History Paper On The Arms And Armour Exhibition
Curatorial Project Writing Assignment
For this assignment, I would like you to act as a curator. A curator can work in basically two
capacities. One has to do with the care of artworks in a museum; the word curator actually
comes from the Latin word
curar
, which means “to heal.” Another role which is more of what
we see in museums, is that he/she selects artworks/objects and creates a narrative out of
them. The differences in exhibition-making are quite diverse. One entails the solo show,
another the group show, while another may have to do with curating a show in one medium,
and another still may have to with the presentation of public artworks. Each of these examples
demands a different approach but what links them together is the narrative one constructs
from the objects. For example, one could select
The Judgement of Hunefer Before Osiris, The
Kunz Axe,
and a Spiderman costume to create an exhibition within the context of
representations of anthro-zoomorphism. In each instance, human-animal symbolism,
respectively refers to gods, shamanic transformation, and popular culture mythology.
So for this assignment based on your visit to the Metropolitan American Museum of Natural
History and/or the Museum of the American Indian, I would like you to select three different
objects from three different exhibitions or culture areas and construct a theme for your
exhibition. One should be European, one should be non-European, and one should be an object
form our everyday, contemporary world. Your theme should be explained in 2-3 pages while
explaining the context for each work. Plus, I would like you to title your “exhibition,” as well as
include captions for each work that includes title, culture, medium, and date.
Exhibition
Name
Institutional affiliation
Exhibition
The arms and armour exhibition
The department was founded by the famous curator Dr Bashford Dean. He was a zoologist by profession and additionally worked as a full-time professor the Columbia University. It has been a vital detail of virtually all cultures over the years not only regarding war and defence but also ceremonial events and pageantry events (Knowles, 2015). The goals of the department include research, preserve, collect, publish and exhibit distinguished works that represent art, design and decoration by the armourer, gunsmith or swordsmith. It is more interested in the military and technical material. It is a more modern exhibition that was formed through the creation and interests of private collectors, trustees and curators. It comprises of about 14, 000 objects among them the Armet helmet which is stamped with the armourer's name Lionardo who was probably active in Millan in ca 1440. It is Italian and is made of steel and copper alloy. It has been considered as a typical headpiece for an Italian knight who was anointed in the fifteenth century. It was worn with an additional secondary face that acted as the defence or the wrapper. It completely envelopes the head with a bowl-like shape with straps that cover the cheeks. It bears marks that are close to those of the Missaglia family that was famous in Millan at around 1452.
Armet
Mummies
Over many years previous generations have mummification as an honourable way to bury, preserve and honour the dead. The exhibition brings people face to face with some of the mummified people while using scientific methods to explain the diversity in their cultures (Bellamy, 2012). The way that a person is mummified has a meaning or a resemblance of who they were in life. In the Egyptian culture, mummification was crucial as it marked the beginning of the afterlife. The mummies were used through a detailed process that included removal of the internal organs and preservation of the body in salt to remove any bodily fluids that may trigger rotting. In ancient Egypt, grave robbing was a problem, and at times the rich people in society paid guards to ensure that their tom...