Photography in Art Galleries - visitors taking pictures...

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by John B Good, Aug 20, 2017.

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  1. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame Thread Starter

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    I think this used to be frowned on. But now I am sensing that as long as you don't need flash, it's acceptable.

    Any thoughts?
     
  2. Tanx

    Tanx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I see it all the time at the National Gallery, though they do specify non-flash. I think there's one Leonardo that's totally off limits.

    I don't get it, especially when people stand in front of the artwork!
     
  3. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame Thread Starter

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    I was in some good galleries in Scotland a few years ago, and didn't take a camera because I assumed photos would not be permitted. I hoped I would be able to buy post-cards in the museum gift shops, but was disappointed in that (not much available).

    Sad because many of the photos amateurs will be taking don't do justice to the art.
     
  4. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    I asked about it at the Warhol exhibit at The High Museuem in Atlanta recently. As long as you didn't use the flash it was ok.
     
  5. Dark Mavis

    Dark Mavis Local Congressman

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    I got in trouble once for taking a picture of a James Turell exhibit with my RAZR at the MFAH. That was before smartphones were ubiquitous and people felt the need to memorialize every waking hour in electronic media; accordingly, museums now have more lax restrictions. I'm not sure I agree with that, even if I was an early violator.
     
  6. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I always ask the custodians. The career retrospective of Degas at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston last year had certain paintings that were off limits at the request of the lenders, but a large portion of it was ok to photograph without flash. I'm guessing the museums and galleries know it's good free advertising if people are taking pictures and posting them on social media.
     
  7. Tanx

    Tanx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Yes, I've found fewer postcards available these days, too. The museums in D.C. used to have full walls of them. You could get cards of most of the major paintings from any exhibit.
     
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  8. Tanx

    Tanx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Off topic: great avatar!
     
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  9. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    We went through the new Wyeth exhibition Sunday. There were certain paintings where photography was prohibited by a small sign, but otherwise photos were allowed.
     
  10. MoonPool

    MoonPool Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    I don't have a problem with it per se, just when it gets as bad as concerts where everyone is blocking your view holding cameras and phones in front the art. TO be fair, I haven't see that level in Boston. And, I agree, I'm seeing a diminishing amount of postcards available.So, if I can't get a postcard, and I'm not using a flash, I see no issue with it. That said, when I was at the Louvre, no one was looking directly at anything except the viewfinders of their video cameras (okay, it 2005, a little before all the photo capabilities were commonplace in smart phones. I found that ridiculous. It was so bad you could be forgiven for thinking it was a staged parody.
     
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  11. PlushFieldHarpy

    PlushFieldHarpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    This made me realize that I haven't been to an art museum since smart phones became ubiquitous. Seems fitting.
     
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  12. DaleClark

    DaleClark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio

    I agree. I went to the RnRHOF in Cleveland last week. A narrow walkway with exhibits was backed up. There was a guy actually taking a video of the video that was playing. The people in front did not walk thru (couldn't go behind him). Finally another person and myself led the charge to walk in front of him....everyone followed :)
     
  13. MoonPool

    MoonPool Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston

    Astonishing, isn't it?
     
  14. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Speaking of photographing paintings...

    There's an entire documentary devoted to how millionaire inventor Tim Jenison spent more than a year of his life and hundreds of thousands of dollars figuring out how to duplicate the methods of famous Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, specifically the work The Music Lesson. At one point, he gets permission from the Queen of England (!!!) to fly to Buckingham Palace and take a look at the original, but is forbidden to actually photograph it. But he looks it over carefully and reports that yes, his reproduction is about 99% perfect. Quite a fascinating film.

     
  15. arley

    arley Forum Resident

    That documentary is fascinating. It covers some of the stuff in David Hockney's book Secret Knowledge. Hockney scandalized the art world by making a very good argument that a lot of the Old Masters used some sort of optical aids to guide their compositions. Vermeer certainly did, and Ingres probably did, and lots of others probably did as well.
     
  16. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame Thread Starter

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    That sounds about right. And how many ever look at all the digital images they capture :(
     
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  17. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame Thread Starter

    Location:
    NS, Canada
  18. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I am not so harsh about this as some of the members here. When I visited the Art Institute of Chicago last year, I took many photos inside the exhibit of the terra cotta Chinese soldiers. I will most likely never see it again in my lifetime, and I still enjoy viewing my photos of the statues taken from different angles, including many from the rear of the statues.

    I also photographed part of a special exhibit on Irish art at that museum in 2015 and sent the photos by text to a good friend who is Irish-American, urging him to visit. He did so because of my photos and thanked me many times.

    I also had photos taken of myself standing next to Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" and Grant Wood's "American Gothic." So scold me bitterly, but it was fun. Why do all touristy photos have to be taken in front of a sports stadium? Let's promote art a little bit, make it seem fun and accessible to more people, I say.

    Or we can drive the masses away from art museums with negative, condescending, snobbish attitudes. Then we can ridicule them for their bad taste because they never visit art museums. That would be really fun, to mock them on several fronts.
     
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