This thesis investigates the evolution of curatorial practice in Britain and the United States in the first four decades of the twentieth century through an analysis of the formative years of two museums, the Wallace and Frick Collections, and of two academic programmes, the Fogg Art Museum Course at Harvard University and the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. Through these case studies, this study charts the emergence and development of a specialised curatorial knowledge base that was influenced by traditions of connoisseurship and criticism and shaped by discussions surrounding art history’s disciplinary parameters taking place in the museum, the press, the art market and the university. This investigation makes visible the processes through which art museum curators, keepers and directors collaborated in the creation and standardisation of their own expertise and contends that this quest was fundamentally intertwined with struggles for authority, agency and professional recognition. The manifestation of this expertise resulted in a renegotiation of institutional power dynamics and gave rise to a new type of art museum leader: the connoisseur-scholar, who performed an important function in the art museum’s transition from a space dominated by gentlemanly amateurs to one in which academically trained art historians increasingly assumed positions of authority. Asserting that the formation of this knowledge base cannot be separated from the academic institutionalisation of art history and curatorial training, this study demonstrates that individuals operating in the spheres of the art museum and the university were engaged in a dialogue through which the core values of these respective endeavours were realised. Detailing these processes and relationships and locating them within the context of a shift towards aesthetic idealism, this thesis provides insight into the historical origins of modern-day curatorial practice in Britain and the United States.

The once distinct roles of artist and curator have blurred dramatically in recent decades owing to a blending process in both directions, which has led to a turn towards the concept of the curator as producer and author, and the development of the hybridised figure of the ‘artist-curator’. Within my practice-based curatorial research at Meter Room and Grey Area, the 'artist-run space', as both form and content of space, is used as a critical framework for artist-curatorship. Artist-run spaces play a significant role in the cultural ecology of the UK, and this project explores the power relations involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of work within the field, in terms of both a cause and effect of a contested relationship with institutions and commercial galleries. Artist-run spaces are initiated for a number of reasons, but this project specifically focuses upon those spaces that identify with terms such as ‘independent’, 'alternative', ‘not-for-profit’, ‘DIY’, ‘self-organised’, and ‘critically engaged’. Using strategies for the development of a critical practice, such as Chantal Mouffe’s theories on ‘counter-hegemony’ and ‘agonistic space’ (2007), and Gerald Raunig's concept of 'instituent practice' (2009), this project explores how curatorial practices within artist-curator-run spaces might offer different ways of working, and be used to contest hegemonic structures within the field. I explore the role of critique within curatorial practice, specifically in relation to the struggle for autonomy, the production of subjectivity, and strategies for negating or resisting cooption by the New Institutions of post-Fordist neoliberalism. Three curatorial strategies were developed from experimental projects at both spaces, and then explored at Meter Room over a 2-year period. These strategies sought to occupy institutional structures in new ways: through the re-functioning of 'void' space, blending studio and gallery functions within a Curatorial Studio, developing a paracuratorial practice referred to as Caretaking, and re-approaching the concept of a collection-based institution through processes of layering works and their vestiges within an Artist-run Collection. The practice-based research culminated in a 5-month durational project in collaboration with five other artist-run spaces based in the West Midlands region, which explored a strategy for the creation of a new speculative artist-run institution as a dialogical process of instituting values through a critical curatorial practice.

