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Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums (Re Visions : Critical Studies in the History and Theory of Art)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 708
EAN: 9780415070126
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0415070120
Label: Routledge
Manufacturer: Routledge
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 178
Publication Date: June 09, 1995
Publisher: Routledge
Studio: Routledge
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Editorial Review:
Public art museums have become necessary fixtures of every city or country with any claim to importance. Yet we have still to understand what happens in them. Civilizing Rituals treats art museums from a new perspective--as ritual settings in their own right and as cultural artifacts that are much more than neutral shelters for art.
Drawing from both anthropological and philosophical literature, Carol Duncan begins by exploring the idea of the art museum-as-ritual. She examines specific musuem rituals in the US, Britain and France including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musuem of Modern Art, the National Gallery in London, the Louvre and several donor memorials including the Frick Collection and the Morgan Library, not only in relation to their political and social contexts but also paying close attention to the details of the museum settings themselves.
Duncan illuminates the ways in which musuems engage their visitors in the performance of ritual scenarios and, through them, commmunicate and affirm ideas, values and social identities. Art museums emerge as significant objects of historical and art-historical inquiry, sites on which political power and social interests and the history of cultural forms visibly intersect.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Fantastic
The boook was for my academic course..... and I was surprised by the reponse of amazon. They delivered it to me so fast. Thanks a lot. And the quality of the book is good too.....
Book is basically related to museum culture and importance of rituals in those spaces.
Rating:  - Duncan the hateful
As the title of Miss Duncan's book suggest, she sees the museums as almost religious institutions that entice the visitor to "enact a performance of some kind". Their very identity and meaning are constructed through this ritualistic practice, which is neither natural nor neutral. In the introduction the author states that she has no ambition in propagating what an art museum should be. In fact she does not indicate if she has such a clear cut ideal thought-out at all. The purpose of her research ... Read More
Rating: - Review
Excellent working with seller, received item very fast! Would definitely recommend business with this seller.
Rating: - Informative and Easy to Read
Dr. Duncan's books discusses the history of art museums and focusses in on some notable, present day museums. Her approach combines the traditional art historian view with a sociological view. Art is not created in a vacuum and reflects the society it lives within. Duncan's approach gives us insight into why some artwork is accepted while other artwork is not.
This book was required reading in my undergraduate studies. It is one of the few I choose to have in my personal library as well.
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Rating: - Informative, Easy To Read
Dr. Duncan's book was required reading in my undergraduate studies. She writes from two angles - first, being the traditional fine arts view, and second, a sociological view. Art is not created in a vacuum and is directly affected by the society it lives in. There is a value to looking at art from this combined point of view. You have a clear picture why some art is considered valuable, while some is not.
Carol Duncan's book delves into the reasons why we have art museums and then focusses in ... Read More
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