>Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]> >Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 22:16:16 -0800 >Reply-To: American Name Society <[log in to unmask]> >Sender: American Name Society <[log in to unmask]> >From: Grant Smith <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: Naming Galleries >X-To: American Name Society <[log in to unmask]> >X-cc: [log in to unmask] >To: Multiple recipients of list ANS-L <[log in to unmask]> > >>>Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]> >>>Approved-By: [log in to unmask] >>>Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l >>>Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 12:24:43 +1000 >>>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> >>>Sender: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> >>>From: "Thompson, Bronwyn" <[log in to unmask]> >>>Subject: Naming Galleries >>>Comments: cc: "Almond, Eve" <[log in to unmask]> >>>To: [log in to unmask] >>> >>>I am sending this message on behalf of a colleague who is interested in >>>knowing how other museums and galleries have approached the naming of >>>gallery spaces. >>> >>>Melbourne Museum is a large state museum which is currently under >>>development and is due to open in 2000. There are a number of very large >>>gallery spaces where up to 2 or 3 exhibitions will be housed. The question >>>my colleague wishes to ask is: >>>How do museums and art galleries decide on names for galleries, for example, >>>is it by content, location/wayfinding or acknowledgment of sponsorship, or >>>are there any other criteria? >>> >>>Any feedback is gratefully appreciated! > >An interesting question. Of the ones I can think of at this moment, most >are named after or by whoever endowed it, whether a governmental entity or >an individual--Rijksmuseum, British Museum, Metropolitan (?), Getty Museum, >National Gallery, Phillips, Huntington, Staatsmuseum, Frick, Guggenheim, >Art Institute of Chicago. Virtually every city and state in the U.S. has a >museum which got its start at least with government funding and bears the >municiple or state name. Even the Museo Vaticano tells us who owns at >least as clearly as where it is. > >Often the funding of the museum and the location coincide even in old >European museums; e.g., the Mauritshuis in Den Haag started as a residence >but also with the furnishings of the great man and resident. > >A small number, it seems to me, have a name describing content--e.g., the >Museum of Modern Art in NY, Frans Hals Museum, Van Gogh Museum--and some of >those are additionally labeled with a source of support or >location--National Museum Vincent Van Gogh. > >Sometimes the endower chooses someone to commemorate--the Pompidou Museum >of Modern Art (Centre National d'Art et Culture Georges Pompidou). > >Sometimes the name goes way back to a time when no museum was contemplated. >The Prado simply means the meadow where the great house was originally >built. > >But this is enough rambling. It would be interesting to make a list and >see how many indicated funding, commemoration, content, location, etc. > >Grant W. Smith, Pres, American Name Society Phone: 509-359-6023 >Prof. English/Coord. Humanities Fax: 509-359-4269 >Eastern Washington University, MS-25 Email: [log in to unmask] >526 Fifth St. >Cheney, WA 99004-2431 > >