Thesis (PhD(Visual Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

“The Artist as Curator: Diego Velázquez, 1623-1660” reconsiders the career of Diego Velázquez at the court of Hapsburg king Philip IV as a major episode in the history of curatorial practice. By this it means to examine the ways Velázquez’s activities as a painter and his activities as curator of the Hapsburg art collection transformed each other. Velázquez’s paintings express ambitions and attitudes towards his predecessors that would motivate Velázquez’s reorganization of parts of the royal collection that included their works. In turn, the collection and display of paintings in royal exhibition sites would cultivate in Velázquez a knowledge of art and its history that would inform the paintings he produced at court. Velázquez was a singularly art-historical painter, many of whose works investigate the nature of art itself. This dissertation seeks to prove that these aspects of Velázquez’s work were cultivated in the early modern museum that was the Alcázar palace, where he was surrounded by a veritable history of art under the Hapsburgs. The dissertation has five chapters; each closely examines a significant project in Velázquez’s trajectory as artist-curator at the Hapsburg court. The first uses the first major installation that Velázquez would witness at the Hapsburg court to set up the problematic of the dissertation as a whole - namely, that meaning was made on the walls of galleries, and that if Velázquez was going to make his name at court, it would be by engaging the royal art collection as it appeared on gallery walls. The second investigates Velázquez’s first curatorial project, the redecoration of the Octagonal Room; it argued that Velázquez’s interest in art itself—an interest characteristic of his painting practice—found a new medium in his work as curator of this gallery. The third chapter reexamines The Rokeby Venus as a function of what Velázquez witnessed over the course of the assembly of the Vaults of Titian, where paintings of nudes were exhibited all together; it thus demonstrates the impact of the royal art collection and its display on his creative imagination as a painter. The fourth chapter considers the culminating curatorial project of Velázquez’s career—the redecoration of the Hall of Mirrors—in tandem with the suite of paintings he made for it—the painting cycle including Mercury and Argus, examining the ways that these two projects mutually informed one another. The final chapter proposes that Las Meninas again evidences Velázquez’s curatorial and painterly imaginations at work simultaneously; then it uses the painting as a point of entry into the reception of both of these aspects of Velázquez’s work at the Hapsburg court, arguing that to make art after Velázquez was to acknowledge both. All together, these chapters tell the story of Velázquez’s increasing engagement with the royal art collection, from the start of his career at the Hapsburg court through his legacy beyond it.

This thesis asks how the curatorial framing of medieval objects - the processes of selection, classification, display and interpretation - affect how medieval objects are made legible within the museum. It investigates how different collectors and curators have deployed medieval objects over a period of two hundred and fifty years of museological practice. Throughout this history, medieval objects have been appropriated within a range of museological narratives that have positioned them variously as objects of curiosity, utility, scientific analysis, nationalistic interest and as sites of scholarly and popular attention. My purpose is to inquire how the epistemological re-positioning of objects is articulated through their presentation within the framework of the collection, museum or temporary exhibition and to question how the mechanics of display facilitate particular readings of medieval objects. I then consider how certain curatorial approaches may produce unintended effects that render the medieval object illegible or problematic in unexpected ways. I also acknowledge that unforeseen exhibitionary outcomes may not be solely due to the effects of curatorial intervention but may be wrought by the agency of objects themselves. This thesis therefore examines medieval objects as active participants that play a crucial role in influencing the communication of curatorial objectives and in affecting how they may be apprehended through exhibitionary practice. The thesis examines sixteen chronologically presented case studies, beginning in the mid eighteenth century and concluding in the early twenty-first century, that represent important or influential episodes in the history of the display of medieval art. It traces a selective history of the various ways medieval objects have been culturally positioned at particular points in time to reveal how curatorial techniques have worked to reinforce or undermine the perception of medieval objects as carriers of specific meanings. Through the examination of historical approaches to the display of medieval objects I reveal how familiar tropes of display, such as the use of specific lighting techniques and stained glass have characterized the museological staging of medieval objects and how these have endured into the twenty-first century. Drawing on performance theory, material culture theory and sensory theory I identify how the biographical histories, material characteristics and sensory properties of medieval objects have been re-activated or suppressed by curators to encourage audiences to engage with them in specific ways. This theoretical approach reveals a previously unacknowledged sensory cultural history of engagement with the medieval object and highlights how historical approaches that have privileged embodied engagement with objects continue to inform contemporary museological practice. I also draw on Actor-Network theory to illuminate how medieval objects may be understood as active agents within the chain of correspondences that links people, objects and exhibitions at particular points throughout this history. In this way I delineate an exhibitionary landscape through which we can understand medieval objects as multi-authored and polysemic entities but principally as the products of exhibitionary practice.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-226).

