Author: Meyer, Karl E.

Publication Year: 1978

Media Type: Book

Summary:

This book, the product of more than three years of research and of interviews with leading museum professional, educators, and political figures, presents a trenchant appraisal of such subjects of continuing controversy as the role of trustees; operating costs, the rising price of acquisitions; the growing impact of the commerical art market; the emphasis on blockbuster exhibitions; staff professionalism; the intrusion of politics, and many more troubling issues - and it makes policy recommendations for the future which will unquestionably stimulate wide public debate. Not merely a treatise, [this book] also spotlights the bitter disputes over power, money, and ethics which in recent years have shaken the art world to its foundation. (excerpt from book jacket).

Abstract:

This book, the product of more than three years of research and of interviews with leading museum professional, educators, and political figures, presents a trenchant appraisal of such subjects of continuing controversy as the role of trustees; operating costs, the rising price of acquisitions; the growing impact of the commerical art market; the emphasis on blockbuster exhibitions; staff professionalism; the intrusion of politics, and many more troubling issues - and it makes policy recommendations for the future which will unquestionably stimulate wide public debate. Not merely a treatise, [this book] also spotlights the bitter disputes over power, money, and ethics which in recent years have shaken the art world to its foundation. (excerpt from book jacket).

CONTENTS
Foreword.
Introduction.

Chapter 1. The American hybrid:

The museum idea.
From dimes to riches.
Art and taxes.
Populism and Elitism.
Castling on the mall.

Chapter 2. The politics of patronage:

Rich museum, poor museum.
The funding contraption.
Detroit goes dark.
The cultural bureaucracy.
The Medici mentality.
Looking to Washington.

Chapter 3. New York, New York:

Hovingism.
The capital of art.
Three directors.
Build now, argue later.
The Annenberg finale.

Chapter 4. Gallery without walls:

Art and mortar.
Monuments to what?
Towering MOMA.
Wright's Little Temple.
Look on my works!
Architecture as destiny.
Alternatives.

Chapter 5. The hard coin of art:

The market flypaper.
From Academy to auction.
The unique commodity.
Dealers or collectors?
A confusion of values.

Chapter 6. The sovereign collection:

La Chase.
Chesterdale.
An art olympics.
Everybody does it.
Who owns museum art?
Indian giving.
In quest of a code.

Chapter 7. Midway to professionalism:

Gentlemen vs. players.
Trusteeship.
Museum workers, unite!
MOMA: Exit Hightower.
Boston: Exit Rueppel.
Brooklyn: Exit Cameron.
Professionalizing the Board.
Paying the President.

Chapter 8. Summing up:

Six problems.
In search of a Solomon.
Is a national arts policy needed?
Art for diplomacy's sake.
The arts of taxing.
Projectitis.
Searching for a yardstick.
Pyrotechnics or Lighthouse?

Appendix:
     A. The modernist flowering: art museum and visual arts center construction, 1950-.
     B. Museum ethics: a report to the American Association of Museums by its
         Committe on Ethics (1978).
     C. The art museum and television: an exchange.
     D. Museums visited and offficers interviewed.

Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Community Development