Module Information

The module provides an historical and theoretical introduction to museums and collecting from the Merchant-Princes of the Early Modern Period to the Museum in the Modern World. It examines the rationales that underpin collecting as a private or public activity, considering the ways that museums and collections have been formed through the activities of the State, Royalty, the Church, artists, art historians and patrons. It presents an introduction to musems in Western Europe, from the Renaissance to the present, to examine and challenge the ways in which visual culture has been displayed to reflect art historical cannons and the ways in which it has itself formed and influenced those canons. Both traditional and new approaches to museum displays are explored from a historical, theoretical, practical, formal and sociological standpoint. Case studies will be used to examine how specific institutions operate in relation to their audience and formulate policy to meet increasing demands for improved interpretation and access to the collections, and education provision, without sacrificing standards of collection management and care.