How to Look: Our Relationships with Art Objects and Space #1

As an art historian, one of the most important concepts to consider is how individuals, across time, culture, and space, interact and engage with art objects. I'd like to devote my next few posts in the series, "How to Look: Our Relationships with Art Objects and Space" to discuss the different types of viewership between individuals and objects, and the spaces we build to consume art. Furthermore, I'd like to touch on the histories and cultural contexts that influence these spaces.

Before doing so, I'd like to share a little bit more about myself. I am a recent transplant to New York City. I moved here with the hope of landing a position within the art world, and I currently work at Christie's art auction house. You may recognize the name from last fall, when Christie's broke the record for the most expensive art work ever sold at auction - Leonardo da Vinci's, "Salvador Mundi" which went for an extraordinary 450 million dollars. (There is certainly controversy as to whether the painting itself - or any painting - is worth that much. This is another topic I will write about later!) The most recent sale that I was involved with was the 2018 Exceptional Sale. The Exceptional Sale is a sale that features objects of high cultural significance and value that do not quite fit in to any other category of art. The most important lot in the sale was a Golden Age silver ewer. The ewer, which is a kind of pitcher, was sculpted from a single block of silver by the Dutch master, Adam van Vienen in 1619. The ewer is quite small but has a commanding presence. Every time I had the opportunity to view it in person, I felt as if I was viewing a different object. It remains hidden from the viewer, it does not perform for those who come to stand in front of it. The artist was certainly ahead of his time, for the ewer has almost surrealistic qualities and imagery. For photos of this exceptional piece, please click here

I was delighted when the Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to bid and was the successful buyer of the ewer. I am confident that in the coming weeks the ewer will be featured in one of the Met's many beautiful galleries. I wondered however, why the Met be interested was in such an extraordinary piece? While stunning, the ewer is small, and it does not bear the same cultural significance and "museum-ready" quality that many major works do. (More on this later!) Where would the Met place such an object? A majority of the Met's galleries are filled with flat, two-dimensional fine art, such as paintings, prints or photographs. Moreover, the museum's most lucrative spaces are often reserved for traveling exhibitions and the museum's greatest masterpieces. How does a small Dutch work of silver function in these spaces? What does it mean to view a work like this in a museum? What is an art museum anyway? Is an art museum the most effective place to view art?

These are all questions I hope to consider in the next few weeks as I continue the series, "How to Look." If you have any thoughts of questions on art or my writing, please do not hesitate to ask! I would love to hear from you. Thank you - I look forward to sharing more here!