{"id":1218,"date":"2009-09-02T14:28:27","date_gmt":"2009-09-02T18:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/?p=1218"},"modified":"2009-09-15T05:27:57","modified_gmt":"2009-09-15T09:27:57","slug":"insert-witty-blog-post-title-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/2009\/09\/insert-witty-blog-post-title-here\/","title":{"rendered":"[Insert Witty Blog Post Title Here]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not one for long, verbose titles; I prefer to let my artwork (if a blog post could be considered such) stand on its own. I suppose that\u2019s why The British Museum<\/a> and The National Gallery<\/a> appealed to me, because these museums\u00a0are arranged in such a way that the art and artifacts are privileged over their context and allowed to speak for themselves. Information is available at both museums for those who want to learn more about an individual piece, but signage is simple and audioguides are discreet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I devoted most of my time spent at The National Gallery to the\u00a018th-20th centuries\u00a0exhibit, which featured works by Monet<\/a>, Manet<\/a>, Picasso<\/a>, van Gogh<\/a> and Degas<\/a>. The piece which affected me most viscerally was Vincert van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” a painting which I had seen many times on postcards, coasters, prints hanging on water-damaged walls or in the only remains of my mother’s abandoned art degree – in\u00a0her art books. Seeing this work in person was an incredible experience. Having the opportunity to experience the thoughts, emotions and perceptions of one of the world’s most renown artists though one of the world’s most renown pieces of artwork\u00a0affected me very deeply. What struck me about works in both museums, but “Sunflowers” in particular, was the work’s enduring relevance diachronically. Though styles and historical contexts are particular to a piece of art and remain fixed, its meaning is mutable. This, I feel,\u00a0is the true beauty of art.<\/p>\n

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\"vangogh_sunflowers1888\"\u00a0 \"vincent-van-gogh-paintings-from-the-yellow-house-4\"\u00a0 \"turner_fighting_temeraire\"<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At The British Museum, I had a similar reaction to seeing and touching part of a column which came from the Parthenon<\/a>. It is amazing how these artifacts have managed to remain in tact and meaningful for thousands of years. One sign that caught my attention was one which told the story of how Lord Elgin<\/a>\u00a0brought pieces of the Parthenon back to England in 1806. The signage, as well as other historians and archaeologists, claims that Elgin essentially saved the artifacts from\u00a0further destruction and preserved them by bringing them to England. However, now that Greece has the means to afford an appropriate Acropolis Museum<\/a>, there is much debate regarding the British Museum’s collection of artifacts, uncluding a number of friezes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"London\u00a0 \"London\u00a0 \"London<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both The National Gallery and The British Museum seem to\u00a0honor artwork and artifacts over their historical context. Though\u00a0considering where these pieces came from is crucial in understanding their meaning, perhaps where they are going, such as the\u00a0friezes and sections of column\u00a0of the Parthenon, and their relevance to our culture in the present and future\u00a0is what\u00a0should be\u00a0more important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not one for long, verbose titles; I prefer to let my artwork (if a blog post could be considered such) stand on its own. I suppose that\u2019s why The British Museum and The National Gallery appealed to me, because these museums\u00a0are arranged in such a way that the art and artifacts are privileged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[736,77],"tags":[1097,1095,1096,924,1013,928,1094],"class_list":["post-1218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anya","category-museums","tag-friezes","tag-lord-elgin","tag-parthenon","tag-sunflowers","tag-the-british-museum","tag-the-national-gallery","tag-vincent-van-gogh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}