How Art Moves
Georgetown University, Department of Art History, Spring 2024
Course Description:
How do artworks move through the world? This class incorporated readings and case studies to explore how art moves—from the artist’s mind, to the creative act of making, exhibitions at galleries, sales to collectors, display at art fairs, inclusion in art auctions, entry into museum permanent collections, and stolen art. We traced the movements of a variety of artworks, exploring the effect of cultural, political, and economic factors on art’s geographic migrations and contextual meanings.
Selected themes from the syllabus:
What is the “Art World”?
The Politics of Moving Ice
When Outsiders Become Insiders
Galleries Move | Paintings Move | Money Moves
Curating: How Ideas Move
Art Collecting: Public and Private
Art Theft/ Stolen Art
Institutional Critique & The Future of Museums
Art Power | Market Power
Devotion | Evolution
Exhibits from Class 1: “What is the Art World”?
On April 28, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a letter awarding the Temple of Dendur, an ancient Egyptian temple, to The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a gift from Egypt to the United States.
The class discussed:
1) Is the temple at the Met the same one that was in Egypt? Does site and context matter?
2) Why do you think America was given the gift? How do geopolitics factor in?
3) What is meant by “ensure it’s permanent safety” and “ a setting appropriate to its character”?
4) Is the temple the same if you take it apart and out it back together?
The Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art