Sculpture and the Museum

Sculpture and the Museum is the first in-depth examination of the varying roles and meanings assigned to sculpture in museums and galleries during the modern period, from neo-classical to contemporary art practice. It considers a rich array of curatorial strategies and settings in order to examine the many reasons why sculpture has enjoyed a position of such considerable importance - and complexity - within the institutional framework of the museum and how changes to the museum have altered, in turn, the ways that we perceive the sculpture within it. In particular, the contributors consider the complex issue of how best to display sculpture across different periods and according to varying curatorial philosophies. Sculptors discussed include Canova, Rodin, Henry Moore, Flaxman and contemporary artists such as Rebecca Horn, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion and Olafur Eliasson, with a variety of museums in America, Canada and Europe presented as case studies. Underlying all of these discussions is a concern to chart the critical importance of the acquisition, placement and display of sculpture in museums and to explore the importance of sculptures as a forum for the expression of programmatic statements of power, prestige and the museum's own sense of itself in relation to its audiences and its broader institutional aspirations.

Contents: Subject/Object: new studies in sculpture, Lisa Le Feuvre; Sculpture and the museum, from starry skies to tropical haze, Christopher R. Marshall; Part I Museums and the Sculptor's Legacy: The Gipsoteca of Possagno: from artist's studio to museum, Johannes Myssok; The pantheon, the university and the artist's bequest: the Flaxman Gallery at University College London, Pauline Ann Hoath; Rodin: the construction of an image, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain; Adopting Moore and modernity in Toronto: controversy, reputation and intervention on display, Sarah Stanners. Part II Museum Display and Changing Attitudes to the Critical Status of Sculpture in Museums: Italian Renaissance sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: the early years, Marietta Cambareri; The elephant in the room: George Grey Barnard's Struggle of the Two Natures of Man at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Thayer Tolles; Sculptures as museum models: Malvina Hoffman's Races of Mankind display at the Field Museum, Chicago, Marianne Kinkel; Out of time and place: the recent history and curious double life of the Sultanganj Buddha, Suzanne MacLeod. Part III Designing Display Settings and the Challenge of New Sculpture: 'The finest sculpture gallery in the world!': the rise and fall - and rise again - of the Duveen Sculpture Galleries at Tate Britain, Christopher R. Marshall; A grey universe: Tate Modern's Turbine Hall and the Unilever series, Wouter Davidts; Object to project: artists' interventions in museum collections, Khadija Carroll La; Select bibliography; Index.

Christopher R. Marshall, Senior Lecturer in Art History and Museum Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia