How do you solve a problem like a Goya?

This isn't about summer school. (That said, where are all the photos people were promising?! I want pictures, damn it !!)

But the issue IS interesting and I couldn't think of a better place to discuss this. I deal in 'stuff' now, rather than art, but I'm still an art historian thanks to years of pain, anguish and high tuition. Stories like this one don't come around all that often, at least not about major works, and it's gotten lots of people in a huff.

Goya's Colossus is not by Goya. Really? My, my, my. You can read about it here.

Now, I'm no expert on Goya, and I'm not even sure I've seen a Goya in real life, but it seems to me that the arguments given about anatomy and the painting of the animals don't really hold up. I can think of several examples of his work, off the top of my head, that show broad, hurried brushstrokes and a lack of care around anatomy and fine details, for instance, Yard with Lunatics, the famous Shootings of May 3rd, 1808 which to some looks almost cartoonish, The Witches Sabbath and so on. Generally, I find that when he's examining social issues, his work becomes less structured, more emotive than rigid.

I always thought that The Colossus was something of a harbinger of his style to come, in his later years, after he'd done his time as Court Painter to the Spanish Crown and didn't need to fill canvases with fluff.

So, from a museums stand-point, should the Prado have sat on this bit of news? Should they have kept it under wraps until they could offer a firm attribution? Do you think they're right?

What does the question of false attributions mean to museums in general? What impact does it have on a museum's "authority"? How can a museum turn potentially devastating discoveries into positives?

Discuss amongst yourselves !

Lester the Bear Settles on the Left Coast

Hello Fellow Summer School Classmates and Friends,

It is with mixed feelings that I report to you on Lester the Bear"s settling into the California lifestyle. Rather than join me in the joys of plowing through thick blue distance learning binders,

Les has chosen the surfer-dude lifestyle. When he is not "chillin" with his new cousins, he just lounges by the pool. When I question his conduct, he responds with the logical reply, "This is what Gus would do if he was here!"

Warm regards,

Jim Arthur

A Look Back: part three

Right, so now that I'm back in Ontario, I'll wrap this up. After flying with what was either food poisoning or a violent stomach flu, I can say with total honesty, I'm glad to be home. However, I am already missing the UK and looking forward to next year's summer school (or sooner if I can figure out a way).

So, where was I?

Following the fieldtrip, we broke into new groups to discuss the previous day's museological adventures. We analysed our experiences and then presented to the rest of the students our findings. Some groups presented together. I, on the other hand, was voluntold to present because I had "the nicest accent". I firmly believe that it was because I am a loud-mouth and arrived late to the session. Thanks guys.



















I should also add that after mainly typical English weather, the sky cleared, the sun shone and the temperatures rose.

Not wanting to miss what might be the only sunny day ever again, I went and took a whole bunch of photographs at the cemetery across the road. Like this one. Nice, eh?

Then it was back inside for a lecture and workshops presented by the RCMG. Although it wouldn't have been my choice to attend, Ceri Jones' workshop on data analysis was really, really good. Anyway, then we all got back together and presented back to the other groups.




Thursday morning was spent in tutorials. I don't know about everyone else, but the tutorials I attended with Dieter and Ross were fantastic. One measly hour each was not nearly enough. The afternoon was spent meeting with faculty and/or staff about things like dissertations, or, if you were like me, jawing with Babs (okay, technically she's my pastoral tutor and I can pretend it wasn't a social call). There was a staff-student advisory-sort-of meeting that I'd planned on attending, but bailed on because of sheer exhaustion.

Then, as it was the last night of the summer school session, there was a final, informal dinner/drink event at what I variously remember as The Old Horse Pub, Black Horse Pub, etc. For a small group of the very intrepid and mildly inebriated, following dinner and drinks, there was more drinking and dancing at the Student Union.


It should here be noted that apparently, the magic of Air Conditioning has not been exported back to the Empire from the Colonies because I have never sweat so heavily while dancing in my entire life. Gross.


Finally, Friday came, the day that signalled the end to all the fun. There were surprisingly helpful lectures about researching and writing dissertations followed by Ross Parry's tear-jerking wrap-up. God, what a way to end it !

