Museums Matter the rice university campbell lectures Other Books in the Series The Writer as Migrant (2008) by Ha Jin Thousands of Broadways (2009) by Robert Pinsky Shakespeare’s Freedom (2010) by Stephen Greenblatt Museums Matter In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum j a m e s c u n o the university of chicago press Chicago & London james cuno is the president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust and is the former president and director 0f the Art Institute of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2011 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2011. Printed in the United States of America 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 isbn- 13: 978-0-226-12677-7 (cloth) isbn- 10: 0-226-12677-3 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cuno, James B. Museums matter : in praise of the encylopedic museum / James Cuno. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-12677-7 (cloth : alk paper) isbn-10: 0-226-12677-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Museums—Philosophy. I. Title. am7.c87 2011 069.01—dc23 2011023608 o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/ niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). for Gus contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi introduction 1 one The Enlightenment Museum 11 two The Discursive Museum 33 three The Cosmopolitan Museum 57 four The Imperial Museum 89 epilogue 115 Notes 123 Index 141 illustrations color plates Plates follow page 84. 1. Anon., ewer (ca. 1610) 2. Anon., talismanic textile (late nineteenth century) 3. Anon., Thangka with Bhaishajyaguru (thirteenth/ fourteenth century) 4. Brice Marden, Cold Mountain 2 (1989– 1991) figures 1. Anon., dish (early fourteenth century) 48 2. Anon., vase (1700– 1750) 49 3. Antonio Canova, Head of Medusa (ca. 1801) 60 4. Fang Gabon, reliquary head (mid- nineteenth century) 61 5. Edo, Plaque of a War Chief (sixteenth/ seventeenth century) 64 6. John Singer Sargent, The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy (1907) 67 7. Anon., Bodhisattva (second/ third century) 69 8. Brice Marden, Zen Studies, plate 1 (1990) 70 9. Brice Marden, Zen Studies, plate 3 (1990) 71 10. Brice Marden, Cold Mountain 1 (Path) (1988– 1989) 72