Reinstalling Nineteenth-Century American Art in US Museums
Organized by Kimberly Orcutt and Isabel L. Taube
Kimberly Orcutt Executive Editor, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Email the author: executive_editor[at]19thc-artworldwide.org
Isabel L. Taube Co-Managing Editor, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Email the author: editors[at]19thc-artworldwide.org
Citation: Kimberly Orcutt and Isabel L. Taube, organizers, Reinstalling Nineteenth-Century American Art in US Museums, pt. 1, Art/History, November 14, 2023, video, 1:06:30; pt. 2, Innovation/Interpretation, February 27, 2024, video, 1:06:22, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 23, no. 1 (Spring 2024), https://doi.org/10.29411/ncaw.2024.23.1.8.
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This Practicing Art History feature titled “Reinstalling Nineteenth-Century American Art in US Museums” consists of two video recordings of panel discussions broadcast on Zoom as part of an ongoing Virtual Salon program, cosponsored by Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, its parent organization the Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art, and the Dahesh Museum of Art. Part 1: “Art/History,” took place on November 14, 2023; and part 2: “Innovation/Interpretation,” took place on February 27, 2024.
Each session convened a group of four distinguished curators in different stages of reinstalling the galleries of American art at their museums. Part 1 considered what it means to install nineteenth-century American art today, reflecting on such topics as the shift in emphasis from art to history as an organizing principle; concurrent efforts toward greater inclusivity and diversity; and strategies employed to “fill gaps” in the narratives they want to convey.
While part 1 addressed questions that underpin approaches to collection reinstallation, part 2 moved from theory to practice, with panelists discussing such issues as balancing new voices with the curatorial voice; strategies for providing multiple interpretive options in the galleries; prototyping new strategies in the galleries; and gathering feedback from internal and external constituencies.
Format
Each curator was asked to take the lead in responding to a specific question. After each curator’s presentation, we opened the conversation to the other curators before moving onto the next question. You can view the questions in the timings underneath each video.
Part 1
Erin Corrales-Diaz is the curator of American art at the Toledo Museum of Art. Before coming to Toledo, Corrales-Diaz was the assistant curator of American art at the Worcester Art Museum. She has also held dual posts as curator of the Johnson Collection and visiting scholar at Wofford and Converse Colleges. She is a specialist in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American art, with a particular focus on art of the American Civil War and African American art. Corrales-Diaz received her PhD from the University of North Carolina and an MA in art history from Williams College.
Email the author: ecorrales-diaz[at]toledomuseum.org
Kathleen A. Foster is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., senior curator of American art and director of the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and adjunct professor in the history of art at the University of Pennsylvania. With publications on topics ranging from eighteenth- to twentieth-century American art (most recently about Thomas Eakins and watercolors), she is currently leading the team planning for the reinstallation of the museum’s collection: the new Early American Galleries (1650–1850) opened in the spring of 2021, with the second-floor galleries (1850–1950) to follow.
Email the author: Kathleen.foster[at]philamuseum.org
Eleanor Jones Harvey is senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). She earned a BA with distinction in art history at the University of Virginia and a PhD at Yale University. Dr. Harvey studies the intersection of landscape painting and American culture. She organized the exhibitions The Civil War and American Art (2012–13) and Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture (2020–21). She was the curator of American art at the Dallas Museum of Art from 1992 to 2002. At both Dallas and SAAM she has participated in building-wide reinstallations of the permanent collection.
Email the author: HarveyE[at]si.edu
Sylvia Yount is the Lawrence A. Fleischman curator in charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Previously, she held senior curatorial positions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Yount has completed numerous collection reinstallations and organized major exhibitions on a variety of topics, especially on art by women and artists of color. She is currently leading a reinstallation of the American Wing to mark the department’s centennial in 2024. She continues to lecture and publish on American art and history as well as on contemporary museum practice.
Email the author: Sylvia.Yount[at]metmuseum.org
Introduction
Question 1
Would you agree or disagree that museums have moved from art to history as an organizing principle, and what are the implications of this shift in your installation (or not)?
Question 2
What are the ways that the current installation differs from the previous one, and do those differences reflect a shift in the criteria employed to choose which works to foreground?
Question 3
The recent interest in having objects tell stories has led to a need to fill new gaps in new ways, such as integrating different types of media, directing object research toward unearthing new narratives, borrowing works, and having contemporary works created. Can you share some of what you’ve learned in this arena?
Question 4
How did you decide on the approach you would take to the installation? Did you consider methodologies other than the one(s) you landed on along the way?
Q & A
Part 2
Virginia M. G. Anderson is the curator of American art and department head of American painting and sculpture and decorative arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and is an adjunct professor in the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University. Since arriving at the BMA in 2018 she has organized six exhibitions focused on work by women artists, including Art/Work: Women Printmakers in the WPA (2023–24). In 2022 she reconceived and reinstalled the American Modernism galleries in the Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing at the BMA.
Email the author: vanderson[at]artbma.org
Leo Mazow has been the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane curator of American art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) since 2016. He was previously associate professor of art history at the University of Arkansas and curator of American art at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University. His recent projects include the exhibitions and publications Edward Hopper and the American Hotel (2019–20) and Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art (2022–23). He is currently organizing the reinstallation of the American art galleries for the VMFA’s upcoming expansion.
Email the author: leo.mazow[at]vmfa.museum
Jeremiah William McCarthy is chief curator at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. During his tenure, he has transformed the museum’s permanent-collection galleries into dynamic, rotating displays and has strengthened its holdings of historical and contemporary women artists. He is the curator or cocurator of the exhibitions Inspired Encounters: Women Artists and the Legacies of Modern Art (2022–23); For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design (2019–22); and Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900 (2017–18). Previously, he held curatorial positions at the National Academy of Design, the American Federation of Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Email the author: jmccarthy[at]thewestmoreland.org
Sarah Kelly Oehler is the Field-McCormick chair and curator, arts of the Americas, and vice president of curatorial strategy at the Art Institute of Chicago. A specialist in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century painting, Oehler has organized numerous exhibitions for the museum, including Charles White: A Retrospective (2018). Her current project is Georgia O’Keeffe: “My New Yorks” (2024). She is also leading the team reenvisioning the phased reinstallation of the Americas galleries. The galleries featuring late nineteenth- through mid-twentieth-century art were realized in 2019 and 2022, and the team’s focus is now on the earlier American galleries.
Email the author: soehler[at]artic.edu
Introduction
Question 1
Currently a variety of voices are highlighted in interpretive strategies and gallery texts. How do you balance them with the curatorial voice to provide historical and art historical context?
Question 2
Bringing in new voices leads to the question of how to make them available to visitors without overwhelming them or overshadowing the objects. How do you provide for multiple interpretive options in the galleries?
Question 3
Prototyping new types of installations offers the opportunity to try out new strategies and evaluate effectiveness by gathering visitor feedback and assessing long-term viability. What are your experiences with prototyping, and what have you learned?
Question 4
Installation planning can involve a number of partners from inside and outside the museum. What have you learned about the most successful ways to gather feedback from different constituencies such as visitors, community groups, and education and interpretation staff?
unless otherwise noted.