Exhibition Critique
The critique at hand presents impressions and critical comments regarding the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.. The analysis was done on the virtual museum tour provided on the YouTube (“A Woman’s Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts”). Despite the huge difference between the physical visit and the virtual one, there is still an opportunity to understand and assess the exhibitions that refer to the major subject of the role of women in the arts and history.
The most astonishing fact is that many people, even well-educated, are used to the thought that it was mostly men who created history and art, who were talented to be the authors of the greatest masterpieces in the world. However, the National Museum of Women in the Arts proves it wrong. Elaborate building with perfect interior that emphasizes the superiority of the female tenderness in every detail. The founder of the museum and museum workers are women who are happy to share their knowledge with all visitors. They are inspired to provide more information about women who contributed to the art as well as men, but were neglected in the course of history. The founder personally collected many of the works of art as women’s paintings usually belonged to small collection owners and did not have a great artistic value. However, the museum gives a new chance to these pieces of art.
The museum collected all pieces of arts from sculpture to paintings. There, visitors can see the works of Marianne Loir, Clara Peeters and other artists. “Still Life of Fish and Cat” painted by Clara Peeters in the 17th century represents a great talent of the author who managed to depict the fish and the cat very precisely. She had an incredible “skill at rendering naturalistic texture” (“Still Life of Fish and Cat”) and paid particular attention to details. Cat’s fur, oyster shells and other small details enhance the quality of the painting. The author’s motives were usually related to nature and day-to-day routine that she called ‘still life.’ In general, the painting can be rendered to photographic art due to its attention to details.
Marianne Loir is the author of “Presumed Portrait of Madame Geoffrin” which date is unknown. The author managed to depict the gorgeousness and aristocratism of the person, emphasized her importance in the Parisian society. Graceful gestures of the person and her direct gaze demonstrate Madam’s confidence and power that she had. Loir emphasized richness and status of the person by the arrangement of the background. The painter also conveyed in detail the Madame Geoffrin’s costume including satin dress, the pearls and red cloak. At the same time, the author avoided any idealization, her portrait is done as really as possible with a slight touch of age on her face (“Presumed Portrait of Madame Geoffrin”).
One may find exact year and the name of the author close to every exhibit as well as receive a small insight into the life of the author. One may find rooms that include various kinds of art arranged using a historical or a time approach or the rooms devoted to a single author. In my opinion, it shifts the focus from the time to the author more. The focus of the museum and the exhibition is to demonstrate the women’s role and significance in the art regardless of time frames. Moreover, the exhibition is arranged to fit the visitors’ expectations about time efficiency. There is no single corridor or room where a visitor can get lost or be distracted (National Museum of Women in the Arts).
As a visitor, one may find many different subjects on the artworks. Female artists depicted everything that they considered beautiful, including nature, abstraction, portraits and so on. It is indeed a unique collection so that the curators are very concerned about safety. Neither of exhibits can be touched out of security reasons as well as respect to the museum ownership. Moreover, the museum represents a high value for America as it possesses uniqueness. America, being a symbol of equality and freedom, should have such a museum that would promote women as great artists and demonstrate their equal contribution with men. In my opinion, it was quite obvious that one of the first museums of such kind would be opened in the USA (Fenston).
Works Cited
“A Woman’s Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts.” Great Museums. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXaln1MDGwg
Fenston, Jacob. “National Museum of Women in the Arts to Receive Prestigious Prize.” Wamu. Wamu.org, 4 Jan 2015. http://wamu.org/news/15/01/04/national_museum_of_women_in_the_arts_to_receive_prestigious_prize
National Museum of Women in the Arts. “About” Page. Web. 31 July, 2016. http://www.nmwa.org/about
“Presumed Portrait of Madame Geoffrin.” National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts, n.d. http://www.nmwa.org/works/presumed-portrait-madame-geoffrin
“Still Life of Fish and Cat.” National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts, n.d. http://www.nmwa.org/works/still-life-fish-and-cat
