Monroe County and Ancient Art

The last two weeks, we have gotten to observe the principles from our readings in action in two different museums.  The Monroe County History Center and the ancient exhibit in the Indiana University Museum of Art have very different focuses, but both do lots of things well.

This week, both the article by Dana and the one on the Detroit Institute of Art showed the juxtaposition of the original purposes and uses of items and the gloomy, static present they face in museums. In the Monroe County History Center, while objects are no longer being used for their original purposes, most of them are placed in proximity of other related objects. The classroom and cabin displays tried to give a more accurate context of how objects would be seen in their day. By contrast, the items in the exhibit we observed in the Art Museum were sorted roughly by area of the world, but mostly isolated and placed in glass cases. Dana speaks negatively about this type of treatment, as the preservation of artifacts takes priority over the use of the artifacts for their original purpose or for the education of the public.

The article on the Detroit Institute of Art gives readers a good deal of background information on the items on display. I would have liked to have a similar guide in walking through the Art Museum. I like to not only look at items, but also to hear and read about them to get a better idea of their significance and history.

Dana also writes on the focus on extra-American items as art and as valuable. In this area, the two places we have visited so far could not be more different. The Monroe County History Center, as the name suggests, focuses on a small area of the country. All the objects I observed in the center were American. They were more accessible and less protected than one may expect of traditional museum settings. In the Art Museum, art is on display from multiple parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Absent from the display are artifacts from North or South America. On one hand, this may be justified given the “ancient” time period in focus. On the other hand, Dana may argue that this focus in itself and exaltation of the old may be flawed.

Also criticized in “The Gloom of the Museum” is the location of many museums. However, I think that both museums our class has visited avoid the main areas of complaint. The Monroe County History Center is in the center of downtown Bloomington in Monroe County. Being in the center of the city is one of the biggest features Dana advocates in location. In using pre-established buildings, the museum fits nicely into its surroundings, meeting another criteria Dana asks of museums. Likewise, the Art Museum fits into its setting. Placed in the middle of Indiana University’s campus, the large limestone building looks at home in the midst of academic buildings, libraries and the auditorium.