This book tells the story of the unifying of two major institutions during a turning point in American public art education. Traditionally separated in the hierarchy of 'highbrow' and 'middlebrow' culture, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Book-of-the-Month Club joined forces between 1948 and 1962 to bring art from the Met’s collections right into the homes of subscribers. This democratic approach transformed the way art was consumed and gave the public newfound agency as collectors and museum visitors.
Using never before published archival material, the book demonstrates how the Met sought to bring art to the masses in postwar America, whilst upholding its reputation as an institution of high culture. By describing this egalitarian programme in depth, the book offers new insights into the history of museum outreach and provides fascinating examples of successful audience engagement for contemporary practitioners.
The Met and the Masses in Postwar America places these commercial enterprises in a variety of contemporary and historical contexts, including the relation of cultural education to democracy in America, the history of the Met as an educational institution, the rise of art education in postwar America, and the concurrent transformation of the home into a space that mediated familial privacy and the public sphere. It is essential reading for scholars, researchers and curators interested in the history of modern art, museum and curatorial studies, arts and cultural management, heritage studies, as well as the history of art publications.
By:
Mitchell B. Frank (Carleton University Canada)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350277311
ISBN 10: 1350277312
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 17 October 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Further / Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Metropolitan Miniatures: Culture and Commerce 2. The Metropolitan Seminars in Art: Middlebrow Culture 3. The Met and Art Education in Postwar America 4. Rembrandt’s Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer: Reproduction and Quality 5. The Met, Popular Art Education, and the Problem of Abstract Art Appendices Bibliography Index
Mitchell B. Frank is Director of the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University, Canada. He is currently editor-in-chief of the Canadian art historical journal RACAR (Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review).
Reviews for The Met and the Masses in Postwar America: A Study of the Museum and Popular Art Education
While focusing on specific historical episodes within a single institution, Frank’s study also offers a reconsideration of the history of art history. The book provides a nuanced analysis of a form of art history that has often been taken for granted in museums and art history textbooks, and with which we are currently grappling as we work towards new models of teaching and learning art history. * Andrea Korda, RACAR (Revue d’art canadienne / Canadian Art Review) * A salutary reminder that museums were developing creative ways of engaging audiences beyond their walls decades before the internet. Frank's study of the Metropolitan's Miniatures and Seminars will interest not only historians of Cold War-era American culture, but all those in museums attempting to reconcile an inclusion agenda with commercial partnerships. * Jonathan Conlin, author of The Nation's Mantelpiece: A History of the National Gallery (2006) and Civilisation (2009) *
