ART 218 - The Museum in History, Theory, and Practice

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course surveys the long evolution of the art museum, beginning with private wonder rooms and cabinets of curiosity in the Renaissance and ending with the plethora of contemporary museums dedicated to broad public outreach. As we explore philosophies of both private and institutional collecting (including that of the college and university art museum) we use the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center as our first point of reference for considering a range of topics, such as the museum’s role in furthering art historical scholarship and public education, its acquisition procedures, and challenges to the security, quality or integrity of its collections posed by theft, by the traffic in fakes and forgeries, or the current movement to repatriate antiquities to their country of origin. Assignments include readings and group discussions, individual research projects, and at least three one-day field trips to museums in our area (including Manhattan) to allow us to examine the many different approaches to museum architecture and installation. Ms. Kuretsky.

Prerequisites: ART 105-ART 106, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.