The Met and the Masses in Postwar America : A Study of the Museum and Popular Art Education - Mitchell B. Frank

The Met and the Masses in Postwar America

A Study of the Museum and Popular Art Education

By: Mitchell B. Frank

Paperback | 17 October 2024

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $49.99

$46.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $11.56 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 5 to 10 business days

This book tells the story of the unifying of two major institutions during a turning point in American public art education. Traditionally separated in the hierarchy of 'highbrow' and 'middlebrow' culture, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Book-of-the-Month Club joined forces between 1948 and 1962 to bring art from the Metâs collections right into the homes of subscribers. This democratic approach transformed the way art was consumed and gave the public newfound agency as collectors and museum visitors.

Using never before published archival material, the book demonstrates how the Met sought to bring art to the masses in postwar America, whilst upholding its reputation as an institution of high culture. By describing this egalitarian programme in depth, the book offers new insights into the history of museum outreach and provides fascinating examples of successful audience engagement for contemporary practitioners.

The Met and the Masses in Postwar America places these commercial enterprises in a variety of contemporary and historical contexts, including the relation of cultural education to democracy in America, the history of the Met as an educational institution, the rise of art education in postwar America, and the concurrent transformation of the home into a space that mediated familial privacy and the public sphere. It is essential reading for scholars, researchers and curators interested in the history of modern art, museum and curatorial studies, arts and cultural management, heritage studies, as well as the history of art publications.

More in Art from 1900 to Current

Gray Malin: Dogs: Photographs - Gray Malin

RRP $69.99

$47.35

32%
OFF
Bloodborne Official Artworks - Sony

RRP $80.99

$72.90

10%
OFF
The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks : The Inside Story of a Design Icon - Daniel Konstanski
Elden Ring : Official Art Book : Volume II - From Software

BLACK FRIDAY

RRP $107.99

$48.75

55%
OFF
Art of Goosebumps - Sarah Rodriguez

BLACK FRIDAY

RRP $53.99

$32.50

40%
OFF
Elden Ring : Official Art Book : Volume I - From Software

BLACK FRIDAY

RRP $107.99

$53.95

50%
OFF
Frank Lloyd Wright - Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer

RRP $155.00

$96.25

38%
OFF
Dark Souls III : Design Works - Various

BLACK FRIDAY

RRP $89.99

$71.95

20%
OFF
Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie - Ramin Zahed
Robert Ryman : Early and Late - Robert Ryman
Animation Nation : How We Built A Cartoon Empire - Michael Hirsh

RRP $59.99

$54.25

10%
OFF
Elizabeth Peyton : Angel - Elizabeth Peyton

$111.50

101 Surrealists - Desmond Morris

RRP $29.99

$27.90

Lucy R. Lippard on Pop Art : Pocket Perspectives - Lucy Lippard
Star Trek : The Art of Glenn Hetrick's Alchemy Studios - Joe Nazzaro