In 1929, The New York Times announced the opening of the city's new Museum of Modern Art, stating:
Today, the MoMA is one of the most popular museums in the world... but it was a risky new venture in 1929. Does a "young" museum tend to acquire art differently than an established museum? This chart uses MoMA collections data to explore the acquisition habits of the museum. Data was most recently available for 2017, so I looked back 80 years to 1937 (when the museum was just eight years old) to compare acquisition habits between the two years.
Some observations:
- • With the exception of December, the museum acquired a much higher volume of pieces per month in 2017 than 1937. This may be because a more established museum has better funding to purchase art, and a greater network of people willing to donate art from their collections.
- • In 1937, the museum acquired art in 10 out of 12 months. Eighty years later, that dropped to 7 out of 12 months. Though the 2017 MoMA acquired more, they bought/collected less frequently. This could be because the younger MoMA was working to build its small collection, while MoMA is now fleshing out an already large collection.
- • Despite the difference in quantity, the shape of the acquisition lines is fairly similar. For both years, we see an uptick of acquisitions in the spring and fall. It would be interesting to compare this trend with more years and see if a strong pattern occurs.
Final thoughts:
This data provides an interesting but incomplete picture of the MoMA's acquisition habits. The MoMA's includes other variables like artist nationality, artist gender, and category of work. Has the museum achieved the goal set out in their 1929 newspaper quote? Do its collections demonstrate a search for "artists who most truly reflect the taste, feeling and tendencies of the day"? Or has the museum relied heavily on social and gender stereotypes in its acquisition of art?
But these questions, dear reader, are for another D3 project, in a less COVID-19-ridden world. I leave you with this image:
