Sometimes artists ask people to touch their work.  Many installation pieces
are not permanent.  The artist probably realizes this when they tell people
it is ok to do this.  However, other artists only intend for people to look
at their work.  Today, with everything we know about conservation, I find it
extremely offensive that people think they have the right to touch whatever
they want to touch.  In doing this you are ruining art work for the future.
As for the statues in England I really don't know what these people are
talking about.  I lived in England for 6 months after I graduated from
college in 1997 and I have been back once or twice a year since then to
visit.  Except for Trafalgar Square, I can not think of any bronze statues
that the public is "encouraged" to touch.  In some instances I can think of
sculptures that have been replaced while the originals were put in museums
BECAUSE so many people were touching them and someone realized that they
needed to be preserved.
-Christian Trabue
[log in to unmask]

>From: Nesdon Booth <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Kids and touching in museums
>Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 10:51:55 -0700
>
>Frankly, I find well touched bronze statuary to be much more beautiful than
>pristine ones. There are a great many bronzes displayed in public places
>that are frequently touched, and that survive very well. The deposition of
>oils, and the polishing give a wonderful patina that quite charmingly
>records which part of the work people find most sensuous..
>
>There is a wonderful sculpture garden at UCLA, with many important works
>displayed at eye level adjacent to walking paths. My infant daughter was
>mesmerized by a magnificent standing nude with a buxom, accentuated figure.
>She loved to reach out and touch the hand polished watermelon sized breasts
>(as a 6 month old, breasts were pretty important to her) as if the figure
>was some sort of lactation goddess. The look of wonder in her eyes, the
>almost transcendent smile she would carry away from those nascent spiritual
>encounters were unspeakably dear to me. Had a docent appeared one day to
>forbid her from her tiny ritual, I would have been not only deeply
>disappointed, but offended.
>
>Another statue, now standing at eye level in a park in Beverly Hills was
>originally displayed in London. It is of a young hunter with two dogs and
>is
>riddled with holes and scars caused by shrapnel during the battle of
>Britain. The heads of the dogs are shiny and golden, as are some of the
>larger scars. The mute tales of frightening bomb blasts and sympathetic
>viewers, patting the dogs, and caressing the wounds, are the most charming
>aspect of this work.
>
>I understand and support the need and desire for conservation in this
>field,
>but it is not an absolute. Nothing is truly permanent, and the world is in
>a
>constant state of flux. If a few pieces of art, crafted by humans for the
>pleasure and edification of other humans, have their form slightly altered
>and their lifespan slightly shortened as a result of loving human
>interaction, I say so be it.
>
>How many of you have had an artifact damaged during transportation or
>handling by museum staff? You ship off an exhibit mostly for the rental
>proceeds.  How much better that a work be damaged in the act of
>appreciation
>by the audience it was created for, than in an effort to profit from it.
>
>Additionally, cast bronzes are not unique pieces, but copies, that can be
>duplicated and replaced.
>
>
>
> > Vincent, you have just made my day.
> >
> > We allowed the local visitors' bureau to host a reception at the Museum
>for
> > a travel conference they were hosting.  I was the staff person present
>that
> > night.  I live in a small town in Alaska, so our history (non-Native)
>began
> > a hundred years ago.  We have on exhibit a bronze statue that is about
>20
> > years old.  When I asked a gentleman from England to please not touch
>it,
>he
> > laughed at me.  (No offense to the English, he just happened to be from
> > there).  "You call this history?" he said.  When I tried to explain that
>we
> > take care of things now, so many years from now they will still exist.
>He
> > told me in England the statues are all outside and they encourage people
>to
> > touch them.  It doesn't hurt them, you can't remove the finish.  And,
>you
> > know what pigeons do to them.  I thought at first he was joking, but
>soon
> > found out he was quite irritated at me.  I wish I'd had a copy of your
>post
> > to show him.
> >
> > Jerrie
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: Vincent Lyon <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: Kids and touching in museums
> > >Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 16:23:51 -0700
> > >
> > >The MFA in Boston has a bronze of Lincoln which says please touch.  Of
> > >course the details are obscured, and the smoothed edges are shiny
>golden
> > >now.  I'd like to see a marble like that because people think stone is
> > >undamageable by mere touching.
> > >
> > >Vincent
> > >At 02:25 PM 9/27/2000 -0700, you wrote:
> > >>Someone posted a wonderful strategy on this list a year or so ago, to
> > >>argue
> > >>against touching exhibits. Could that poster, or someone else familiar
> > >>with
> > >>it, post the specific wording of the display.
> > >>
> > >>I believe their institution posted a sign, half protected in some way,
> > >>that
> > >>encouraging touching of the sign, but not the exhibits. The
>degradation
>of
> > >>the exposed half of the sign was a vivid demonstraion of the
>cumulative
> > >>effect of touching.
> > >>
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