Museums and Difference. Edited by Daniel J. Sherman. 2008. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Reviewed by Lee Haring, Brooklyn College (Emeritus)
The essays in this two-part book explore the central force of “difference” in the organization and conception of museums. The project, says the editor, is to understand the mutual constitution of museums and of categories of difference “as a complex historical process, but also as an active phenomenological challenge to those who work in and on museums” (3-4). Part 1 is titled “Representing Difference.” Andrew McClellan’s “Art Museums and Commonality, a History of High Ideals” (25-59) admirably shows the art-museum concept of itself to have been obliged to take in cultural artifacts of people around the world. Comprehensive history of trends and influences--for instance an incisive critique of Edward Steichen’s photographic exhibition “The Family of Man”--and the opening of museums to contemporary social forces give this essay pride of place.
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