Russell Guerrero

210-999-8406

rguerrer@trinity.edu

Professor to Recount the Beginnings of the Public Art Museum

Oct. 21, 2002 – Imagine the greatest works of art off limits to the public. No opportunities to see DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa” or Picasso’s “Guernica.”  Less than 200 years ago, that would have been the case as most art collections were in the hands of private collectors.  The revolutionary idea of establishing public art museums to display art occurred in 1830 with the opening of the Berlin Museum by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Soon other countries followed this  example to give rise to the building of public art museums.  Cyrus Hamlin, former chairman of the departments of both German and comparative literature at Yale, will discuss the establishment of the European art museum and the politics that surrounded it in a presentation titled “Museum Politics and the Philosophy of Art: Berlin in the Age of Schinkel and Hegel.” The event, part of Trinity’s Stieren Arts Enrichment Series,  will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Chapman Center Auditorium.  The event is free and open to the public. During his presentation, Dr. Hamlin is expected to discuss how the Germans decided to create a public museum not so much out of a need for cultural policy, but to make a statement about national identity.  Dr. Hamlin will also discuss how part of the establishment of the museum was tied to building a space that would be a temple of art.  The museum building itself would give a sense of the intrinsic value of the art housed inside. This presentation is the first of two Stieren Arts Enrichment events on museums and art collection. For more information, contact the department of art and art history at (210) 999-7682.

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Last updated on November 1, 2002 by the Office of Public Relations