For those of us who were around one more night, we enjoyed dinner at the Bombay Curry House (best korma ever) and a final drink at the Lansdowne. What a week. What an amazing time. See you next year !

Hello from Hong Kong

Ni Hou 您好 (Li Ho - in Cantonese)/Hola/Bonjour/Hello,

It's Moody. Finally back home on last Saturday and immediately resumed job duty on Sunday (sigh!) I just regret that I have not spent much time with you guys as I always rushed to library or my room in Opal Count. There were plenty of works on hands that I needed to finish in England. just missed a lot of social events..... drinks and chats!!!

I haven't use Blogger for a long long time as I have changed to Yahoo (mainly in Chinese) but I will definitely keep coming and posting here.

I am glad to meet all of you even I am too shy to speak sometimes. There are not many people love museums like me in Hong Kong....so that's why I am happy to know there are fellows have same passion. More, I would express my thanks to all staff in the MS Department. You chaps are very helpful and organized the summer programme very well. I would recommend the distance-learning/campus-based programme to my friends.

Okay. Stay in touch and take care.

Moody in rainy Hong Kong

A Look Back: part two

(Sorry about the formatting - Blogger doesn't like me today.)

Tuesday: Ahhh, yes, the fieldtrip. What's the best way to spend a rainy day? No, not playing video games. No, not 'cuddling' with your significant other (filthy mind !). Sleeping?! Who said sleeping?! Jeez people, the answer is at the museum !

So, off we go to the Victoria & Albert, by coach, led by the intrepid Simon Knell, braving bogs of London traffic.

First stop: the Cafe !

Then it was on to do work. Now, I don't know about you folk, but I'm one of those people who usually doesn't take a map and wanders around. However, as that would hardly make me a good team player, and this was a team work assignment, I did try to stay focused. Of course, if I hadn't strayed at least a little, I would have missed this gem:

Disney is everywhere.

The group I was part of decided to attempt the "20 Highlights" suggested in the front of the floor plan, rather than specific galleries. This was mainly so we could also take in as much of the museum as possible.

Work, work, work.


Shopping ! That would be the reward for all the working.


Julie, showing all the signs of Museum Exhaustion.

Following the V&A, we were off to investigate the museum(s) of our choice. I chose the Natural History Museum, others the Science Museum and still others went elsewhere. I, personally, found it a bit disturbing that according to the NHM, sea mammals only live in the Old World and Australia and mammoths only lived in Ice Age Britain. Some of the models could have done with a dusting, too. Otherwise, it was refreshing to be surrounded by children and groups full of people of all colours and speaking many languages.

Then, after 'catching flies' on the coach ride home, as John so eloquently put it, we broke off in groups in search of food. For a number of us, it was the Tiffen. This was a restaurant heavy on the ambiance and not so focused on the awesomeness of its food. It was tasty, don't get me wrong, but not quite like any Indian food I'd had previously. There was, however, a highly amusing couple in the corner who were absolutely disgusted by our presence. We're not sure if it was because we were underdressed (twin set and pearls wouldn't have gone amiss) or if it was because we were loud. Returning the stare was fun, though, because people like that deserve to have their bad behaviour pointed out.

not so "distant" any more

Suffering from nostalgia already, I could not resist joining in.

After an overdose of some more London museums during the weekend (Tate modern, London transport, Natural History) I am back home to find that I feel less of a "distant" learner than before. I could not also believe that I left sunny England to land on a rainy Greece!!!

It was wonderful to meet everyone and I do hope that this blog will not be soon abandoned (I am telling it myself first of all).

I will be back soon with some photos of my own.

ONE WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH!!!

Hello everyone!

Now that I have regained consciousness after falling into coma for several hours, I would like to proceed to the following comments that the University staff must seriously consider.

Attention: The following statements are of extreme importance to the welfare of the students and to the future of the Museum Studies summer school in general:

- Socializing with gifted people may prove devastating for people’s mental balance
- High dosage of appreciation and respect becomes an annoying habit
- Incontrollable laughter may be really harmful for human health, while sudden lack of
communication can lead to serious depression and melancholy
- Students’ blood sugar levels should be considered before addicting them to chocolate
biscuits
- Vivid recollection of pleasant memories expressed by sudden smiles has embarrassing
effects on people’s public image (especially when they are on coaches or planes)

Conclusion:

As per the above, it is obvious that all members of staff in Museum Studies have a serious responsibility towards their students.
Therefore, in order to help students maintain a physical and mental equilibrium, staff MUST increase the duration of the course from ONE to TWO WEEKS, since ONE WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH for people to adjust.

