I am a relatively new professional in the area of Arts Development (i.e. I
devote more time to raising funds for the museum I work for rather than
being an outright expert on Art).
However, I should note as a comment to Mr. Bing's inquiry that the museum I
work for, The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida
recently finished a 3 month exhibition on British Landscapes and has will
be holding an Opening Gala tonight for, among other exhibits, Two Centuries
of American Drawing and an exhibition devoted exclusively to American
Impressionism.
I can not speak directly to the issue as to whether contemporary museums
are bent on actually acquiring more landscape paintings, but I do know A)
that our museum is exhibiting them and that B) the general public does seem
to respond to landscape painting with less confusion and intellectual
strain than more abstract forms of art.
The Harn Museum, specifically is developing acquisitions in our American
collection with a very contemporary date (since 1995). This approach seems
to be working for our community of patrons and maybe down the road it will
pay off for our institution.
And hopefully WE'LL be the one's laughing to the bank.

J. Cuasay
Coordinator of Museum Operations

*Opinions stated in above email are the author's own and do not reflect any
official views of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

-----Original Message-----
From:   John A. Bing [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Wednesday, October 13, 1999 10:52 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Museum Laughing Stock

I am neither an art professional nor a museum professional.  So I pose
a question to this list for comments to a statement:

A professional made a statement that no art museum (in the USA, I
assume) has purchased  contemporary landscape (plein air) art in the
last 15 years.   And further, that if one did, it (the museum, I
assume) might be laughed at.

Is this really true? I thought museums, especially contemporary art
museums bought contemporary art, or does it only apply to certain art?

John Bing

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