Contemporary Art Department

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.

David Aylsworth
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Registrar for Collections
telephone: 713-639-7824
fax: 713-639-7780

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rob Morgan
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 11:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Contemporary Art Department

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
[log in to unmask]