I was once enthralled with the big traveling museum super exhibit, where an exhibition turns the curator into the star artist. What I and many other people have noticed over the last ten years is that these exhibits have gotten weak, with titles like “Rembrandt Examined” consisting of two original paintings by the master and 40 other paintings by people who lived nearby.
The “shows”, which is what some people think of them (coming to a museum near you), are so overblown that they become the hot ticket, with lines of people with headsets more interested in the narrative of curator then in musing. I am not faulting the curators, they have an important role to play and they should get credit for that, but we should be paying closer attention to the work, it stands on its own.
In my opinion, the greatest thing going for any art museum, regardless of its size, is the permanent collection. Paintings, Photos, Sculpture, Quilts etc. that you can get to see over and over again, each time discovering for your self something in the art that may be a personal message to you and not someone else’s interpretation. We can think of visual art as music frozen on a canvas. We listen to the same music over and over again, and each time we discover something in the listening of it. Museums offer the same opportunity. I once spent close to one hour looking at one Modigliani in the permanent collection of the MOMA. I sat on a bench across from the painting and just looked and enjoyed.
Museums come in all sizes. The Franklin G. Burroughs – Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in South Carolina is a place I’ve not been to yet and would love to visit. If you live in the area, visit, support and enjoy the work often.
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