Baker's Dozen: At the Museum (Part I)

Photo by Benjamin Kelley, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Photo by Rich Barbara, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Photo by Albano García, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tired
I'll say a few words about each of the above pictures, but out of order. Last first.

The third picture here was hard to pick. Probably a dozen people sent pictures on the theme of museumgoers resting, from a variety of viewpoints, and I could easily have picked four or five others as great representatives of the submissions. All had their charms and points of view, none were poor.

I do recall reading that people in general (not just kids!) have a tendency to overdo it when visiting museums. There's a strong tendency to want to see everything or cover it all. We've set aside the day, we've made the trip, and most especially we've paid our admission fee, and we've got to get our money's worth! So we trudge around the museum until we've had enough, then we trudge some more because we haven't seen this section or that room. (This is an example of the Sunk Cost Fallacy according to Richard Thaler). So we typically wear ourselves out and make ourselves cross. I have vivid memories of time moving with glacial slowness when I was a kid. No memories of being bored in museums, but I do have a distinct memory of being stuck at the Milwaukee Symphony while the orchestra sawed and moaned on and on and on and on while I squirmed in my skin. I sympathize with this little girl (her eyes are open, you'll notice—she's not sleeping).

In picking this from the others I do think I was influenced by the fact that I'm familiar with a lot of Albano's work. He took this one [a year and] a couple of months ago at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, in Buenos Aires. "My daugher Margarita loves museums, but that day she'd had enough.  :-)  Shot on a Sony a6000 with 16–50mm kit zoom I bought from my dear friend Juan Buhler."

Essential transaction
When I saw the top picture I reacted as a photographer, not a viewer, which is a common mistake of mine. Having spent so many years as a photographer I became sensitive to what are called tonal mergers, where two parts of the picture that should be separated are the same tone and blend too much. An example of the problem I usually turn to is Portugal 1976 by Josef Koudelka...(click on the image at the link to see the larger version). I've seen prints of this where there's just the barest highlight between the nun's head and the man's jacket—crucial, in my judgement—and prints where there isn't. The latter would be a tonal merger. So if I were Benjamin Kelley I would have just moved to the side a bit to set his daughter's whole head against the lighter background of the wall.

But I didn't take the picture, and yes, there's a rim of highlight there, and no, it doesn't ruin the picture in any way, so...here's an example of where I shouldn't look at the picture like I had been the photographer, but rather just put my "viewer's hat" on and appreciate the picture that's being shown to me. You shouldn't react to a finished picture by thinking of how you might have framed it differently if you were the one taking it! That's not fair. One might as sensibly react that museums shouldn't hang paintings where they're struck by direct sunlight. That would be another first response to the photo that would interfere with seeing it for what it is. Anyway, once I let go of my first reaction, the photo grew on me more, and I found myself liking the obvious implication of childlike wonder and the contrast between the real sunlight in the room and the mysterious glow of the light depicted in the painting. And it's beautiful, and I'm just old-fashioned enough to believe that that never hurts.

It sums up the basic, essential transaction of museums. They display wondrous things, we look and wonder. Benjamin writes, "I’ve been photographing my daughter looking at art for a number of years now. She was newly four here, in 2015. This was taken at our local museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, with John White Alexander’s Isabella and the Pot of Basil."

Punctum

Punctum: A concept from Roland Barthes' book Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography.

1. To wound.
2. Denoting the wounding, personally touching detail [of a photograph] which establishes [for the viewer] a direct relationship with the object or person within it.

—Urban Dictionary

As for the middle picture, it's perfectly nice as a set piece, but then I noticed that whitish streak in front of the seated man. After a flash of puzzlement, I realized it's his other hand. That's something that would be considered an "imperfection" by some, but to me it's the punctum, the peculiar little odd detail that brings the rest of the picture alive. I realized the seated man is energetically gesticulating at one of the paintings, and from there I imagine his energized voice as he expounds on (enthuses over? Dismisses?) whichever of the paintings he's gesturing at, and from there I go to his rather mysteriously robed and apparently somewhat hunched hearer, and from there to their relationship and their possible history together as—what? Spouses, friends, student and teacher? Those thoughts brings the picture alive for me and draws me into its aliveness. From there I can appreciate the set piece, the nice formal qualities of the picture.

