Description
Book SynopsisFrom "Piss Christ" to elephant dung, a decade of art wars has agitated public opinion and incited art world fury but has yielded little conventional wisdom about what ails our art institutions. In this sharp-eyed and authoritative investigation, Lynne Munson identifies an intolerance that overtook the art world in the postmodern era. By exploring the personalities and workings of such major institutions as the National Endowment for the Arts and Harvard University's Department of Fine Arts, she shows how a new dogmatism established itself in museums, academia, and even the artist's studio, where postmodernism favored experimental art at the expense of the traditional, and placed limits on what might be funded, exhibited, studied, and created. Drawing on original research, including more than a hundred interviews with artists, scholars, curators, museum directors, critics, and government officials, Exhibitionism gets behind the façade of the NEA's visual arts program to document its shift from excellence to fashionability; describes how one community of New York painters survived by taking refuge in co-op galleries; examines the "new museology" that has revised not only the content of art exhibitions but the very shape of museums; explains how Harvard's arts program, a one-time beacon for connoisseurial study, has devolved into a theory-driven curriculum nearly divorced from objects. With an eye for art and an ear for politics, Ms. Munson has produced the most important contribution yet to the art debate. With 8 pages of full-color illustrations.
Trade ReviewHelps us better understand some of the ideological arguments that fuel current art world debates. -- K. Marantz * CHOICE *
Lynne Munson has done what many thought impossible...written an art museum book that is achieving buzz. -- Stephen E. Weil * Museum News *
"Every once in awhile, a book comes along that answers a long-lingering question...Lynne Munson's Exhibitionism is such a book." -- Michael Barnes * American-Statesman *
The subject is hot. Her tone is cool. It is a brave book. -- Andrew Forge
Vigorous...a book which should prompt readers to reexamine their very notion of art. * Virginia Quarterly Review *
Mesmerizing. -- George F. Will, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post * Newsweek *
