Global and world art in the practice of the university museum

227 Pages·2018·13.32 MB·English

by  Davidson, Jane Chin, Esslinger, Sandra

Global and World Art in the Practice of
the University Museum
Global and World Art in the Practice of the University Museum provides
new thinking on exhibitions of global art and world art in relation to
university museums.
Taking The Fowler Museum at UCLA, USA, as its central subject, this
edited collection traces how university museum practices have expanded the
understanding of the ‘art object’ in recent years. It is argued that the meaning
of cultural objects infused with the heritage and identity of ‘global culture’
has been developed substantially through the innovative approaches of uni-
versity scholars, museum curators and administrators since the latter part
of the twentieth century. Through exploring the ways in which university
museums have overseen changes in the global context for art, this edited col-
lection initiates a larger dialogue and inquiry into the value and contribution
of the empirical model.
The volume includes a full-colour photo essay by Marla C. Berns on the
Fowler Museum’s Fowler at Fifty project, as well as contributions from
Donald Preziosi, Catherine M. Cole, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Claire
Farago, Selma Holo, and Gemma Rodrigues. It is important reading for
professionals, scholars and advanced students alike.
Jane Chin Davidson is Associate Professor of Art History and Contemporary
Asian Art at California State University, San Bernardino, USA. She is a curator
and researcher of global exhibitions, gender/sexuality/transnationalism in
art, and contemporary performance.
Sandra Esslinger is Professor of Art History at Mt San Antonio College,
California, USA. Her research focuses on the History and Art of Nazi
Germany, emphasizing the construction of national and cultural identities.
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Global and World Art in the Practice of the University Museum
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For more information on this series, please visit www.routledge.com/Routledge-
Research-in-Museum-Studies/book-series/RRIMS
Global and World Art in
the Practice of the
University Museum
Edited by
Jane Chin Davidson and
Sandra Esslinger
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
 2018 selection and editorial matter, Jane Chin Davidson and Sandra
Esslinger; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Jane Chin Davidson and Sandra Esslinger to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Davidson, Jane Chin, editor. | Esslinger, Sandra, editor.
Title: Global and world art in the practice of the university museum /
edited by Jane Chin Davidson, Sandra Esslinger.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge research in
museum studies ; 13 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017007628 (print) | LCCN 2017008438 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138632455 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138656826
(e-book) | ISBN 9781138656826 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: College museums—Philosophy. | Art—Exhibition
techniques. | Postcolonialism and the arts. | Museum techniques—Case
studies. | Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Classification: LCC L797 .G59 2017 (print) | LCC L797 (ebook) | DDC
708—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007628
ISBN: 9781138656826 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781315621722 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Notes on contributors x
Introduction: a critical conversation—global/world art
and the university museum 1
JANE CHIN DAVIDSON
1 Fowler at Fifty: looking back, looking forward 19
MARLA C. BERNS
2 In the light of the Fowler: art, history, museology, and . . . 35
DONALD PREZIOSI
3 Global art and world art: an update on art and anthropology
in the university museum 56
JANE CHIN DAVIDSON
4 African art and art history’s global turn 75
GEMMA RODRIGUES
5 East Asian art history at UCLA: its development and
current challenges 96
LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN
6 Imagining art history otherwise 115
CLAIRE FARAGO
7 Time slip: Fiat Lux Redux/Remix as university museum
social practice 131
CATHERINE M. COLE
vi Contents
8 Public trust: the museum and the university 151
SELMA HOLO
9 Other possible worlds: the global university museum
and its subjects 161
SANDRA ESSLINGER
Select bibliography 178
Index 187
Illustrations
Plates: Photographic essay – Fowler at Fifty
1 The exhibition From X to Why: A Museum Takes Shape
began with the very first object to enter the Fowler Museum’s
collection, a magnificent Balinese ceremonial textile, and it
continued with thirty-five objects including African sculpture,
American Indian pottery and basketry, Latin American
