excluded too many people. I want to eradicate the pervasive assumption that “certain people just don’t visit museums.” In a modern era of public discourse characterized by instantaneous updating and dynamic participation, a savvy public shares knowledge and relays experience with the click of a mouse. The Internet, digital media, video games, and social networking offer new approaches to learning and understanding others. Regrettably, many museums – the giants of knowledge – have fallen behind in regard to inclusiveness, technological innovation, and representation of diverse experiences. Museums and galleries shape nationwide educational curricula and discourse. If they fail to resonate with wide audiences, then the public will go elsewhere to learn, despite these institutions’ long-established reputations. Particularly now, when most sentences are prefaced with “In this economy,” I believe that museums and galleries risk obsolescence without fundamental change and a renaissance of innovation.
When entering the room, one cannot help but feel pulled into each and every painting. The realization that the artwork hanging on the walls was created hundreds of years ago, and still exists in pristine order, to me makes these pieces of art, relics. Gazing around the still and almost silent gallery, I could not help but think that each of these paintings are windows into the past. In his essay Ways of Seeing, John Berger states that “An image became a record of how X had seen Y” (136). At the time the paintings in this gallery were painte...
My first experience at the museum was a good one. I had so much fun even after we were done with the Norton-Simon. Being a business major, I did not know that art could speak to me as it did. It has not influenced me so much as to change my major, but it did open my eyes to a whole new world. Now when I look at art, I do not just see a pretty picture, but what the artist is actually trying to say.
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.
Harris, Donna Ann. New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-term Preservation of America's Historic Houses. Lanham, MD: AltaMira, 2007. Print.
Museums in general are vastly different in what they offer to patrons. Some focus on a specific academic discipline such as science, history, astronomy, and art. Larger museums are afforded the opportunity to house multi-disciplinary displays, the largest of which have entire wings dedicated to each separate field. That said, the largest museums hold significant market share but only locally. Analysing the U.S. as a whole, there is a high number of competitors in the museum industry with low market share concentration. Locally, most of the large museums in Albuquerque are concentrated near the downtown