Caleb MercerAnthropology 377

Ball State UniversityApril 12, 2010

Whose Muse? Art Museums and the Public TrustAuthor

s:James CunoPhilippe de MontebelloGlenn D. Lowry

Published by: Princeton University Press and Harvard Art Museum

Neil MacGregorJohn WalshJames N. Wood

Pages: 208

Date: 2004

Public Trust- trust created for the promotion of public welfare and not for the benefit of one or more individuals. It may or may not be a charitable trust. Also called purpose trust.

DistractionsPhilip Fisher’s thoughts on museums and

distractions“Museum experiences are generally

socialized: we go there with others and often talk to them while we are looking. The experience is un-solitary; it is bound to the museum’s opening hours; and it is ‘visually noisy.’ The resulting distractions bring about a lower quality of attention, and a briefer time spent in the presence of complex works, than with any other art form.”

Why do we settle for this?

How do you inspire public trust? You make it interesting.

Theme parks belong to the realm of commerce,

museums to the world of education.

How popular should museums become, how much should they cater to the public and to entertaining the public?

-Stephen Jay Gould- Harvard Paleontologist

What is the public trust? How is it created? What does it mean to lose it? Is it ethical or legal in nature? To what extent does it matter for museums?

Michael Kimmelman-“Museums must re-assert their authority on

what beauty really is, thereby reclaiming the idea of quality in art.”

In conclusion…