Maleuvre, Didier.

Museum memories : history, technology, art / Didier Maleuvre.

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1999.

xii, 325 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Cultural memory in the present

From its inception in the early nineteenth century, the museum has been more than a mere historical object; it has manufactured an image of history. The museum believes in history, yet it behaves as though history could be summarized and completed. This twofold process explains the paradoxical character of museums. They have been accused of being both too heavy with historical dust and too historically spotless, excessively historicizing artworks while cutting them off from the historical life in which artworks are born. Thus the museum seems contradictory because it lectures about the historical nature of its objects while denying the same objects the living historical connection about which it purports to educate.
The contradictory character of museums leads the author to a philosophical reflection on history, one that reconsiders the concept of culture and the historical value of art in light of the philosophers, artists, and writers who are captivated by the museum. Together, their voices prompt a reevaluation of the concepts of historical consciousness, artistic identity, and the culture of objects in the modern period.

0804732027 (alk. paper)
9780804732024 (alk. paper)
0804736049 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
9780804736046 (pbk. ; alk. paper)

Museums Historiography.
Historical museums History.
Historiography.
History Philosophy.
Culture Historiography.
Historiography History.
Musées Historiographie.
Histoire Musées Histoire.
Historiographie Histoire.
Histoire Philosophie.
Culture Historiographie.
Historical museums.
Musea.
Museumbeheer.

History.

Cultural memory in the present.

Location: Library main 204660
Call No.: AM7 .M355 1999
Status: Available