Besides joking though, I must confess that it has not only been an unforgettable week full of intriguing and challenging issues, but if museums have the purpose of changing people’s lives, you’ve all certainly made a good start by changing mine.
I can’t thank you enough for that!!

A Look Back: part one

Sunday: Some of us got together on Sunday night for an informal drink at the Lansdowne, a pub that was to become very familiar to many of us. I was quite jet-lagged so joined a bit late and feeling some trepidation. A frilly girly drink later and I was feeling much better about things, and I'm not usually a girly drink kind of girl. Already it was a great cross-section of nationalities, representing Greece, England, Scotland, Canada and the U.S.A. and boded well for the week. I did find it quite funny that initially the table was totally gendered, guys on one side, girls on the other. Safety in numbers, eh?








Monday: I'm sure I'm not the only one who found getting up for class particularly difficult, but the coffee and cookies, I should say 'biscuits', were a definite help. There was a brief moment of sunshine for the group photograph, which I almost missed, and of course the infamous Quiz Night. Oh, there was some museum-related lecture business, too, but let's be real, we were all thinking about our complimentary drink coupons.






The Quiz was fun, although some of us flexed our brain-muscles better than others. By the way, I've quite enjoyed my bottle of white. Seriously, though, did anyone get the question about Foucault's Pendulum correct? And who knew quarks came in flavours? And I may never hear "Dancing Queen" the same way again.











And then, for those of us who just couldn't get enough, it was back to the Lansdowne. I'm not sure, but does anyone else see a pattern emerging?

Summer School Retrospection

Now I've been home from the Summer School for two days, I'm experiencing a certain amount of melancholy. In order to combat this, I've complied a short list of things I'll miss about this week. here they are, in reverse order.

3) The biscuits: A staple of each break were these twin packs of sugary goodness that were greatly appreciated by everyone. I don't know if the department could perhaps include some in the Module packs..?

2) The banter: The rhetoric of the week threw up such diverse topics as loss of blog virginity ("blog-ginity"?), possible ingredients of the so-called Iced Tea at the Student union and what Foucault's Pendulum actually does. There was also some stuff about museums too, which was nice.

1) Community: Ultimately though, the best part of the week was the people. Regardless of the type of museum or other heritage centre people were from, or at what point anyone was at in their career, from volunteer to Curator, there was a real sense of equality and common ground for everyone on the course. It really felt like we were part of a global museum studies community. It will be very reassuring to know that as I continue the course.

Education, consultation, socialisation: A review of the Museum Studies Summer School 2008 (Leciester)

As one of those who could only attend part of the week and had to head back home on Wednesday, I just wanted to say what a great time I had, and I wished I'd been able to come on Thursday and Friday!

I thought I'd sum up my top three favs of the week and ask you all to post your own. So come on, what was your favourite aspects of the week?

Julie's top three

1. Meeting and talking with other students and staff - invaluable. We all shared POVs and stories about our working lives and how we were coping with the course. We are not alone!

2. Being a real student - Like last year, I enjoyed attending lectures, tutorials and field trips with fellow students. Like a lot of people I work full time and wouldn't be able to study full time, so I appreciate being able to distance learn, but still enjoyed being a 'real student' for a week.

3. Atmosphere - I loved how everyone, students and staff alike were friendly and approachable. Among the seriousness of lectures and studying I also managed to have a real laugh all week!

Anyone else have a top three?

First time

Under extreme peer pressure, with full assurances of its survivability, and trembling with fright, I hereby enter the cyber world of blogging. (I pray this doesn't lead to other electronic addictions such as texting and ipod dependence.)

The content of the Summer School presentations are on Blackboard, but they cannot convey the pleasure of being in the company of bright, witty and personable fellow members of the distance learning family.

