Under the guise of objective “science,” Peabody’s collection rationalizes prejudice, demonstrating by turns a contempt for the needy (“defectives”) and a championing of the institutions that saw to their “reform.” It’s easy to be appalled by the “Seven little Indians in four different stages of civilization” (meaning degrees of native garb) or the truant boy about to be sucker-punched by one of his incarcerators or the woman staring out from the New York tenement window in 1903, photographed because the window has been graced with a window box by the National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild. It’s harder to be appalled by the spotless jails, tidy almshouses, vacation-like TB asylums, and recreational-seeming settlement houses. But the curators’ neutral presentation — providing no context — doesn’t help. In that regard, they’re complicit in Peabody’s vision.
Related:
Talent shows, Gods and monsters — and David Hasselhoff, Long time passing, More 
- Talent shows
Amazing but true: each year since 1989, the tireless curatorial team at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park have scoured the New England area to put together a show highlighting artists from the area.
- Gods and monsters — and David Hasselhoff
The Museum of Fine Arts did big things with Napoleon and Edward Hopper, pictures of prostitutes graced the walls of Boston’s two biggest art museums, and all hell broke loose when the Mooninites invaded.
- Long time passing
Early video art set itself apart from movie-theater cinema by its grainy insistence on real time and real actions, as opposed to the dramatic conventions and fictions of big-screen blockbusters.
- In the mind of the beholder
Groundbreaking takes on new meaning when it’s applied to the work of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, the subjects of an important new show at MIT’s List Center.
- Who are you?
I’d hazard that when most of us think of pictures with “hidden meanings,” we don’t envision portraits, a genre that usually entails straight-ahead representations of, well, heads, at least.
- The joy of looking
In the hurried world of print journalism, little time goes by between seeing an exhibit and writing about it.
- Flora, fauna, and the female figure
The Art Nouveau movement of the late-19th/early-20th century distanced itself from the mass production of the Industrial Revolution with elaborate, one-of-a-kind works made from unusual materials.
- Geo-politics
A politically charged energy infuses “On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West,” coming to Wellesley College’s Davis Museum.
- Group dynamics
Boston has its own homegrown Balinese-style gamelan orchestra.
- Desperately seeking shoulder pads
In the glorious fall of 1980, young photographer Amy Arbus approached the Village Voice looking for freelance work.
- Media monstrosities
On April 23, MIT sophomore David Sheets cataloged Web sites that can’t be reached on Boston’s free wireless network due to a screwy filtering program.
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Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Entertainment, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Performing Arts, More
, Entertainment, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Performance Art, Christian Jankowski, List Center, Department of Social Ethics, Social Museum, Social Museum of Harvard University, Less
