Thursday, February 28, 2019

Art as a Brand - Tate Britain



       

Image result for tate britain logo at the museum



        Throughout my life, having attended a multitude of museums, I can honestly say that not once was branding within the museum even on the forefront of my mind.  However, that all changed after reading Stallabrass's The Branding of the Museum before visiting Tate Britain.  Stallabrass suggests that "the branding of the museum is associated with neoliberal economies, such as the UK and the US," and points out that "following rebranding by the consultancy Wolff Olins in 1998...Tate as a whole has become a highly recognizable global brand."  Simply walking around the museum with branding in mind was eye opening, as every corner featured the Tate logo, or some form of directions to the gift shop or purchasing points.  These purchasing points, wether it be the gift shop or the cafe, both featured heavy amounts of Tate Britain branded gear, from sweat shirts and post cards to water bottles and coffee mugs.  The purpose behind this, as Stallabrass points out, is to create a recognizable brand transcending the simple title of "museum," instead striving for recognition as a staple of Britain, attracting tourism and generating profits.  Specifically looking at layout, I recognized fairly quickly that most exhibits guide you through either circular or revolving paths in which at the end, you inevitably end up in the gift shop, or in close vicinity of it.  This is no accident, and neither is the positioning of the cafe and gift shop near the main entrance/exits on the first and second floor, respectively.  Not only is the branding and intentional layout present n the physical museum, but also digitally, as Stallabrass showcases that the scale of the branding operations are "suggested in the layout of the Wolff Olins’ website pages devoted to Tate, a grid of images that magnify individually as the cursor is run over them, and take in shopping, merchandise, logos, colours, banners, explanatory boards, fonts, quotes from the press, and above all images of how viewers act in the museum environment."
        After realizing just how prominent branding was within the Tate Britain first-hand, I began to form an opinion on the matter.  Initially, I was a bit turned off by the idea of a museum incorporating specific marketing and branding elements designed to increase revenue, but the more I though about it, the more I changed my mind.  While some may view this revenue-oriented approach as disrespectful to the spirit of art, it is my feeling that the service of providing some of the best art pieces in the world is necessary reason for capitalization.  It is naive to examine museums as being essentially non-profits put together for the benefit of society culturally and historically, when museums clearly employ scores of people who need to be paid, depend on guest visitation to survive, and face direct competition across the world.  Museums such as Tate Britain are business to consumer service providers, providing a unique and exclusive product - art.  Why should there be an expectation for art museums to function any differently from movie theaters, or playhouses, when it is essentially the same business model.  Without a steady stream of guests, and thus revenue, the Tate Britain does not exist, and you don't get to go look at your favorite, exclusive art pieces.  I therefore believe it is fully within Tate Britain's right to do whatever possible to generate as much interest and attendance to their museums as they can.  Stallabrass, at least partially, seems to agree, stating "Branding is a shorthand assurance of quality in an environment where the old forms of local reputation no longer function," essentially meaning that Tate's mission to become a global brand synonymous with quality art is effective, as it provides sustainable advantage.  As long as the art being showcased remains of the highest quality, and guests continue to leave satisfied with the vast collection of famous historical pieces, I see no issue with branding being incorporated into the design and layout of the museum.

Source: Stallabrass, Julian. “The Branding of the Museum.” Association of Art Historians, 2013, 

The East End walking tour of London helped to illuminate the rampant poverty and horrid conditions that existed for the lower classes during the Victorian era. The common conception of Victorian artwork and literature concerns itself only with the idealism and rich cultural history of the time period. Although one can frequently see romanticized works specifically depicting upper class and religious themes a much more realistic depiction of the time period would capture the tumultuous and bleak underbelly of cities such as London. One such work that accurately captures this facet of the Victorian era is Charles Dickens' "Sketches by Boz." The work portrays the "stillness of death over the streets" and profiles the activities of female prostitutes working the streets out of desperation. The dim and desolate portrayal of the street emphasizes the hopelessness and despair that said environment represented for the Victorian poor. This contrasts with the traditional connotation of a street as a means of transportation and opportunity that literally "takes people places." Taking a step back from the work the themes and message of the piece would be instantly legitimized due to the author Charles Dickens' early childhood growing up a poor child on the very same streets that he speaks about. The specific location from the walking tour that most reflected the ideas of the article was the school for young children. This school was said to have limited resources and was primarily meant to reinforce the poor children's harsh place in society, locking the poor children in a cycle of poverty and in said desolate and hopeless environment.

Image result for london east end school

Imagining Orientalism in the Leighton House

As a class we visited the Leighton House Museum, home of prominent artist and President of the Royal Academy, Frederic Leighton. Leighton’s house attributed to his association with aestheticism and Orientalism, features a collection of paintings and sculptures displayed in his massive in-home studio, from Leighton and his contemporaries. Often described as a ‘private palace of art’, his elaborate home boasts a private Arab hall, featuring an extraordinary golden dome, intricate mosaics and walls lined with beautiful Islamic tiles, all of which tie back to Oriental style, particularly that of the Middle East and Islamic culture.
As presented in the powerpoint, as well as evident in Leighton’s home, was his interest in Aestheticism. His early art portrayed the idea that perfection of form was an end in itself and emphasized the use of line, color, tone and pattern over that of meaning. Most prominent however, was Leighton’s interest in Orientalism, which can be described as the representation of the East by European and British artists during the time of the empire. Frederic often took inspiration from other cultures to create new forms of beauty.

