An American Museum (1954)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] a new work of art in a building full of art the question does it Merit exhibition among the Thousand art objects of the City Art Museum of St Louis the director will make the basic decision but his decision will be influenced by the opinion of others the curator and the assistant director are authorities in their respective fields of art but they must also be historians of all art 8 pounds of cast copper it may be looked at for 6 months before a decision is reached to buy it or to let it pass is there no room for this sculpture in this huge assemblage of objects is there no room beside Carl Millis folk philb is there no room near the Chinese buddhistic Steely or the rembrand or the Hine or the de or the van go it is a small object certainly there is space beside the Madonna and child perhaps there is space but not necessarily room a great museum finds room only for the art representing the absolute best in its particular field to determine its value as a piece of art every object must be established in its historical perspective authenticity is one Criterion but only one for a museum which has collected the art of the world for the past 50 years but while the museum staff Works to improve its collection the daily routine of serving the community begins with the morning's first visitors [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] to every school child within driving distance of the museum the museum has become an important part of his education 30,000 school children from 360 schools visit the galleries every year the school can teach a child about other people and other times but only a museum can show the child the real object of the real past art is the mirror of History within the frame is reflected the pageant of our past the history of man is written in art each century and every people have left their visual [Music] statement the religions of man have never been so thoroughly documented as it has in sculpture and in painting nowhere else can we see our faith as others saw it three centuries ago for a school child the museum communicates a new dimension in learning something apart from his textbooks for the adult the museum represents other experiences for the adult the museum becomes a place to discover old ideas Express in new terms the Greeks knew how to dress up a military commander in imposing style and their Greek women too art allows us to see ourselves as others see us art provides a very personal experience for each person [Music] a museum supported by all the people has the obligation to serve all who support it as classifier and Technical guardian of a museum housing over $12 million worth of art the Museum's curator must find time to be art historian to the public what is it does it have value the curator calls upon years of study and experience to establish the origin and the importance of this work most of the objects brought to the museum by citizens of the community are not the best of their kind their sole value is in ownership though they are valuable they are not for the museum a majority of visitors to the curator's office have usually developed their own point of view toward art that is exactly what it is a broken porcelain vase purchased on the Midway St Louis World's Fair Circa 1904 [Music] unfortunately a curator must always tell the truth the family art treasure is not valuable sorry [Music] but sometimes the hours devoted to these endless visits brings a reward there is no mistake sometimes but not often the curator finds an unrecognized museum piece though the museum may never see this print again the responsibility of evaluating the community's possessions worthless and Priceless is one of the jobs of the curator yes is this the Creator speaking well this is the curator of the City Art Museum oh well I'm the president of the local Women's Club and all of the girls are terribly interested in art can I help you in any way could you possibly write us a short note telling us everything that is known about art well have you tried the library between demands from the public outside and the care and cataloging of the art inside the curator must find time to put on the hat of the Museum's Chief investigator is it authentic is it completely homogeneous or has it been restored if restored does the restoration seriously impair its importance ultraviolet inspection a modern device to determine ancient authenticity x-ray to reveal today what has been hidden for centuries the infrared gun a device invented 12 years ago to locate Japanese jungle Fighters now used to test an object 2,000 years [Music] old chemical analysis what is the object made of what is its state of preservation the curator is now a chemist and his research must not Overlook a single clue to the object's [Music] authenticity nor can the museum afford to overlook the contribution of important art outside its own galleries the creation of temporary or traveling shows is a constant task for the staff of a great museum 6 months will be spent by the assistant director in search of 75 p paintings most representative of American artists during the past 25 years out of this work must come an exhibition representative of the best we can produce for the painting selected here in the library of the City Art Museum of St Louis will represent the United States in the great galleries of the world into the museum the fruition of the past 6 months work from the collections and exhibitions of the World The Art of the world Finds Its way into this room [Music] a constant flow of art enters and leaves the music Museum after months of research and correspondence the physical task of putting the temporary exhibition together [Music] begins paintings and sculpture for one temporary exhibition may come from a 100 sources 5,000 m away to the lender this painting is priceless the museum has borrowed it free and someday if asked will lend its art to the lender and so the job of packing and shipping and insuring and inquiring will continue so that the great painting the great sculpture the great art of the world can come to us and our art can go to the [Music] world every exhibition ever temporary must be built from the ground up and no two exhibitions are alike every exhibition has its own personality it is a talent and a task to hang the new show for a museum constantly facing the problem of gallery space the permanent exhibit must be removed over 20 times a year this takes place 102 paintings of the Museum's permanent collection are removed from exhibition to provide Gallery space for the new show now the job of constructing the show begins in Earnest 379 art objects to be exhibited in five galleries but only the trained eye can say when it is right [Music] proofs from the show's catalog the culmination of six months work for an exhibition that will last 2 weeks numbers and labels identification for 379 separate pieces of Art [Music] opening night for the new exhibit for a museum whose Financial base is derived from taxes of its citizens opening night is not confined to a limited Society opening night is reserved for the friends of the city y Museum a group representative of all the community these people through their small membership fee have provided the museum with funds to explore and acquire new art private collectors find the Museum invaluable in establishing standards for collecting from this Museum some have received much and they have given much in return the future of the Museum's collection rests in great part with the financial assistance made possible by the friends of the City Art Museum but the final decision on the acceptance of each new piece of art is made by the board of control a new purchase perhaps memberships donations taxes will be spent the board will have to decide the best old and new must be sought out and paid for that is the price we share for culture in a Democratic [Music] Society to hundreds of children of this community Saturday afternoon means a 1em walk from the nearest bus stop to the City Art Museum [Music] [Applause] on Saturday afternoon the Museum's galleries are busy with a variety of activities every age and every taste finds something here the degree of excitement experienced through ART increases in direct proportion to the amount you know about it and age is not a factor part of the Museum's obligation is to communicate the experience of creativity not that these people will become artists but that the endless struggle of man to express himself will be better understood and life itself will be better understood [Music] for 30 years the museum has pioneered in art education this leadership in new methods and ideas has established standards throughout this country and abroad but more important it has attracted young people to the museum week after week on their own volition for the excitement of what they see here of what they experience is a very personal one to them the museum is an [Music] adventure the spontaneous imagination of children the children call this the game there is nothing more fascinating to a six-year-old child than seeking out objects that were part of life thousands of years [Music] ago under the roof of one building between the walls of 66 galleries seek out one object in a collection of 8,000 objects this is a lesson in looking a game to teach the eye and the mind that life around you is exciting [Music] [Music] she has found it a wonderful experience for a six-year-old [Music] child and for the hundreds of thousands who will Discover it here in years to come how important among this vastness is one piece of art important only that everything within these galleries Within These cases and on these walls represent the high point of man's accomplishment through all the ages only here can we and our children find and learn to understand these things only here in an American Museum 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