Re: Sue Photos Online (Good ones!)

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

Does one go to the Getty to see the Van Gogh, or a print of the Van
Gogh?  Does one go to the Louvre to see Mona Lisa, or would it be ok to
see just a picture of her on display instead?     Originals matter in
exhibitions.

-Betty Cunningham

Jeff Hecht wrote:
> 
> Stepping back and taking a layman's view, to me the difference
> between displaying an original and a reproduction is the "sense of
> wonder." Walk into a museum and see original bones, and I think
> "gosh, wow, that thing is X million years old and was once part of
> this weird and wonderful critter." See a reconstruction, and it's
> just another plastic dinosaur. That's fine for the kids, but not for
> more serious contemplation. Kids like the T. rex model at the Boston
> Museum of Science; I'd rather see the real bones of Kronosaurus at
> the Harvard Museum of Paleontology.
> 
> That's not to say you have to mount the whole specimen or type
> specimens. But putting something _real_ out there makes the whole
> exhibit more real. The best compromise would be displaying something
> relatively common and not particularly valuable, like some dinosaur
> footprints or a  pachycephalosaur dome. -- Jeff Hecht

-- 
Flying Goat Graphics
http://www.flyinggoat.com
(Society of Vertebrate Paleontology member)
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