[ES] La presente investigación de doctorado tiene como objetivo reivindicar una mayor importancia para la actividad del conservador de las instituciones museológicas, partiendo de un cambio de paradigma que coloque al conservador en el centro de las discusiones referentes a la toma de decisiones relacionadas con las obras de arte pertenecientes a colecciones de estas instituciones. Partiendo del presupuesto de que es posible, por analogía, comparar a la institución museo con un ecosistema, es decir como un sistema mayor formado por varios sistemas menores, se pretende examinar como tienen lugar las relaciones entre los conservadores, que actúan en un subsistema específico, y los diversos agentes que actúan en otros subsistemas. Los museos, como otros campos sociales, son espacios de relación en los cuales estructuras jerárquicas de poder pueden generar conflictos entre los agentes que allí actúan. Esta constatación expone problemas variados que pueden afectar a las obras de arte, desde la adquisición, pasando por la conservación y guarda y por la restauración propiamente dicha, hasta llegar a la exhibición entre otros. El entendimiento del conservador como gestor se propone como una alternativa, que busca dar respuesta a los diversos problemas relacionados al proceso de toma de decisiones en beneficio de las obras de arte. La hipótesis defendida es la de que el conservador, como agente poseedor de las prerrogativas para operar como interlocutor político en la interfaz entre los diversos subsistemas del sistema museo, es el agente que puede conducir las discusiones y opinar sobre los diversos aspectos relacionados a los objetos que confieren identidad a la institución museo. De esta manera, el cambio de paradigma propuesto puede contribuir para el equilibrio del ecosistema museo, en favor de todos los que allí comparten relaciones de trabajo buscando el bien común. / [CA] La present investigación de doctorat té com a objectiu reivindicar una major importància per a l'activitat del conservador de les institucions museològiques, partint d'un canvi de paradigma que col.loque al conservador en el centre de les discussions referents a la pressa de decisions relacionades amb les obres d'art pertanyents a col.leccions d'aquestes institucions. Partint del pressupost que és possible, per analogía, comparar a la institució museu amb un ecosistema, és a dir com un sistema major format per diversos sistemes menors, es pretén examinar com tenen lloc les relacions entre els conservadors, que actuen en un subsitema específic, i els diversos agents que actuen en altres subsistemes. Els museus, com altres camps socials, són espais de relació en els quals estructures jeràrquiques de poder poden generar conflictes entre els agents que allí actuen. Aquesta constatació exposa problemes variats que poden afectar les obres d'art, des de l'adquisició, passant per la conservación i guarda i per la restauració pròpiament dita, fins a arribar a l'exhibició entre altres. L'enteniment del conservador com a gestor es proposa com una alternativa, que busca donar resposta als diversos problemes relacionats amb el procés de presa de decisions en benefici de les obres d'art. La hipòtesi defensada és la que el conservador, com a agent poseeïdor de les prerrogativas per a operar com a interlocutor polític en la interfície entre els diversos subsistemes del sistema museu, és l'agent que pot conduir les discussions i opinar sobre els diversos aspectes relacionats amb els objectes que confereixen identitat a la institució museu. D'aquesta manera, el canvi de paradigma proposat pot contribuir per a l'equilibri de l'ecosistema museu, en favor de tots els que allí comparteixen relacions de treball buscant el bé comú. / [EN] The aim of this doctoral research is to assert that the activity of the conservator of museological institutions is of great importance, emanating from a paradigm shift that places the conservator at the centre of discussions regarding decision-making on works of art belonging to the collections of these institutions. Starting from the presupposition that it is possible, by analogy, to compare the museum institution to an ecosystem, that is, as a larger system made up of several minor systems, it is intended to examine the relationships between conservators, acting within a specific subsystem, and various individuals acting within other subsystems. Museums, like other social fields, are spaces of social interaction in which hierarchical structures of power can generate conflicts between the individuals who participate in them. The acknowledgement of this exposes various problems that can affect works of art, from acquisition, through to conservation and storage and restoration itself, and even the exhibition of these works, amongst other things. As an alternative, it is proposed that the conservator must be recognised as a kind of manager, who seeks to react to the various problems related to the decision-making process for the benefit of the works of art. The hypothesis asserts that the conservator, as an individual possessing the power to operate as a political interlocutor at the interface between the various subsystems of the museum system, is the person best-placed to lead discussions and give opinions on the various aspects related to the objects that confer an identity upon the museum institution. Thus, the proposed paradigm shift can contribute to the balance of the museum ecosystem, to the benefit of all those who share working relationships there, in search of the common good. / Farias De Carvalho, H. (2022). El conservador como gestor: posibilidad de acción política en la interfaz institucional [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/190097

Calif., Univ. of Calif., Diss.--Berkeley. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-315) and index.