Smarthistory – How museums shape meaning

Postmodern Art Criticism and Cultural Construction

  • Culture: Social practices and discourses producing and ordering meaning (signification).

  • Griselda Pollock (Vision and Difference, 1988):

    • Culture mobilizes images and definitions of reality to legitimize social dominance and subordination (class, race, sex).

  • Postmodern Premise:

    • Individuals are constructed within cultural codes, language, and discourses.

    • Cultural power makes constructed identity codes appear "natural."

    • Art criticism unpacks how visual representations shape and alter identities.

The Rise of Public Art Museums and Social Identity

  • Emergence (Late 18th–Early 19th Century):

    • Key institutions: British Museum, National Gallery, The Louvre.

    • Functioned to shape and define national identity.

  • Carol Duncan (Civilizing Rituals, 1995):

    • Controlling museums grants authority to define community values and truths.

    • "Museum ritual": Visitors who know how to engage have their social, racial, and sexual identities confirmed.

James Tissot's London Visitors (1874)

  • Painting Details: Oil on canvas, 160 x 114 cm (Toledo Art Museum).

  • Location Depicted: Greek Revival portico of National Gallery, London (William Wilkins, 1832–38).

    • Visible background: St. Martin-in-the-Fields church (James Gibbs, 1722–24, inspired by Wren).

  • William Hazlitt's Theory:

    • Museum serves as a cure for "low-thoughted cares."

    • Offers an abstracted realm to contemplate eternal truth/beauty (Raphael, Titian, Poussin, Carracci) away from daily fashion.

Classical Architecture and Urban Authority

  • Classical Influence:

    • Portico designs mirror Roman temples like the Pantheon (126 C.E.).

    • Nelson's Column (1840–43 in Trafalgar Square): Corinthian column modeled on Roman victory monuments like Trajan's Column (early 2nd C. C.E.).

  • Forum of Trajan (Roman Urban Model):

    • Integrated triumphal arch, equestrian statue forecourt, Basilica Ulpia (law court), two libraries, Column of Trajan, and Temple of Divine Trajan to project imperial power.

  • Modern Civic Application:

    • Trafalgar Square (London) and National Mall (Washington, D.C.) use classical layouts and forms to project state authority and shared cultural values.