In Nochlin’s article, “The Imaginary Orient”, she explores characteristic absences in the representation of the East by the West. In the reading, she explains Orientalism to be, “a mode for defining the presumed cultural inferiority of the Islamic Orient… part of the vast control mechanism of colonialism, designed to justify and perpetuate European dominance”. In this, Nochlin works to justify the idea that much of the Europeans’ portrayal of the East further reinforces their own superiority. Throughout Leighton’s home Nochlin’s argument stands true, particularly with much of his architecture being ‘impressive’ pieces of art, rather than that of a celebration of a functional Eastern culture.


About Leighton House. 2019. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Reference:

Linda Nochlin, “The Imaginary Orient,” The Politics of Vision 1989
Orientalism, Othering, and Leighton's Arab Hall

The reading before the Monday, February 11 visit to the Leighton House provided a holistic analysis of Orientalism, both in a political and an artistic sense. Linda Nochlin's "Imaginary Orient" examines the ways in which Westerners interpret the East, synthesizing two main theories of Orientalism: 1) Westerners have historically examined the East to reassert geopolitical superiority and 2) Western fascination with the Orient, or East, is primarily due to interest in the aesthetics of Eastern art, architecture, and fashion. I had learned in several political science and geopolitics courses back at Madison that Orientalism was a means in which Westerners could simplify their understanding of Eastern cultures; historically, Westerners have typically viewed the Orient as a primitive and less stable place, in terms of both economics and politics, than the East. Having read excerpts from Edward Said's Orientalism, I was familiar with much of what Nochlin addresses in interpreting Orientalism from a more political perspective, and one that asserted Western superiority over the East. I found this argument to be more well thought out than the assertion that much of Orientialism was merely about Western fascination with Eastern style. I especially did not buy this argument because in both the readings and the lecture slides, there is a significant amount of Orientalist art that showcases Eastern women being powerless and subjugated to empowered men, providing a condescending interpretation of the East, and the treatment of women in the Orient. Furthermore, contemporary forms of cultural appropriation often reject the idea that is acceptable for Western, and more specifically, White cultures, to showcase indigenous, Eastern, or tribal cultures, even if their art or fashion is deemed aesthetically pleasing. 

Therefore, I was certainly expecting much of the architecture and artwork of the Leighton House to assert Western societal and cultural superiority over the East. However, my assessment of Orientalism in the Leighton House, and specifically, the Arab Room really surprised me. I really did not see any paintings in the house that depicted powerless Eastern women, or any paintings depicting the people of "the Orient," really. The beauty of the Arab Hall really did make me sympathize with the assertion that Orientalism can be explored through the lens of Western appreciation with the Eastern art and design. The ornate wall designs, the rotunda domes, the gold finish of the room, and the tranquil water fountain really made me understand why someone of a Western background would want that in their house. Granted, our tour guide did suggest that certain artwork that was done on the tiles in Leighton's Arab Hall did not follow the traditional practices and symbolism of Islam that they were initially designed for, but there was very little in Leighton's Arab Hall that suggested Western superiority over the East. Being the wealthy and famous painter that Leighton was, it is clear that not every Westerner can afford to have the ornate depiction of the East in their own home, but the Arab Hall certainly gives credit to the assertion that Orientalism can be merely artistic, and does not need to be a mere act of cultural othering.


I chose the art piece called Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In this painting, a woman in despair has taken a bite out of a pomegranate. In class, we have talked about how women who eat fruit in paintings usually resembles eating the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. This implies that this woman indulged in pleasure she should not have, curing her. As I read from the Tate Britain website, the fruit, in this case, is fatal, and the light behind her is from the upper world. This woman is meant to represent an unfaithful wife. The incense-burden, according to the Tate website symbolized the attribute of a goddess. We can see an unhappy and gloomy woman in this painting that symbolizes a classic Victorian woman, which relates to the poem called Remember by Christina Rosetti. The poem is also a classic Victorian poem about mourning. She writes about her lover and her refusal to let the memory of her to be sad. Both of these forms of art explore women’s role in society. They both also have a theme of oppression. Both women are suffering. Personally, when I saw this painting at the Tate, it made me think of how Victorian women were represented, and I could feel the pain of the woman in this painting. Reading the poem by Christina Rosetti, although there is a little bit more of a play with gender roles, the reader still experienced the pain and suffering of women at this time.





