Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing about Collections

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing about Collections
Joseph Keehn, curator
Madeline Rislow, curator
South Balcony, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Beginning June 17 and continuing into fall, the Spencer Museum of Art will explore historical aspects of collecting in Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing about Collections. The exhibition examines the history of museums through the current holdings of several KU repositories: the Spencer Museum of Art, the Spencer Research Library, and the Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center.

Sixteenth- and the seventeenth-century European curiosity cabinets might be described as microcosmic reflections of the world's wonders. Inspired by Renaissance ideas with an emphasis on remarkable examples of naturalia and artificialia (natural and human-made creations), these cabinets emphasized the rare, the marvelous and the virtuoso. Cabinets of curiosities, often known by the German terms " kunst-und wunderkammern," or cabinets of art ( kunst ) and wonder ( wunder ), were encyclopedic in scope and aspired to form a "theater of knowledge."

Collections of curiosity became the catalyst for the eighteenth-century emergence of the modern museum. These more recent collections were also marked by a shift away from notions of theatricality and universality and toward empirical modes of classification generally associated with modern science. Specimens of the natural world and artifacts of cultural heritage often made their way into natural history and anthropology museums while objects classified as art were displayed and stored in art museums.

Cabinets of Curiosity considers these divided collections together and includes objects typically found in early cabinets with highlights from the Spencer Museum of Art's founding collection, which was donated to KU in 1917 by Sallie Cassie Thayer. The broad and eclectic array of items assembled in Cabinets of Curiosity can also be used to examine the relationship between collecting and colonialism as well as to interrogate ongoing practices of collection and display. While essentially historical in nature, Cabinets of Curiosity offers an opportunity to reflect on the idea of the museum today, as well as to consider its possible future permutations.

Organized by Joseph Keehn, Loo Family Intern in Education, and Madeline Rislow, Mellon Foundation Intern in Prints & Drawings, under the curatorial supervision of Steve Goddard, senior curator of prints and drawings.

Exhibition images

Works of art

1800s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
T. G. Kleininger
1700s
John Taylor Arms
1944
1700s
1500s
key
1500s–1600s
key
1800s
key
1600s–1800s
Ogawa Haritsu (Ritsuō)
1700s, Edo period (1600–1868)
1700s–1800, Edo period (1600–1868)
unknown maker
1850–1925
1900–1925, Qing dynasty (1641–1911) or Republic of China (1911–1949)
late 1800s–early 1900s, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taisho period (1912–1926)
1900–1925, Qing dynasty (1641–1911) or Republic of China (1911–1949)
Neo–Assyrian Empire, 911 BCE–612 BCE
Ptolemaic Period, 305–30 BCE
late 600–early 500 BCE
date unknown
date unknown
1700s–1800s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Edo period (1600–1868) or Meiji period (1868–1912)
late 1800s–early 1900s
Edo period (1600–1868) or Meiji period (1868–1912)
Coventry Glass Works
mid 1800s
Stiegel Manheim Glass House
circa 1750s–1770s
1859–1870s
early 1900s, Republic of China (1911–1949)
early 1900s, Republic of China (1911–1949)
date unknown
Jacob Hoefnagel, Joris Hoefnagel
1592
Pieter Withoos
circa 1680
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2001
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2001
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2000
Tony Fitzpatrick, Big Cat Press
2001
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1999
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1998
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1999
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1998–1999
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1999
Nick Bubash, Big Cat Press, Teresa Mucha
1999
Master of the Beheading of Saint John
early 1500s
Tony Fitzpatrick
1994
Bruce Conner
1961
1600s
1600s
1600s
1600s
1600s
1600s
1600s
1600s
Albrecht Dürer, Marcantonio Raimondi
1506
Wallerant Vaillant, Caspar Netscher
1672–1677?
Wenceslaus Hollar
1646
Johann Theodor de Bry
early 1600s
Johann Theodor de Bry
early 1600s

Events

June 24, 2006
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
June 24, 2006
Workshop
1:30–3:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
June 28, 2006
Talk
2:00–4:00PM
July 6, 2006
Talk
6:00–7:00PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
July 6, 2006
Screening
7:00–9:00PM
309 Auditorium
July 8, 2006
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
July 8, 2006
Workshop
1:30–3:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
July 13, 2006
Screening
7:00–9:16PM
309 Auditorium
July 14, 2006
Social
309 Auditorium, Gallery 317 Central Court
July 20, 2006
Screening
7:00–8:40PM
309 Auditorium
July 27, 2006
Screening
7:00–9:00PM
309 Auditorium
July 30, 2006
Activity
1:00–3:00PM
Gallery 317 Central Court, Front Lawn

Resources

Audio

Documents