A View from an Art Museum

Exploding Canons: The Anthropology of Museums

“…Kasfir's article stirred up a hornet's nest of critics in the museum and academic communities-some defending the usefulness of formalism (45,122), some presenting alternative perspectives (42,108), many in defense of 9 This journal is a disturbing example of contradictions that plague the intersection of the art world and academia. On one hand, the articles exhibit first-rate scholarship-some of the best ethnographic writing on contemporary non-Western art appears in the pages of African Arts.…”

“…The appeal of the pun apparently superceded the genderist implications of this metaphor for Price, who uses a similarly out-of-date construction on a later page (120:97). Kasfir also argued for the inclusion of contemporary popular arts com monly denigrated as "tourist arts" [the negative response to this suggestion from several museums illustrates the persistence of old ideas on the subject (see 45,134)]. This argument is reminiscent of the comment about the "Dreamings" exhibition of Australian acrylic paintings that "the only defini tion of 'authentic Aboriginal art' that we regard as defensible is .. .it is art made by Aboriginal people" (145:205).…”

“…However, the advertisements from dealers trafficking in archaeological artifacts and decorated human skulls (see for example the back cover of the July 1992 issue, and page 26 of the same issue) represent serious ethical transgressions for many anthropologists. museum curators (14,21,42,45,114,122,134), and one in defense of collectors (56). A few scholars supported Kasfir's view, particularly as applied to museums of art (47,114,143).…”