Rich took the picture at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a with an Olympus E-M10 and a 25mm ƒ/1.8 lens.

Photo by David Mackenzie, Bedford, New Hampshire, USA

Last in this first installment is this happy shot from Dave Mackenzie. I read a book about the Mona Lisa once...it's curious how the painting got the status it has. Dave relates: "We were running late one day in Paris and decided to visit the Louvre about half an hour before closing. Given the short amount of time we had we headed directly for the Mona Lisa. When we turned the corner into the exhibit space we were met by this. A docent told me were lucky to arrive so late so that the crowd was much thinner than normal. At least nobody was taking a 'selfie.'"

...Except I do see at least one person taking a selfie! At the top of the crowd above the striped hat. I imagine many people have taken pictures of this scene, but Dave's is a good one. I like it.

[Part II will appear on March 28th, 2021*.]

Mike

*Just kidding. Sorry I lost the thread on this. It got engulfed in my unmanageability and the oceanic disorganization of all the raw material (inside and outside of my head) that I trawl through to make TOP. I shouldn't say when I'll get to the other nine, but hopefully it won't take a year for Part II...though I never know...sigh.....

If you need a reminder (and why would you not?), I made a call for work on the theme of "At the Museum" an entire year ago (I think exactly, though I haven't checked) and then I very badly dropped the ball and just didn't come through with the edited picks. Now with more time at home, I decided to address the problem by chipping away at it a few pictures at a time. I apologize for the delay—the long delay—but if I'm honest there's really no excuse. I'm sorry. Mea culpa.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Dogman: "Excellent choices to start off a new Baker's Dozen! Reading the article, I'm reminded how I no longer look at photos as a photographer but as a viewer. A 'consumer,' if you will, of photographs and images. When I looked at photos with the photographer's eye, I looked for errors and flaws. Then I came to grips with the fact that the photographs I like the best are candid moments and found objects, none of which are ever perfectly arranged subjects. I like the imperfect elements that make their way into photographs. They become Barthes' punctum for me."

Benjamin Polidario: "The photographer's/viewer's dilemma: is it similar to a preacher's dilemma when he listens to another preach? I often critique instead of just basking in the message. Bad, Bad, Bad."

David Lee (edited comment): "Nice post. Your comments about people trying to get the most of their very expensive museum tickets are spot on. I was talking about this with my son not long ago. The Met used to have a policy that the price was 'suggested,' so you could either pay full price or whatever you could pay. Now that policy changed and you are charged full price. Not sure I agree with it. The Met has a lot of works that were given to them for free in order to give all the people a chance to enjoy them. The Gelman Collection comes to mind, for example. I think that people should be charged as in a parking lot, full first hour and then on 15 minute increments. A lot of people go the museum to get the selfie and buy a souvenir in the shop.

"I used to have a layover in Chicago. We used to stay in The Palmer House, not far from The Art Institute. They had the same policy as The Met and I took full advantage of it. Paying maybe a third of the suggested price and then going to see the four or five paintings I loved. In and out in about one hour. A visit to Central Camera in Wabash Avenue was also a required stop."

Mike replies: It was one of the great things about going to art school in downtown Washington, D.C.: a lot of museums are open to the public, so you can pop in and out. I would often do what you describe, just kill some time by "visiting" a favorite artwork for a few minutes, or find a peaceful corner as a place to read.

MHMG: "I do admire the first photograph in this Part I series. Great for the photo opportunity, but shame on the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for allowing direct sunlight to strike the painting. We're talking 40,000+ lux illumination levels on the lower half of that painting, and yah, the museum conservators could have filtered the UV radiation at the skylight/window source, but they will find out in just a few years how much fading can occur with blue wavelength radiation at such high intensity levels. Just sayin'...epic fail for museum staff, great shot by the photographer!"

[MHMG is an expert on light fading and image permanence—Ed.]

Rod S.: "The top picture by Benjamin Kelley is really quite lovely. My initial thoughts were surprise that direct sunlight was being allowed to strike the painting, but simultaneously 'wow, isn’t it beautiful.' I understand your point about the tonal convergence, but in this instance it is very slight. Benjamin has chosen to follow the more important principle of keeping his perspective true. If he had done as you suggested and stepped to his left, both the verticals and horizontals of the painting and floor would have been skewed out of their true relationship. The result would be ugly and 'unworthy.'

