Museums and the Construction of Disciplines - Art and Archaeology in Nineteenth-century Britain

Museums and museum politics were important elements in the development of the disciplines of Archaeology and Art History in nineteenth-century Britain. Here Christopher Whitehead explores some of the key debates and events which led to the conceptual differentiation and physical separation of ''archaeological'' and ''artistic'' material culture, looking especially at the ways in which objects and histories were contested within museum politics. For example, in the 1850s, the status of Egyptian antiquities as ''art'' or ''archaeology'' was keenly debated, and this related closely to questions about which kinds of museum should house them and the possible histories and epistemologies in which they might figure. This concise study serves as a basis for a discussion of the continued intellectual legacy of this for our understanding, management and presentation of the past in the museum and in curricula. It is argued that by understanding the politics and circumstances through which the two disciplines were delimited and distinguished from one another we may be able to glimpse, retrospectively, the possibility of alternative art histories and alternative archaeologies.>

About the author

Christopher Whitehead is Senior Lecturer in Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies at Newcastle University and author of "The Public Art Museum in 19th Century Britain: the development of the National Gallery" (2005).

Product details

• Authors: Christopher Whitehead, Whitehead Christopher
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.06.2009
• EAN: 9780715635087
• ISBN: 978-0-7156-3508-7
• No. of pages: 160
• Dimensions: 136 mm x 214 mm x 12 mm
• Series: Debates in Archaeology; Duckworth Debates in Archaeolo; Duckworth Debates in Archaeology; Debates in Archaeology; Duckworth Debates in Archaeolo; Duckworth Debates in Archaeology
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Archäologie, 19. Jahrhundert (1800 bis 1899 n. Chr.), Vereinigtes Königreich, Großbritannien, HISTORY / General, Museums- und Denkmalkunde, ART / Museum Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, History of art / art & design styles, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, History of Art, Archaeology, United Kingdom, Great Britain, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Museology & heritage studies, Museology and heritage studies