Short Questions for Exhibition Studies - Assignment Example

ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR EXHIBITION STUDIES

• ‘What was different about how the exhibition ‘At Home in Renaissance Italy’ approached gender?’

The exhibition, ‘At Home in Renaissance Italy’, had a different way of approaching gender. One way in which it did this was through the use of paintings. The role of paintings in this exhibition was carefully considered, and each seemed to have been selected to bring attention to contextual and methodological issues that were present in the Renaissance period of Italy. Sofonisba Anguissiola’s painting that portrayed her sisters playing chess approached gender issues in this exhibition. The painter, Sofonisba Anguissiola, is arguably the first great woman painter in the Renaissance period of Italy (Gaze, 2013, p.157). This painter is a manifestation of women striving to pursue opportunities that were only reserved for men. The painting shows her sisters playing chess, suggesting that cerebral games were acceptable, socially, for women then.

The exhibition also shows that women had a much more firm grip on the household than generally acknowledged. The sala, which was the principal room in which the family accepted their guests, had items from the kitchen like cooking pots, food warmers and wooden spoons (Jmar-Wollheim & Dennis, 2006, p.6). This shows that a woman’s domain had extended from the kitchen into other areas of the household giving the woman a central role. This approach to gender issues by the exhibition shows that women had started to get a voice in the renaissance period of Italy.

• Choose three objects from the ‘Line of Kings’ exhibition and discuss how they represent ideas about national identity in the past.

In the ‘line of kings’ exhibition, there are items that represent ideas about national identity in the past, particularly, Britain. One item is the painting of Charles II, which dates back to 1661 (Robinson, 2017a, p.7). He was the king of Britain from 1630-1685. The Brits of the past saw their kings and queens as part of their national identity, they took pride in their monarchies, and a substantial number of them still do. Charles the second’s father was beheaded, and so Charles II went into exile in France. After the fall of the Cromwellian regime, Charles II was invited by the army o come and reclaim the throne (Barton & McGregor, 2015, p.273). This shows that the Brits back then saw the throne as a key component of their national identity.

Another object from the Line of Kings exhibition that represents ideas about national identity in the past is painting that of William the third (Robinson, 2017a, p.15). The painting represents ideas about national identity in the past that were heavily tied to Religion. William the third was preceded by James the second. James’ II reign was short-lived because he wanted to turn the country into absolute Catholicism. The protestant English parliament drove him away and placed William on the throne, ensuring the primacy of the protestant faith in Britain (Trantner, 2012, p.18).

The third object in the exhibition that represents ideas about national identity in the past is the house of armory (Robinson, 2017a, p.16). The house which houses a collection of war items represents military power. National identity in the past was heavily embedded in military power as Europe was always in war. Unlike today, many European nations were always at odds with each other over trade and religion. The military was thus an important factor.

• Why did the ‘Harlem on my Mind’ Exhibition cause so much controversy?

The ‘Harlem on my mind’ exhibition caused so much controversy primarily because the exhibition was accused of being racist. First, Schoener, the director of the exhibition was of Jewish background. The black population viewed that he did not have sufficient knowledge about them. Protesters saw that the organizer should have been African American. It was also said that schooner did not listen to the complaints of critics prior to the opening of the exhibition. The exhibition also failed to showcase any artwork done by African Americans (Gurock, 2016, p.217).

People also accused the exhibition of overlooking the rich institutional, political, and cultural development of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition only focused on the riots, and social movements, issues related to the long history of racism and segregation that trailed the Harlem community. For example, newspaper and headlines from the exhibition’s catalogue read “Race Riot: Set upon and Beat Negros and “Scattered Violence Occurs in Harlem and Brooklyn”.

• What can ‘Sensation’ teach us about Britain in the 1990s?

The exhibition ‘sensation’ can teach us a lot about Britain in the 1990s. First, the exhibition showed the growing sexual liberation of women in the 1990s. In one of the sets in the exhibition, a tent has the names of boys that a girl has slept with (Burbridge, 1997, p.4). The tent is artwork by Tracey Emin. It shows the 1990s as period where the society’s expectations for women to be chaste until the day they are wed was not highly considered. The exhibition also shows the prime minister for most of that time period in the 1990s, John Major (Burbridge, 1997, p.47). A poster in the exhibition also shows the political party that ruled the political party that ruled Britain for most of this decade, the conservative party. The poster is designed by Saatchi and Saatchi.

Through the exhibition, one can also see that lesbians had started to become mainstream in the United Kingdom. In the exhibition; there is a lot of art work that has woman couples alone with no men. These women depicted are engaging in behavior that could be described as gay (Burbridge, 1997, p.35).

