Price:
(as of – Details)

This beautiful and visually immersive book charts the fascinating story of the institution of the Museum, from its origins to the present.

Visited by millions around the world every year, museums are one of mankind’s most essential creations. They tell stories, shape cultural identities and hold valuable insight about the past and about the future. This captivating works charts a path from the very first collection through to the latest developments in cultural curation, interweaving 

Using examples of the greatest cultural institutions to shape the narrative, historian and academic Owen Hopkins draws on his deep knowledge of the field to outline the history of the museum movement. 

Tracking the evolution from princely collections in Europe and the Enlightenment’s classically inspired temples of curiosities, via the public museums of the late nineteenth century, on to today’s global era oficonic buildings designed by the world’s leading architects, this book is a vital work for anyone seeking to understand the development of the museum into what it is today.

Over the course of five chapters filled with stunning imagery that highlights the beauty of these venerated buildings, the origins of key institutions are revealed, including: Louvre Metropolitan Museum of Art British Museum Tate Modern The Hermitage Guggenheim Smithsonian Institute Acropolis Museum

Also outlined are the motivations of the architects, curators and patrons who have shaped how we experience the modern museum, a cast that includes names such as King George II, Napoleon, Henry Clay Frick, Peggy Guggenheim, Andrew Carnegie, Alfred Barr, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Serota and Zaha Hadid.

By examining how these venues became intrinsic to our shared cultural experience, analysing the changing roles they play in society and questioning what the future holds in a digital age, this book is for anyone who has stood in awe at the spectacle of a museum.

From the Publisher

INTRODUCTION: THE AGE OF MUSEUMS

THE HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

This book is split into six chapters that proceed more or less chronologically. It begins by exploring the origins of the museum both as a cultural phenomenon and as a particular type of space. Central to this, as the first chapter explores, was the ‘princely collection’, that is, collections of painting and sculpture assembled by royalty and the nobility across Europe that began during the Renaissance and continued during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although varying both in extent and artistic focus, the motivations driving the establishing of these early collections generally derived from their creators’ desires to fashion learned and enlightened images of themselves and their courts. With some exceptions, admission to these collections was limited to the social elite and those that they were trying to impress.

The idea that collections should be open to a wider social group began to emerge during the eighteenth century with the advent of the wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities. These contained not just works of art, but all manner of objects, from natural history specimens to religious or cult artefacts, and everything in between.

Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle, in Washington, DC, USA, designed by James Renwick Jr and completed in 1855

ORIGINS THE ENLIGHTENMENT MUSEUM THE PUBLIC MUSEUM THE MODERN MUSEUM THE GLOBAL MUSEUM THE MUSEUM NOW

Over the course of six chapters filled with stunning imagery that highlights the beauty of these venerated buildings, the origins of key institutions are revealed, including:

ORIGINS

Frontispiece from the Museum Wormianum by Ole Worm, first published in 1655

THE ENLIGHTENMENT MUSEUM

The forecourt and Ionic colonnade of the British Museum, London, designed by Sir Robert Smirke beginning in 1823

THE PUBLIC MUSEUM

Aerial photograph of Central Park looking south towards Midtown Manhattan, New York City

THE MODERN MUSEUM

Aerial view of the Centre Georges Pompidou amid the Parisian cityscape, France

THE GLOBAL MUSEUM

Detail of the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank O. Gehry and opened in 1997

THE MUSEUM NOW

Exterior of the Iraq Museum, also known as the National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Frances Lincoln (November 23, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0711254567
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0711254565
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.25 x 1.55 x 12.3 inches