Art and the Power of Placement [Hardcover]

Victoria Newhouse (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1580931480 | ISBN-13: 978-1580931489 | Publication Date: May 19, 2005 | Edition: First Edition

Where and how an artwork is presented can enhance it or detract from it, or even alter its meaning. Depending on the display, painting and sculpture can denote a religious, political, decorative, or educational significance, as well as aesthetic and commercial value. Just how powerful the effect of placement can be is demonstrated in this book by in-depth case studies and comparisons of art installations around the world and from antiquity to the present, all richly illustrated.

Author Victoria Newhouse continues the investigation she began in her last book, Towards a New Museum, of the critical relationship between container and contents. Not limited to museums, Newhouse branches out to explore noteworthy displays of art in commercial galleries and in private homes and gardens, as well as in a number of unusual venues. She concludes with some guidelines for display that apply as much to the hanging of a picture in a private interior as to the installation of a museum show.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

In this brisk and lavishly illustrated study, our responses to works of visual art are shown to depend, much more than we realize, on the way they are presented. A classical Greek sculpture that once stood in for the god's presence becomes, when transported to imperial Rome, a symbol of conquest. Soft wall textures and muted tones in a museum temper the light and bring out the colors in Impressionist paintings, while hard surfaces dull and flatten them. In a fascinating chapter on Jackson Pollock, Newhouse demonstrates how the tendency of many museums to provide larger and larger wall spaces, in order to accommodate the increasing size of contemporary art works, has done Pollock and others a disservice. Pollock's greatest paintings, mounted on walls that are either too long or too high, can lose much of the explosive energy that made them famous.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

About the Author

Victoria Newhouse is an architectural historian and the author of Towards a New Museum and Wallace K. Harrison, Architect. She also founded and directed the Architectural History Foundation, a nonprofit publisher of scholarly books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: The Monacelli Press; First Edition edition (May 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580931480
• ISBN-13: 978-1580931489
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 1.1 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mysteries and Secrets of Art Installation Revealed, May 16, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art and the Power of Placement (Hardcover)

Victoria Newhouse adds to her growing list of superb publications (Towards a New Museum, Wallace K. Harrison) this insightful volume about art and the importance of presentation. These curatorial decisions are shared for the first time in a manner that is readable and informative and provides a pathway to understanding the subtleties of 'showing art'.

When a painting or a sculpture impacts us, makes us stop in our museum promenade and freezes our attention long enough to send our minds back to the origins of the work as well as free our eyes to truly SEE the art, there is in Newhouse's informative writing a reason that goes beyond the greatness of the work itself. From the color of the walls in the space to the lighting techniques to the proximity of other works of art and their ability to enhance - all these are issues Newhouse not only discusses, but also illustrates in this richly colorful book.

Newhouse takes the time to walk us through the history of presentation in museums, palaces, churches, and public spaces, even finding such odd manner of hanging as the 'studiolo' concept one to define and illustrate. Through these references she guides us into the sanctum sanctorum of curatorial decisions and how today's museum curators not only organize an exhibition, but also study and execute the hanging with all the modern accoutrements that make the exhibition a meaningful experience for the viewer.

This fine, lavishly illustrated volume is so well written that it must become a bible for all museums, but it is also available to the public, allowing those of us who ponder greatness some windows into the thoughtful logistics of art presentation. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, May 06

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Focuses almost entirely on museum display, August 9, 2008

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J. Landau (Orinda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art and the Power of Placement (Hardcover)

This product description is somewhat misleading in that the book focuses almost entirely on museum presentation, with only a limited portion relevant to the private home. This review -- and the three star rating -- is intended to let the collector know that the book will be of limited value for helping to more effectively hang their own collection.

Having said that, the book provides an excellent explanation of how placement affects the way a picture is seen. The photographs of varying installations of Jackson Pollock's work in particular are used to show how extraordinarily effective his major works such as "Blue Poles" were displayed in the private homes of Ben Heller or Muriel Kallis (the few exceptions to the issue discussed in the paragraph above) and how the same paintings lost a great deal of their impact when hung far apart in the vast spaces of the old San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Curators have learned a lot since then!

This is an excellent book for anyone responsible for displaying art in a public place, so my rating would be five stars to that user.

8 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of ART and the POWER of PLACEMENT, October 17, 2005

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jerryb (cleveland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Art and the Power of Placement (Hardcover)

This is a terrific book and anyone who goes to museums or works in museums should take a look at this book. Even people with collections at home would benefit.
One minor point of distraction though is the right left reversal of the picture of the Nike of Samothrace on the cover of the book and repeated on page 46. She should be striding with the right leg forward, not the left as pictured. I pointed this out to the publisher but they never answered me........Hopefully if they republish the book, the error will be corrected.
But don't let that deter you from enjoying this great book....