portfolio 1: Thinking through the problem of the institutionalization of art, let us consider a contemporary moment. Compare the exhibit of Chinese porcelain and glass in the Reed library with the exhibit of similar objects on the website of the Palace Museum, Beijing or the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Issues to consider: how are the objects displayed? What does the display tell us about the curatorial agendas, politics, conceptions of why these objects matter?
Hidden behind shelves of periodicals on personality and psychology in the Reed library and four Chinese ceramic bowls and two Japanese vases. Until recently, their identities had been ambiguous, the original captions containing only the dynasties the objects were allegedly from and the name of the generous Reed benefactor who donated them. Although I have had almost no exposure to Chinese and Japanese Art in the past, I must say that these objects are unremarkable, made worse by the fact that they sit in relative obscurity, locked in heavy wooden cabinets with no decent light source around. Their poor location and careless captions reflect a disregard for these Asian objects in a library that is full of fairly prominently displayed Western Artifacts. I would be presumptuous to assume that this was because the library, and by extension Reed College, sees Asian art as less important or less relevant than western art, but it certainly brings up questions about the preconceived notions that we have about art outside of the basic western, Christian, cannon. I did appreciate the captions written by the students, which acknowledged the questionable acquisition of the objects, but which did not actually contain the word loot, which was strange especially after reading Hevia’s article.
The National Palace Museum’s website was completely different than the tiny collection in the Reed library. It’s well organized, the photographs are well done, and contains lengthy formal and contextual analyses of its pieces. Yet what is particularly striking is the lack of information on the European Imperialist presence in China. The most I could find was one sentence that referred to the boxer rebellion and foreign troops as the reason for the disappearance of some calligraphy. It really reinforced for me the point that Cluas made in his article about how museums divorce art from their context and history.