• Chose three works exhibited in the ‘Queer British Art’ exhibition and discuss how the artists challenged the gender binary

Gender binary is where human beings by societal standards are forced to choose between two genders, male or female. The ‘Queer British Art’ exhibition challenged the gender binary policy of society through various forms of at work which dated back when those who felt that society’s gender constructions were not fit were seen as not part of society. These works tell stories of people who did that and had prominent positions in society.

One such portrait is the portrait of PC Harry Daley that was done by Duncan Grant. The story of this painting is more intriguing when we look at the life of the painter who did this artwork. Duncan Grant, the painter, had relationships with contemporary male figures. One of them includes John Maynard Keynes (Barnett, 2013, p.26). It is worth pointing out that us was under the guidance of John Maynard Keynes that the first Arts Council of Great Britain was set up. David grant also had a relationship with Lytton Strachey. Lytton was a founding member of the Bloomsburg Group and the author of Eminent Victorians (Bowden, 2014, p.23). PC Harry Daley, the man draw had a relationship with E.M Forster. E.M Forster had written a book called Maurice about a young man’s awakening homosexuality. The book was a protest against the criminalization of homosexuality (Maunder, 2007, p.156).

Another artwork that in the exhibition has a story behind it in relation to challenging gender binary is that of Vernon Lee. Vernon Lee was actually given the name Violet Paget at birth. She choose the name Vernon Lee because of the fluidity that came with it. It was hard for someone to guess if the author in her works of literature was male or female. She was the author of over fifty books of fiction (Black, 2012, p.753).

Additionally, the painting of Vita Sackville-West, a lady in a red hat, is also among the paintings that represent those people who challenged mainstream gender binary relationships in the past. It is rumored that is his painting; she was looking at her love, Virginia Woolf. The two wrote to each other many love letters, all responded (Sackville-West & Caws, 2002, p.xiii).

• Focusing on two or three items from the ‘Hide and Seek’ exhibition, discuss how material culture was used to exhibit the concept of childhood.

From the ‘hide and seek’ exhibition, we see that children in the Paleolithic period were expected to be like their fathers and mothers. Childhood served the purpose of grooming the child to become like the father and mother. This is evident by the presence of a small miniature hand axe that was meant for the child (Robinson, 2017a, p.15).

Another object that was used to define the concept of childhood are objects that were used in sixteenth-century schooling (Robinson, 2017a, p.37). This shows that part of childhood in some parts of the world involved going to school and getting an education.

• Choose two pieces from the ‘Opus Anglicanum’ exhibition and use these to discuss how they represent technological advances.

One piece of the object that represents technological advances is the fishmongers’ pall (Browne et al., 2017, p.132). This piece of art work revolves around a number of mythologies, merman, and mermaids, many of which are proved to be false by today’s scientists. However, such beliefs, due to the lack of technological advances then were held to be true.

Additionally, the Becket Casket is used to represent technological advances (Browne et al., 2017, p.132). It dates us back to a time where even in the western world, a ruler’s wish was a command to his subjects. It is a work of art characterized by brilliant blues, colourful rosettes, and boldly engraved figures. This is despite it being made in the medieval times, a period which many today think that it was dark and lacked progress.

• Focusing on not more than TWO exhibits and/or pavilions of EITHER The Great Exhibition of 1851, OR the Festival of Britain 1951, discuss how national identity was exhibited.

Focusing on The Great Exhibition of 1851, we can discuss how national identity was exhibited in a number of countries, one of them being Switzerland (Nash et al., 1852, p.80). The exhibition showcased Switzerland as being a country that despite has geographical disadvantages, had been able to establish manufacturing industries.

Another country in the exhibit was Italy (Nash et al., 1852, p.80). The national identity of Italy was mostly expressed in their artwork as it was once the art capital of Europe. There were a considerable amount of marble statues in the Italy stand when compared to other countries.

• Why did the surrealist artists seek to ‘break the rules’ in the 1938 International Exhibition in Paris?

The surrealist artists in the 1938 International Exhibition in Paris were seeking to break the rules because they wanted the freedom without being concerned a number of things. For example, logic, rationalism, aesthetics, self-censorship, and morality.

• Is Mark Dion more an artist or a curator?

Mark Dion is a more of a curator. This is because he is a conceptual artist. Conceptual artists promote the notion that anything could be a work of art, by them simply selecting it in respect to what Marcel Duchamp did before them. Similar to curators, they oversee the collections that are to be displayed in an exhibition (Myzelev, 2017, p.83). They do not create art; they only pick out what to exhibit and how.