The Curators Participate in the Conservation-Acquisition Meeting

The Curators Participate in the Conservation-Acquisition Meeting
1. Watch the film: An Acquiring Mind: Phillip de Montebello, and answer this question: "if curators want to acquire an object for the Met, what do they do? Describe the acquisition process at the Met and the role of the director (formerly Phillip de Montebello) in that process."
In the film, if curators want to acquire an object for the Met, they take several steps. The first step involves a presentation by curators of the acquisition proposals. The curators participate in the conservation-acquisition meeting in a scientific council subcommittee that includes its president. The members' past acquisitions were presented via approval. Secondly, the curators meet the public to establish the acquisition committee composed of 12 voting members appointed by the culture minister. Lastly, the process involved entering the collection that consists of the purchasing consideration.
The acquisition process at the Metropolitan Museum of art involves identifying works of art with the job of almost 100 curators and curatorial assistants. Working with the research team, scientists, and conservators, they help acquire pieces' location, authentication, and proposition to facilitate Met's collection. The process involved painting from the Buddhist banners to medieval manuscripts to the gowns presented in the Costume Institute. De Montebello was in charge of the requests for purchases from every unit. The process includes the efforts of painstaking exertions in preserving and restoring objects that will be on display for millions of museum visitors. The significance of the acquisition process is to be a repository for great works of art and preserve the heritage of humankind. According to de Montebello, the preservation purpose is for the need of existing and future generations.
The role of the director is to ensure that there is a smooth running of the processes in the museum through proper coordination. The main purpose of de Montebello was to run the museum for the benefit of the public. The focus was to enhance innovation in conservation techniques that contributed much to the cultural institution. His main function was to enhance art in Europe to serve as the world's greatest history preservation. He left big shoes to be filled by the next director, but the roles are clearly defined and can hence be implemented.
2. Watch the film: Miami Sting, and Describe how the "sting" worked.
Miami Sting highlights the elaborate story of how two Ruben paintings were stolen from the museum of fine arts, a museum in La Coruna, a small city suburb in Spain. It was supposed to be a perfect art heist, with the perpetrators trying to leave no evidence behind. The film describes the efforts by the police, lawyers, and all the other relevant players in the art industry in trying to get these paintings back. This was essentially through performing a series of sting operations based on the pieces of evidence that they got. The film also traces the mastermind behind the theft.
A sting operation usually entails having an undercover agent or detective playing the role of an accomplice to a given crime to get deeper and closer to the perpetrators of the same and have them arrested. They, therefore, play the role of a mole. In the film, two art paintings got stolen, but one was recovered from Ramon, who then disappeared with the second painting. After the investigators got a call from the U.S. about a particular piece of artwork on sale, they sprang into action. They organized an undercover sting operation and used Agent Hank as the potential buyer to meet these sellers, Latinos led by Olie.
Agent Hank met the sellers at a hotel in Miami Beach, where they had agreed to meet. Not knowing what to check for in the painting to confirm its originality, Hank took some mental notes and informed the other investigators. They embarked on working to confirm whether it was an original piece by doing some research. With a team including the world's leading Rubens researcher, Charles, the undercover sting operation arrested the criminals and the artwork.
3. Read "The DIA Generation"(file will be attached), and Describe how DIA was formed. What were the founder’s intentions? Were their intentions realized?
DIA is one of the world’s largest museums. It was formed out of the need by some artists to have enough space for their artwork to be displayed in museums. There was some general concern, especially from the likes of Judd, that most modern museums were so hell-bent on making beautiful external architecture at the expense of the artwork that they contained. Most museums spend a lot on the outside than inside (Kimmelman, 2003). Therefore, while it looked nice for them as a complex, it wasn't good for the artists who felt their works were being constricted and restricted within a
minimal area.
In this case, the museum is established on what used to be a building complex for the 1929 National Biscuit Company (NABISCO) (Kimmelman, 2003). It was formed based on the company's focus of converting previously large industrial complexes into art museums and galleries for the display and exhibition of artwork. The founder intended to maximize space for artists to display their work and for larger exhibitions to get ample space. This expansive space is indeed quite suited for large pieces of artwork that might need special installations for the respective pieces of paintings and artwork. The art galleries are quite organized, as they are based on the respective pieces of artwork that they contain.
Their intentions seem to have been realized at first, with Dia acquiring several art collections at a great fortune. It looked like things were really on the right track. However, financial struggles soon set in, and it failed to sustain itself over that stretch. This prompted it to force some artworks and artists to go independent to stop the financial struggles and stagnation at the time (Kimmelman, 2003). It sold some of its paintings to try and raise the funds needed to help it continue with its ambitious projects, but it still wasn't enough. It, however, got the financial backing required to get it to the finish line and has quite an extraordinary museum of its kind in the world.
4. Watch the film: Smithsonian Museum, and Pick 2-3 objects in the Smithsonian collection that you found the most interesting.
The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum. It is also an important educational center. Smithsonian holds millions of objects that include artworks, cultural artifacts, and scientific objects that were a priority for integrating digital images. Smithsonian bicycle collection is one of the interesting objects that enabled transportation means of the curators. It was a third-wheeled vehicle invented in the late 1890s. The museum received two bicycles on loan, but they became a part of the cycle collection. Later, in 1918, the museum received two more bicycles that became part of the cycle collection. However, the record of the bicycles was never complete as the collection had a limitation.
Maritime patent models are also critical components in the Smithsonian Collection. About 70 items demonstrate marine invention in the early time from the 1770s to the 1950s. The watery innovations provided a broad way for inventors for future military officers in the nineteenth century, which sought to encounter many challenges ...