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July 2021

The Role of Museums in Democracies

Regarding democracies, according to Pew Research, “Concern has been growing for the past several years about the future of democracy, and there is considerable dissatisfaction in many countries with how democracy is working in practice. But public support for democratic ideals remains strong, and by one measure, global democracy is at or near a modern-day high.” Maintaining a …

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What is Art Conservation?

Conservator and art restorer Vlad Zhitomirsky studies a work of art similar to a curator. Vlad and his business partner, Mikhail Matveyev, begin by determining the forms’ various origins and histories. They determine what construction techniques were used.  They evaluate the condition of each section of the art work examining every square inch, inside and out, for …

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The Origins of Museums

The history of the genesis of museums is a fascinating blend of passion for all things handmade and for the beauty and strangeness of nature. This blog will introduce the motivating impulses of education and conservation that began museums and continue to inform museums today. The Cedarhurst Center for the Arts and the Goldman-Kuenz Sculpture Park are a part …

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Aesthetic Autonomy

This blog introduces the current exhibition Fables, Allegories, and Aestheticism: The Art of the Message.   The exhibition compares two modes of art making; a mode which prioritizes the art itself as “the message of form” and a mode that prioritizes “the message of content.” Artists who follow the “message of form” create art without an …

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Formalism and Symbolic Content

Formalism is a fundamental theory of aesthetics (the study of art and its values) emphasizing the overall appearance of a work of art. The appearance is judged for how well the formal arrangement of elements within a painting, sculpture, etc., manages to convey a successful “internal logic.” All formal elements must work together to convey …

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