For those fellow Californians who could not join us, here are a few items I learned at Summer School that you won't find on Blackboard:

1. If we plant Festuca california (fescue)in our gardens deer won't eat it.
2. Folks here go somewhere and "have a think."
3. It is "Madonna of the Pinks", not "Madonna and the Pinks."
4. There is a music group called the "Radioheads."
5. The mechanical T-Rex At London's Museum of Natural History is really scary! (But I was told it isn't real.)
6. The Brits took some of the Greeks' marbles and they really want them back.

Please join us next year and some of the above may make sense to you.

Regards to all.

The Quiz

I hope everyone enjoyed the light-hearted start to the week. I enjoy getting the quiz ready, and I have to say I'm flattered anyone was sober enough to remember Foucault's Pendulum.

I know it's a busy week for all of you, so my next contact with you will probably be the weekly Jobs Update.

All the best for the rest of the week.

Jim

Foucault's Pendulum

What does Foucault's Pendulum show? (Have u heard this question somewhere before recently?...)

Our quiz team got it really wrong. Hence the reason we came 5th.

But we were very, very excited when we saw it in the Science Museum.

So we took a picture.

Can u remember? Answers on a postcard.

Then on the other side of the postcard you need to write about the materiality of the object, how you would interpret it for 'excluded groups' and how you would carry out an RCMG project on it, using both quantitative and qualitative methods....

London calling

• How was the study visit for you?
• What exciting themes emerged on the day?
• Were you able to locate the nation within the museum and disentangle the values and agenda which shape national museum interpretation?
• Maybe you just enjoyed the V & A coffee shop!?

Please share your thoughts and ideas through this post...

David Wilson Library

A number of people said on their Library feedback form that they would like to have a tour of the Library whilst they were here. I'm happy to take groups round. Ten people in a group is usually the most that can tour at any one time. I'll be in the foyer of the David Wilson Library at 5 pm on Wednesday 4th June and at 4.30 pm on Thursday 5th June. Join me, if you can.

Evelyn Cornell

Collectors, restitution and the Parthenon Marbles - some links

Thanks to everyone who came to my lecture yesterday - you were a great audience and the questions were excellent!

If anyone is interested in following up any of these issues, here are some links.
First of all, here is Clarke on Wikipedia. If you want to find out about any more collectors of that period, one of the most fun is Giovanni Belzoni, aka the Strongman Egyptologist. Both Clarke and Belzoni make appearances in Edge of Empire by Maya Jasanoff - it's one of my favourite books on the subject because it deals with the thorny issue of empire in a way that does justice to the subtleties of the motivations involved (ie people were collecting 'for' the empire, but also because they had personal motivations like a love of the subject. There's no point in denying the political side, but equally it was about a lot more than that).

On the subject of the "Elgin"/Parthenon Marbles, I was interviewed on Ozzie radio a few weeks ago - click here to hear what I said.

There is a British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles whose website has a lot of detail on why they want the marbles returned. They also help run a website called Marbles Reunited which has some good graphics showing you which bits are where. In the interests of balance, here's the British Museum's position.

If thinking about this gets you interested in wider issues of cultural property and whether things are better displayed in their original context or all over the world, you might be interested in a book that's creating a buzz (and a lot of controversy) right now, James Cuno's Who Owns Antiquity. It was literally published a couple of days ago so I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive from Amazon, but if anyone reads it and loves/hates it I'd love to hear what you think!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Science in museums and museums in science (Dave Unwin)

Tell us what you thought of Dave's session. What questions did it raise for you, and how did these relate to your own practice?
Why not share your lecture notes here on the blog.

And we're off!

Students and staff gathered in the Ken Edwards building for the opening session of this year's Summer School. A warm welcome was offered by Head of Department, Richard Sandell, in which he highlighted some of the recent achievements and latest news coming from the University. Our Director of Learning, Gus Dinn, then walked everyone through a packed week of tutorials, lectures and workshops, and (with the help of Simon Knell) told us everything we needed to know about the study visit to London and tonight's Party and Quiz.
So tell us what are you looking forward to this week? (Click on 'comments' below.)

Welcome to Leicester

Those students that are arriving in Leicester on Sunday night (1 June) are invited for an informal gathering from 6pm onwards at the Landsdowne Bar, London Rd.
Don't sit in your hotel room alone, come along and meet some of your fellow students! There are a number of cheap restaurants nearby if you would like to find something to eat.