I went to the National Gallery of Art with the express purpose of seeing the Edvard Munch exhibit — a small exhibition of his work from their collection. I’ve always been a fan of the Finnish artist, and I enjoyed the chance to see his work displayed with special emphasis on themes and style.
While I wandered around a bit after I found the exhibit, which was tucked away in a portion of the ground floor that you’d only find if you went from the cafe through the early American furniture exhibits, I came across another exhibit of works from the Gallery’s collection. This time, the works were books from their library and the focus was the depiction of Ovid’s Metamorphosis in books throughout history. The books ere of various sizes, sometimes with scholarly intent, others more artistic.
I spent a good ten or so minutes studying the books, their art, and reading about them in the gallery’s guide. It is a nice little guide and I really enjoyed this exhibit, which opened yesterday, even more than the Munch exhibit that’s closing today.
The thing that really shocked me is that no one — not a single person — stopped in the exhibition room to study those books. They just walked through, with nary a glance at the walls, on their way to see Qing dynasty porcelain.
I don’t mean to impinge on the value of ancient Chinese porcelain, but all those folks were missing a tremendous opportunity to see the depiction of mythology that has been ingrained in our culture since Ovid first documented Ancient Greek and Roman mythology two thousand years ago (check dates!).
Sadly, I suspect they saw books and thought boring. This is probably why I could find no exhibition catalog or books related to the exhibit in the gift shops. Only I was interested and I did not comprise enough interest to drive a specialty marketing program around this fabulous little exhibit.
