I imagine that there are a other museums that are in our situation and
I'd be curious how many of you feel it is a problem, or how you deal
with it.

 

Our museum has a lot of curatorial departments that have a lot of
crossover between them.  Some of them are time based (Antiquities,
Modern & Contemporary), others are culture based (Latin American,
American, European, Asian), others are media based (Prints & Drawings,
Photography, Film & Video), and we've now added one that is religion
based (Islamic).

 

Objects in the Islamic department are also Asian or Antiquities.  Our
Asian department collects not only traditional woodblock prints and the
like, but also contemporary photographs, videos, and
sculptures-sometimes by the same artists collected by the Photography
and Modern & Contemporary department.  Our Latin American department
collects prints, drawings, contemporary paintings, and videos.  This
list could go on and on.

 

I don't want to discourage the cross-department collecting, but while
the curators are only really concerned about their most recent
acquisitions, I'm concerned that twenty years from now, it's going to be
strange why the same artist has works that look identical in different
departments.  Am I being too uptight about this?  Does anyone have any
similar situation or thoughts?

 

I'd appreciate hearing any comments any of you have.

 

Thanks,

David

 

David Aylsworth

Collections Registar

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

tel:  713-639-7824

fax: 713-639-7780