"Part of the success of this photograph comes from the gaze of the child, while another, perhaps under-appreciated, contribution comes from the inclusion of a child, with her expected animated manner, injecting an informal point of contrast into a structured and formal setting. Bravo, Benjamin."

Ben: "What a pleasant surprise it was to open TOP this weekend to find my photograph there—right after putting the subject to bed, in fact!

"Thanks to everyone for the kind words, and thanks to Mike for featuring the photo. It's a favorite of mine; obviously it carries personal meaning for me, so it's nice to read positive comments from others. Chris's comment echoes my own feeling about the composition, that I like how the top of her head continues the line of the shadow. Maybe I'll try to print it sometime, see how it turns out. And yes, the strong light on the painting is concerning. Perhaps they've corrected it...maybe once the museum opens again I'll go have a look! Thanks again, I'm quite flattered. Hope everyone is staying healthy and keeping up positive energies!

"P.S. Regarding Moose's comment and photo, my wife and I got married at the Worcester Art Museum.  :-)  Funny, the little coincidences...."

Comments

[BWJones]

My first visit to see the Mona Lisa, I had the room literally all to myself. Years later, my wife and I had decided to see the Mona Lisa and were shocked to see the crowds. We walked in the room, struggled for a bit to get closer then decided that it was not worth the scrum to get to the front. I turned around to see my wife texting her sister that she was “admiring the Mona Lisa with 65,000 of our fellow humans”. https://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2017/10/the-louvre/

It is one of my very most favorite images ever shot.

[Larry Leuallen]

When I taught school in Chicago I was not far from the Art Institute. On Thursdays, admission was free and I was finished with school at 2:30 so it was easy for me to go. I went whenever the show changed and was exposed to most of the greats. It was quite an education.

Also, the owner of the top b/w pro processing company sold his firm at a very good profit. He had a vacant building close to Helix on the north side that he turned into a gallery. He had very good connections. I remember a W. Eugene Smith exhibit. I spent most of a Sunday afternoon looking at his prints up close and personal. It was an almost religious experience as the gallery was not very busy and I stood amongst the prints in solitude.

[Rusty]

thank-you your discussion made this worth the wait

[AlexV]

When I was fifteen or so, I took a school trip to Paris, and our group saw the Mona Lisa. Similar settings, similar conditions. Given the continual fixation on this one painting, placing the work of other artists in the same room in some ways denigrates their paintings and memory. The other pieces will have their own qualities, but very few visitors are ever even conscious of their existence.

[MikeR]

Somewhere ... SOMEwhere .... around here I think I have a picture like the Louvre one, but taken in 2000 with my Canon AE1, and perhaps on B&W film. I can guarantee that there were no cellphones being used, and no selfies.

[David Lee]

Nice post, Mike. Your comments about people trying to get the most of their very expensive museum tickets are spot on. I was talking about this with my son not long ago. The Met used to have a policy that the price was “suggested”, so you could either pay full price or whatever you could pay. Now that policy changed and you are charged full price. Not sure I agree with it. The Met has a lot of works that were given to them for free in order to give all the people a chance to enjoy them. The Gelman Collection comes to mind, for example. I think that people should be charged as in a parking lot, full first hour and then on 15 minute increments. A lot of people go the museum to get the selfie and buy a souvenir in the shop.
Reading Larry’s comments reminded me when I used to have a layover in Chicago. We used to stay in The Palmer House, not far from The Art Institute. They had the same policy as The Met and I took full advantage of it. Paying maybe a third of the suggested price and then going to see the 4 or 5 paintings I loved. In and out in about one hour. A visit to Central Camera in Wabash Ave was also a required stop.

[Tom Burke]

I tend to not take pictures in galleries or museums. That's not why I've gone there.... In the case of 'Tired', if I'd taken that shot my mind would subsequently be full of thoughts about the girl rather than the art, especially if she was a family member (which she almost certainly would be - taking pictures of stranger children is Not On these days, I've found).

Of course, it's not an inflexible rule, and I always have a camera with me - the phone - so I can take a picture if i really want to. But truthfully, I prefer to buy a book about the art from the shop, especially if I've been to an exhibition rather than just been visiting the regular galleries. I don't think I've ever taken a DSLR into a gallery of museum.

