Photography Credits

Cuno, James

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Photography Credits

James Cuno (Editor)

Whose Muse?: Art Museums and the Public Trust

Photography Credits

Author

James Cuno (Editor)

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100034

Photography Credits

The photographers and the sources of visual material other than those indicated in the captions are as follows (numerals refer to figures).

“A Pentecost in Trafalgar Square,” Neil MacGregor

“The Object of Art Museums,” James Cuno

The Courtauld Institute Gallery, The Samuel Courtauld Trust (11)

Réunion des Musées Nationaux (9)

“Pictures, Tears, Lights, and Seats,” John Walsh

Art Resource (6)

Städtische Galerie im Städelsches Kunstinstitut (9)

“The Authorities of the American Art Museum,” James N. Wood

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Book details

BOOKWhose Muse?: Art Museums and the Public Trust

James Cuno (Editor)

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100022

During the economic boom of the 1990s, art museums expanded dramatically in size, scope, and ambition. They came to be seen as new civic centers: on the one hand as places of entertainment, leisure, and commerce, on the other as socially therapeutic institutions. But museums were also criticized for everything from elitism to looting or illegally exporting works from other countries, to exhibiting works offensive to the public taste.

Whose Muse? brings together five directors of leading American and British art museums who together offer a forward-looking alternative to such prevailing views. While their approaches differ, certain themes recur: As museums have become increasingly complex and costly to manage, and as government support has waned, the temptation is great to follow policies driven not by a mission but by the market. However, the directors concur that public trust can be upheld only if museums continue to see their core mission as building collections that reflect a nation’s artistic legacy and providing informed and unfettered access to them.

The book, based on a lecture series of the same title held in 2000–2001 by the Harvard Program for Art Museum Directors, also includes an introduction by Cuno and a fascinating roundtable discussion among the participating directors. A rare collection of sustained reflections by prominent museum directors on the current state of affairs in their profession, this book is without equal.

Author

James Cuno (Editor)

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Print publication date October 2006 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780691127811

EISBN 9780300281019

Illustrations 30

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

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