The task of a contemporary museum has several different components; among them we can include selection, collection, preservation, and education. Selection is the process by which the curators in a museum go about deciding which art objects, historical artifacts, or other items of interest might suit the expressed mission of the museum and complement the current collection. Collection describes the task of acquiring the items deemed desirable for the museum and determining the best way to merge the new acquisitions with previous acquisitions. Preservation is the process by which museums maintain their holdings in good condition, preserving them for the benefit of future generations. Education entails providing museum-goers with the information needed to understand the purpose of the collection, the significance of particular items in the collection, and the role of each particular item in the collection as a whole.

This project will be an exercise in curating a museum collection. In your pursuit of the project, you will be engaged in some (but not all) of the tasks that go into creating such a collection. Your goal will be to assemble a collection of examples that represent art in the latter half of the 20th century. Your first step will be to assemble a set of candidate images or examples from which your "Late 20th Century Collection" will be chosen. This set of candidates should be larger than the number required for the final collection. As you go through the stages of the project described below, you’ll probably find that some of the examples that you first collect might not be well suited to the other tasks and criteria of the project. After you narrow your list to the final collection, you will produce a description of each of the selected examples that explains the selection and how it represents late 20th-century artistic trends.
 

 
Phase I of this project consists of the initial assembly of the candidates for the collection. I recommend that you gather about 10 to 20 examples of works produced in the last half of the 20th century -- that is, after 1950. These examples, of course, will most likely be in the form of photographic reproductions of works found in books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, etc. I recommend that you attempt to assemble images from a variety of mediums. For instance, you might collect images of paintings, sculptures, photographs, and architectural works. A piece of advertising art might even be a candidate if it makes sophisticated use of visual imagery. (Be careful about this, however. You might want to check with me before using any kind of advertising art.) All examples must meet the following criteria: The example must be post-1950.

The example must be clearly from the second half of the 20th century. In other words, if it's possible for someone to say, "Well, this seems like it could have been done in 1922, or in 1873, just as easily as in 1964," then it probably is not a good example to choose.

The example should be one you find interesting. By interesting I mean you like it, or you find it intriguing, or you think it's weird, or you really hate it, or whatever.

The example cannot be one that is also in your textbook.

The examples you collect cannot all be from the same artist.

In assembling these examples, you are free to utilize whatever resources are at your disposal except your textbook and anything that came with your textbook. The libraries at the Preston Ridge campus, at the McKinney campus, and at the Spring Creek campus are all good places to start. Also consider any public library you have access to. Since these images will eventually have to be conveyed to me in a document that can be e-mailed, you will need to be able to scan the image or else find it on the Internet.

 
Sort through the total pool of examples you've collected. Your task is to select from the pool of examples those to be included in your "museum" exhibit. You will choose at least 5 items for the exhibit. The criteria for making your choices should be to choose those that best exemplify the traits or characteristics either of the two primary movements of late 20th-century art -- Modernism and Postmodernism. In the two columns below, I have listed some (but not all) of the common characteristics of each of these artistic trends. Use these lists to help you in making your choices. (Additional information on these traits of 20th-century art can be found in your textbook chapters dealing with the 20th century.)
 

Modernism                                               Postmodernism

subjects                                                  subjects

    industrialism                                             mass media

    urbanism                                                  consumerism

    the middle-class                                        popular culture

    social criticism                                          global culture

aesthetics                                               aesthetics

    art as object                                             art as process or performance

    abstraction                                               representation reinvented

    style revolutions                                        proliferation and mixing of styles

    form and technique                                    subversion of form and of the "work of art"

    purpose and design                                    playfulness and chance

    deep meaning                                           irony and surface meaning

In addition, if you can find a set of 5 works that have a shared theme -- such as similar types of subject matter or a shared artistic style, for instance -- then your collection will have an even higher degree of coherence and unity.
 

 
Write a 300-500 word introduction to your collection that explains the criteria used for your choices and discusses the shared theme, if there is one. Then, write a 250-300 word discussion of each item that explains to your audience how this example is representative of late 20th-century art. (Although your examples cannot come from your textbook, you can use your textbook in composing your introduction and item discussions. In fact, you should not draw upon any source other than your textbook and the material presented here in order to write your introduction and the item discussions.) Does its subject matter deal with an important event or development of the period? Is its method of production unique to the period? Does its underlying aesthetic contain any of the characteristics named in the list above? Also, if you assembled a collection that has an inherent theme (as described above), then explain what characteristics each item shares with the other examples in your exhibit.

Your end product should have approximately 1500 to 2000 words of text (or more if you have more than 5 items in your collection), and should include images of each item in the collection. It should be submitted as an e-mail attachment following the guidelines provided on the Syllabus page and the Orientation page. (Please review the instructions for the Essay/Project on the Syllabus and Orientation pages. Failure to follow those guidelines will result in point deductions from your score.)

Humanities 1301 -- Essays

Humanities 1301 -- Calendar

Humanities 1301 -- Introduction

Collin County Community College