Folk Art and the Art Museum

虽然以歌舞形式的英国民俗文化研究相对成熟，民俗学研究的批评史是一个活跃的研究领域，但视觉民间艺术仍然没有得到充分的探索。物质文化研究和民俗学可能已经作为学术学科得到了发展，但英国艺术史学家几乎完全回避了对民间艺术的研究。正如亨利·格拉西在谈到美国艺术史时所指出的那样，将民间艺术纳入既定的叙事中，不仅仅是增加或延伸，而是对公认的历史框架和知识结构进行彻底的修改。这些研究研讨会将探讨英国民间艺术在美术馆中的地位，汇聚艺术史、社会学、人类学和博物馆学领域的专家，包括来自欧洲和美国的学者。他们将帮助建立三个机构(泰特、英国美国博物馆和康普顿·弗尼)之间的合作研究伙伴关系，这些机构都在考虑举办新的展览或展示民间艺术。研讨会将使他们获得专业知识并培养新的想法，这反过来将为这些地点的民间艺术物品的策划和展示提供信息。康普顿·弗尼公司正在努力评估其民间艺术收藏，包括它在参观者中引起的反应和目前的展示。AHRC研讨会将极大地加强这项工作，以便制定新的未来展示和展览。那里的策展团队将对这一评估作出回应，在现有藏品中规划干预措施，并利用这些方法来规划未来关于民间艺术、民俗和仪式的专题展览，其中将包括历史和当代艺术和文物。英国美国博物馆的重要民间艺术收藏品是该博物馆成功地向以英国人为主的观众展示明显的美国美学的关键。美国博物馆的民间艺术并不局限于一个画廊，而是在许多地区展出。自1961年美国博物馆开放以来，它的大部分民间艺术收藏品都在改建的马厩建筑中展出。现在已经决定在克莱弗顿庄园以前的画廊里安装这个收藏。泰特拥有英国艺术的全国收藏，并致力于探索和扩大英国艺术史的定义。这些研讨会将有助于确定和规划研究主题，为2011年为英国泰特举办的大型民间艺术展奠定基础。重新提交的申请得益于AHRC同行评审员提出的有益意见，以及2009年2月举办的有泰特博物馆、美国博物馆和康普顿·弗尼博物馆馆长和教育工作者参加的发展研究讲习班。讲习班再次肯定了伙伴机构的承诺以及提案的及时性。它还有助于澄清研讨会以英美为重点的原因，同时提出进一步纳入欧洲观点的方法。每个研讨会将讨论与英国民间艺术研究相关的不同主题。研讨会一将考察民间艺术与艺术史既定叙事的关系，并询问它是如何被定义为一个范畴的。研讨会二将探讨民间艺术在现代艺术和当代实践中的应用，并考虑这如何促使人们更广泛地考虑什么是“民间艺术”。研讨会三将比较美国和欧洲民间艺术的传统和接受程度，并利用这次考试的结果来探索可能的英国民间艺术的新方法。最后，研讨会四将通过展望未来，并根据先前讲习班的结果，提出可能适合民间艺术的新的呈现和展示方式，从而结束该计划。

While the study of British folk culture, in the form of song and dance, is relatively well-established, and while the critical history of folklore studies is an area of lively inquiry, the visual folk arts remain under-explored. Material culture studies and folklore studies may have advanced as academic disciplines, but British art historians have almost entirely eschewed the study of folk art. As Henry Glassie has indicated in relation to American art history, incorporating folk art into established narratives is not a matter of mere addition or extension, but of a thoroughgoing revision to accepted historical frameworks and intellectual structures. These research seminars will explore the place of British 'folk' art in the art museum, bringing together experts in the fields of art history, sociology, anthropology and museology, including scholars from Europe and the USA. They will help to build a collaborative research partnership between three institutions (Tate, the American Museum in Britain and Compton Verney) all currently considering new exhibitions or displays of folk art. The seminars will allow them to gain access to specialist knowledge and foster new ideas which will in turn inform the curation and display of folk art objects at these sites.Compton Verney is working towards an evaluation of its folk art collection both in terms of the responses it engenders in visitors and its current display. The AHRC seminars will greatly enhance this work in order to formulate new future displays and exhibitions. The curatorial team there will be responding to this evaluation by programming interventions within the existing collection and drawing upon these approaches to plan a future thematic exhibition on folk art, folklore and ritual which will include historic and contemporary art and artefacts. The important folk art collection at The American Museum in Britain is key to the museum's success in presenting a distinctly American aesthetic to a largely British audience. Folk art at the American Museum is not confined to one gallery but is showcased in many areas. Since The American Museum opened in 1961, much of its folk art collection has been displayed in the converted stables building. The decision has now been made to install this collection in the former picture gallery of Claverton Manor. Tate holds the national collection of British art, and is committed to exploring and expanding the definition of British art history. The workshops would help to identify and map out the research themes to underpin a major folk art exhibition proposed for Tate Britain in 2011. This resubmitted application has benefited from the useful comments offered by the AHRC peer reviewers, and a developmental research workshop involving curators and educators from Tate, the American Museum and Compton Verney, held in February 2009. The workshop re-affirmed the commitment of the partner institutions, and the timeliness of the proposal. It also helped to clarify the reasoning behind the Anglo-American focus of the seminars, while suggesting ways of further incorporating European perspectives.The seminars will each address a different theme pertinent to the study of British folk art. Seminar one will examine the place of folk art in relation to the established narratives of art history, and interrogate how it is defined as a category. Seminar two will explore the use of folk art in modern art and contemporary practice and consider how this informs the broader consideration of what constitutes 'folk art'. Seminar three will compare the traditions and reception of American and European folk art, and use the outcomes of this examination to explore possible new approaches to British folk art. Finally, seminar four will conclude the programme by looking to the future and suggesting new modes of presentation and display which might be appropriate for folk art in the light of the outcomes of earlier workshops.