Sources Used:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45000/remember-56d224509b7ae

Upon entering the Tate Britain I was most excited to see the work of Augustus Leopold Egg. As we discussed in class Egg’s work was very representative of the time that it portrays, I also found it especially compelling that he chose to display his narrative through three different paintings. The tone and coloring of the paintings were dark but the composition and detail of the paintings were thorough and immediately intriguing to the viewer. Personally, I am a big fan of the musical Les Miserables and Egg’s series Past and Present immediately reminded me of the character Fantine.
Past and Present No. 2, the painting included above, was my favorite of the set because I think it is the only piece in the series that displays a sense of hope. The usage of light and warm and cool tones as well as the composition give the reader a melancholy sense of hope. Not only was the work pleasing to look at but it also was interesting to reflect on how the class and myself first approached the issues being conveyed in the paintings. As a class, we immediately jumped to the conclusion that the woman was being abused and had to escape her situation with her child. However, that is not the message that Egg was trying to convey nor was it the message that any members of the period took from it either. It is actually depicting a woman who was caught by her husband having an affair and forced to move away as she was a tainted woman. The difference in immediate takeaways show the sharp contrast to how women are treated today and during the Victorian era.

Victorian Deep Time and the Monstrous


During our visit to the Natural History Museum in January, I came across this realistic statue of two prehistoric dinosaurs. During this week in class, we discussed the Victorian views of Deep Time and dinosaurs, as they were fascinated by newly discovered fossils. Looking at the image, I can draw conclusions about Victorians’ fantasies and beliefs through the lens of Deep Time and the monstrous, two topics that we talked about in lecture. From the image, I believe that Victorians are simultaneously fascinated and scared by their own mortality, as well as the dark side of human nature.
            In Victorian times, people were fascinated by new fossils and geographical discoveries, and therefore began to conjure up their own imagery for what prehistoric creatures might have looked like. Because we have no concrete evidence of what exactly dinosaurs looked like, we can find our perceptions of human nature in different elements of prehistoric sculptures. Looking at the two dinosaurs in the image, they are small in size but the blood in the teeth not only make the animals look predatory and frightening, but it also contributes to the notion that Victorians were obsessed with mortality and death.
            The monstrous is another common theme seen in Victorian imagery due to their fascination with the dark side of human nature, particularly in Victorian London. The duality of mankind being both good and bad can be seen in the dinosaurs being predators and soon-to-be prey. Dinosaurs either ate or were eaten, likely by their own kind, which can create the narrative that mankind is both predator and prey to themselves. The dark portrayal of Victorian London can be seen in the image because of the dinosaurs’ monstrous nature, as well as their small size, which suggests that larger dinosaurs will eventually prey on the predators in the image.

The London Bridge



       This picture is from our East End tour last Monday afternoon. This was one of the first stops on the tour, and one of the best views. I took this photo because the previous 2 times that I had been in this area of London it had been raining very hard, so I needed to capture one on a very nice afternoon.

       This is a picture taken when standing on the London Bridge. Although at first I thought the bridge across the water was London Bridge, but turns out that is Tower Bridge. London bridge was a bit anticlimactic to me since there is a famous song about it. The tour guide talked for a few minutes at this location and the fact that stood out to me the most was when she said, if you jumped in the Thames River you could only survive for 4 minutes. She explained that this has to do with the strong currents and flow of the river.
       Another fact that stood out to me was that one body is pulled out of the Thames River every week. After further research I learned that in December a 500 year old skeleton was found in the mud by the river. The boots found on the skeleton were still recognizable and on decent shape for 500 years old. 
      This moment of walking across this London Bridge and Borough Market were my highlights of this trip for the main reason of it being very unique to London.  

Cross Bones Graveyard and "Fallen Women"

Photo: Julia Zerull
Our class’s most recent excursion was a walking tour through Southwark on the 25th of February, 2019. We explored what was known as the darker side of the city in the Victorian era. Along our walk, we passed by a number of interesting sights and exercised our imagination in picturing the areas as they were over a hundred years ago. While the stories behind Charles Dickens’ childhood and smoothies from Borough Market were compelling (and delicious), the part of our tour that stuck with me the most was the Cross Bones burial ground.
Our guide explained that the plot was originally meant to be an unconsecrated burial ground for prostitutes like the Winchester Geese. It since evolved to a paupers burial ground, and now serves as a memorial for the “outcast dead.”  This theme of London outcasts, especially females, reminded me of the motif of the “fallen woman” that we discussed in previous classes. In the Victorian era, a woman who had “lost her innocence” was commonly characterized as such, and thus treated differently by society. The unconsecrated burial ground of the Winchester Geese follows that same pattern – women who are no longer innocent are separated from more “pure” women who may be buried in a consecrated cemetery and are cast aside and out of the way.
This theme appears to be all too common of the time period, exemplifying the massive differences between gender roles and expectations. This night and day difference can also be observed through the two polar sides of the city. “Pure” women were to reside in West London, among class and status. In contrast, “impure” women were cast off to the East End, where violence, crime and poverty were no stranger. This exemplifies how money was not the sole determinate in status, and moral values were just as, if not more important.