And of course, on the occasions when I do try to take a picture, I run straight into the main problem with doing so - there are too many people, often the space is constrained (which is strange, given that often galleries can apparently be humungous), and of course the light is all wrong. So I generally find that it's best to spend my time appreciating and understanding the art.

[Ken]

Mike, you wrote "It was one of the great things about going to art school in downtown Washington, D.C.: a lot of museums are open to the public, so you can pop in and out."

Unfortunately, these days you can't just pop in and out as everyone has to go through security checks and put their belongings through metal detectors, which creates long lines that typically go "around the corner" (often literally).

Your memory of popping into DC museums for a quick visit is like my memory of arriving at the airport 10-15 minutes before my flight and still getting on the plane: no longer possible, alas.

[Sorry...I stand corrected. I left DC in 1993 and haven't been back since. I really do hope I can see it again someday. --Mike]

[Steve Rosenblum]

I agree about cramming too much into one museum visit--my limit is about an hour and a half before my brain fuzzes over. And I love museums!

Also, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes is a wonderful museum. Visiting Buenos Aires was a high point.

[Stan B.]

Actually worth waiting for!

[Don't encourage my bad behavior. :-) --Mike]

[chris]

“ So if I were Benjamin Kelley I would have just moved to the side a bit to set his daughter's whole head against the lighter background of the wall.”

I disagree. You seem more interested in the mechanics of printing than the aesthetics of seeing. With the child’s head following the angle of the shadow it appears natural to me. I had to stop and relook only after I read your comment. Benjamin, IMO, it is perfect the way it is.

[Moose]

I had simply forgotten about this project.

Imagine my surprise when I got up in the morning after working last night on a photo from the Worcester Art Museum last Fall to see this post.

Old and New

Shot as seen. Not a multiple exposure, superposition, etc. Anyone familiar with the top floor of the WAM will understand how this juxtaposition happened.

[Richard Parkin]

How museums and galleries have changed! Ken makes an interesting observation that you can no longer pop into one for a quick visit. An extreme example of “popping” is that I used to work North of The British Museum and sometimes shop at lunchtime South of it and so used to pop in at the front entrance, walk through various galleries and out the back entrance on my way back if not short of time. I suppose that’s impossible now :( .

[Bear.]

Photo 1 - I actually prefer the composition as is without any separation of the two elements - but hey(!), its' not my shot so who cares what I think?

Photo 2- is the man sitting cross-legged on the ground? How low are those paintings hanging? No wonder the standing figure is hunched.

Photo 3- I took pretty much exactly the same shot (as I imagine many have), except I cropped mine into a panorama. When I took it a few years ago, I was in Paris for work (from Melbourne, Oz) and managed to tack on a vacation with my wife. But my colleague travelled the whole dang 16,781 km (thanks, Mr Google) for two meetings over two days and then all the way back! On his last (third) day, he had 2 1/2 hours before he had to leave for CDG airport for the afternoon return flight. So he got up early and waited first in the queue for the Louvre to open, having carefully mapped a route to each of the Da Vinci's on display at the time (about 7 or 8 ). When the doors opened, he belted as fast as he could straight to the Mona Lisa, and got a good 10 minutes on his own before the hoards arrived. Then off he went straight to the next da Vinci and had his own 10 minutes - then, ditto, through all the da Vinci's. He then just had time for a leisurely stroll through the then packed galleries looking at exhibits on his way to the exit; suitcase from hotel, into a waiting taxi, and to the airport for home...

[Neil]

This post seems to start in the middle of a discussion ... has the introductory paragraph been omitted in error? Or am I being dense?

[I see...I tried to fix that now, with a few words of introduction and an explanation in the footnote. Hope that will help others not to feel as you did. Thanks for the feedback Neil. --Mike]

[Daniel Speyer]

The photo by B.Kelley is a masterpiece. The child's body language, the angle of the light across the frame, and the complimentary angle on the floor. Wow!

Vis-a-vis the packed room with the Mona Lisa, I remember being in the room and the Mona Lisa's eyes seemed to follow me as I walked around. That was in the 1960's. Those really were better times.

Mike, I was expecting something quite different for the museum photo's--well worth the wait.

[Albano]

So pleased to be included! Thank you!