ceremonial dress, Peruvian vessels, Indonesian puppets,
and European Carnival masks. The exhibition also
addresses how objects assume new lives in the museum
context. 2013–2014
2 Image of Fowler at Fifty graphic identity. 2013–2014
3 Detail of the exhibition From X to Why: A Museum
Takes Shape showing the case of Moche stirrup-spouted
ceramic vessels. 2013–2014
4 The exhibition From the Sepik River to Los Angeles:
Art in Migration included a display of masks, figural
sculptures, shields, and ritual objects from the island
of New Guinea in the South Pacific. 2013–2014
5 Detail of the exhibition From the Sepik River to
Los Angeles: Art in Migration. 2013–2014
6 The exhibition Double Fortune, Double Trouble:
Art for Twins among the Yorùbá presented over
250 examples of carved wood ere ibeji (twin figures).
2013–2014
7 Simone Leigh’s installation Topsy Turvy formed part
of the exhibition Double Fortune, Double Trouble:
Art for Twins among the Yorùbá. 2013–2014
8 Detail of Yorùbá twin figures on display in Double
Fortune, Double Trouble: Art for Twins among the
Yorùbá. 2013–2014
viii Illustrations
9 Simone Leigh, Topsy Turvy, installation commissioned for
Fowler incorporating West African plastic dolls. 2013–2014
10 The exhibition on The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth:
Ancient Threads/New Directions presented selections from
the Fowler Museum’s collection of ancient Peruvian textiles
from the early Chavin and Paracas cultures (500–100 bce)
to the extraordinary garments of the Inca empire
(1485–1532). 2013–2014
11 Detail of the exhibition The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth:
Ancient Threads/New Directions showing work by
contemporary artists Sheila Hicks and John Cohen. 2013–2014
12 Detail of the exhibition Chupícuaro: The Natalie Wood
Gift of Ancient Mexican Ceramics featuring ancient
ceramic vessels. 2013–2014
13 Detail of staffs and clubs on display in Powerful Bodies:
Zulu Arts of Personal Adornment. 2013–2014
14 The exhibition Chupícuaro: The Natalie Wood Gift of
Ancient Mexican Ceramics showcased the Fowler’s extensive
Chupícuaro holdings, which form its most important
collection of ancient Mesoamerican art. 2013–2014
15 The exhibition Powerful Bodies: Zulu Arts of Personal
Adornment focused upon personal objects of adornment,
including snuff spoons, snuff bottles, ivory hairpins,
necklaces, bracelets, anklets, belts, sculpted staffs,
and clubs. 2013–2014
16 The Maori Cloaks, Maori Voices exhibition focused on
nineteenth- to early twentieth-century ceremonial cloaks
from the Maori people of New Zealand. 2013–2014
17 Detail of cloaks from the exhibition Maori Cloaks,
Maori Voices. 2013–2014
18 Amalia Mesa-Bains used the Fowler collections as a source
for her installation New World Wunderkammer. 2013–2014
19 Detail of the cabinet representing the indigenous Americas
in the New World Wunderkammer, an installation by
Amalia Mesa-Bains. 2013–2014
20 Amalia Mesa-Bains, New World Wunderkammer. 2013–2014
21 Máximo González, Walk among Worlds, an outdoor
installation in the Fowler Museum’s Davis Courtyard
and composed of thousands of beach ball globes. 2013–2014
22 The Fowler Museum bedecked with beach ball globes
forming part of the installation Walk among Worlds by
Máximo González. 2013–2014
Illustrations ix
Figures
2.1 L.G. Williams, I Can See the Whole Room! And There’s
No Art in It!, 2011 35
2.2 Getty Museum, Los Angeles, approach stairs 38
2.3 Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles 39
2.4 Tate Modern, London, from Millennium Bridge 44
3.1 Noh masks display at the Pitt Rivers Museum, 2015 64
3.2 Wall of masks, Pitt Rivers Museum, 2015 64
3.3 Ming dynasty vase at the Pitt Rivers Museum, circa 1500,
from the collection of the Rajah of Sarawak, 1923 65
6.1 Saint Anne with the Infant Mary. Goa and Brazil. Wood
and ivory, 17 ¾ inches high. Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte
Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco 117
6.2 Roman gold coins excavated in Pudukottai, India. One coin
of Ciligula (31–41 ce) and two coins of Nero (54–68 ce) 124
6.3 Silver denarius of Tiberius (14 ce–37 ce), found in India.
Indian copy of the same coin, first century ce. Coin of
Kushan king Kujula Kadphises, which is a copy of a
coin of Augustus. London, British Museum 124
7.1 UC Berkeley, West from the Big “C” (late PM into sun),
April 1965 137
7.2 UC San Diego, “The Breezeway” (with figure), April 1966 138
7.3 Richmond Field Station, Landing Field Lighting
Experiment, September 1966 139
7.4 Agricultural Extension, Lettuce Picking Machine,
May 1966 140
7.5 UC San Francisco, Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric
Institute, San Francisco Medical Center, August 1964 140
7.6 UC Irvine, Campus Scene, April 1967 146
7.7 UC Riverside, Geology Class (Dr. Eaton) at Joshua
Tree National Monument, December 1966 147