Museums and Galleries

I don't know if 1HW's entry this morning caused any discussion or thought among any of you, but it did provoke some with the two of us over lunch, on several different topics. Needless to say, I did not agree with all of his museum selections, although some are high on my list. Sadly, I have not visited the Chicago Museum of Art or the Guggenheim, although I hope to do so soon. I absolutely love the Musee d'Orsay (thanks, Rachael!)(oh! those Monets!) and the Louvre, and I certainly have enjoyed the Rockwell Museum. And one of my favorites he totally omitted from his list: the Smithsonian Museums, in their entirety. I have spent countless hours lost in thought there!

My question to him came from his choosing the Joslyn in Omaha, not because I don't think it is spectacular, but because I regard it as a gallery, rather than a museum. So I went to the dictionery for elucidation on the subject, and learned that:

Main Entry: mu·se·um
Function: nounPronunciation: myu-'ze-&mEtymology: Latin Museum place for learned occupation, from Greek Mouseion, from neuter of Mouseios of the Muses, from Mousa: an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value ; also : a place where objects are exhibited

OK, now that I am clear on the fact that a gallery CAN be a museum, I agree the Joslyn should be there!

Then we needed to discuss why the British Museum, though quite spectacular, was not on the list. It is simply because of how they acquired some of their treasures! We both agree that the Greeks should have their pieces of archtecture back! The decision was that IF a piece was sold by the artist or creator to someone, who sold it to someone else, and so on down the line, that a country does not have a right to ask to have it returned. But in the case of the Greek and Egyptian ruins, no one really had a right to sell any of them, and that if they were spoils of war, confiscated, or just plain swiped, they should be returned to their rightful owners. Those gorgeous friezes should be in Greece! The Rosetta Stone should be returned to Egypt where it was found! Antiquities just should not have been "sold," or even placed on the market. We also agreed that any art of any kind stolen by the Nazis should be returned!

All right... you know what we think about it now! What do you think? And, by the way, that story about Mona Lisa.......