At various points of my career I’ve applied for museum curator positions.Since those who actually land those jobs have degrees in museum studies, I’ve never gotten as far as an interview.Still, I like to think I’d be good at it.I spend time in museums and I’ve been told I have an okay eye for design.And I recently read that museums are educational institutions.That makes sense since people tend to be visual learners.(This is something I took into account in my classes as well, illustrating lectures to make a point.The traditional academic feels that pictures are somehow “soft” learning as opposed to the harsh realities of text and word-based instruction, but I beg to differ.)We see things and they stick with us.
On a visit to the New York Historical Society museum I once looked at their somewhat abbreviated sculpture collection.This isn’t the Met, after all.One of the tricks I’ve learned about museum displays is that some curators place subtle humor in their framing of objects.For example, my gaze was drawn to a figure of a pilgrim.A stern-looking fellow, he’s captured in full stride, massive Bible tucked under his arm, determined frown on his face.This is a man trying to create Heaven on earth, dour though it may be.Taking a step back, my camera found a smile in this image.On either side of this angry Christian were two naked women: one was apparently Artemis with her bow, the other perhaps a Muse.The lines of the display draw attention to this juxtaposition.There’s some humor here, intentional or not.
This also takes me back to yesterday’s post about Heaven.Perceptions of what it is differ.There’s a mindset like the pilgrim that sees a life of suffering being rewarded in the hereafter with endless bliss.I do have to wonder whether too much hardship down here might not make one forget how to enjoy oneself. It’s difficult to picture a Puritan in rapture.It’s as if the journey—the hard road—is the real source of enjoyment here.Each of us, I suppose, has her or his own view of Heaven.Mine’s kind of like a library with all the time in the world without end to read.Others, I suspect, would find paradise as a garden.Yet others would see Heaven as a kind of museum, but it would be one where laughing out loud was okay, for the Curator definitely has a sense of humor.