Contemporary Art Department
Hi Rob,
I've never been entirely happy with the way that we have
things set up here in Houston in this regard. We have departments based on
culture (African, Asian, Oceanic, etc.), departments based on medium
(Prints&Drawings, Photography, Film&Video), and departments based on
time period (Modern&Contemporary). Additionally, we have two house
museums that collect across the board within a certain time and culture
period. Curators of all departments are encouraged by our Director to
collect outside of their designated department, or to expand the traditional
notions of what their department is. Consequently, our Asian curator
collects contemporary Asian art and wants her acquisitions catalogued in TMS as
part of the Asian department.
Our European and American departments are the only ones
here which are fairly definitely defined. Both are defined as
departments of Painting and Sculpture, within a specific time frame (for
European, pre 1913. for American, pre 1941). To some degree, our
Latin American department follows suit, but because it is a new department, we
have expanded this to include prints and drawings by Latin American or Latino
artists in addition to paintings and sculpture.
What I have grudgingly done here is to almost ignore what
department the curator responsible is ostensibly a part of, and to try to figure
out what department the object best fits into. This becomes an almost
arbitrary decision making process that is on my to-do list of things to at least
codify. If an object fits a medium based department, we catalogue it by
that medium. (When a Mod&Cont curator acquires a drawing, it is part
of the Prints&Drawings department. When she acquires a video, it is in
the Film&Video department). BUT if our Asian curator acquires a
Japanese woodblock print, it is part of the Asian
department...
Categorizing these things in a more logical manner seems to
be something that only bothers me, though. I can't get the notion across
to other departments here that it would be helpful to better define what a
department is. I'm made to feel like I'm the one who can't think "outside
the box" (an expression that I've grown to hate immensely, if I ever thought it
any good...)
I know this wasn't much help to you. The short answer
to your question is that Yes, we do have a contemporary art department.
Objects in this department are for the most part paintings and
sculptures made by non-Asian artists AFTER 1940. If there is any way at
all that you can NOT have a Contemporary department in TMS, I would recommend
it. The only possible benefit would be from a security standpoint, I
think, if you allow your curators to see or edit things in their department
alone.
Good luck!
David
David Aylsworth
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Registrar for Collections
telephone: 713-639-7824
fax: 713-639-7780
Hello all you TMSers,
Here at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) we're
considering adding an additional department of Contemporary Art. How many
museums out there have contemporary art departments? I'm looking for
answers from museums with comparable collections, i.e., large, eclectic,
municipal collections like Houston, St. Louis, etc. Up to this point, the
BMA has been a fairly traditional museum with departments based on medium, i.e.,
Painting & Sculpture; Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; etc. However,
we now have a contemporary art curator who is collecting objects that could fall
under various collection areas and/or departments.
Thus, my question is, do you have a contemporary art
department in TMS? And, what kind of objects are in your contemporary art
department? How do you define your contemporary art department?
Thanks everyone,
Rob Morgan
Collections Database
Administrator
The Baltimore Museum of
Art
10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel: 443-573-1730
Fax:
443-573-1581
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