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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