Back in 2011, I visited the Saint Louis Art Museum with my cousin and her kids. We toured much of the museum, though sadly had to skip Monet’s sold out Water Lilies series exhibit. After that Winter in St. Louis, I posted the pictures from that trip online, and that’s how I became connected with Philip Hu, Saint Louis Art Museum’s Curator of Asian Art.
Philip and I have followed each other’s photography and travels ever since, but had never actually met although exchanging numerous messages and comments off and on when one of us shared something particularly interesting. Philip is much like me in that he takes pictures of anything and everything interesting all the time, though he’s decidedly much better at posting his pictures methodically than I am.
This trip provided a great opportunity in that my time was flexible, and the fact that I actually had personal time, so in the time preceding my trip I’d reached out to arrange some time to actually meet one another after over a decade of following one another’s lives and visuals. Philip has been at the Saint Louis Art Museum since 2006, but has a local connection as well, having worked at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Georgetown here in Washington, DC way before I even had a real camera (I was shooting on my Kodak Advantix at the time, however).
At this time, Philip’s latest exhibition, Global Threads: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz, was days away from opening, and the exhibition space was still being prepared to ensure protection of the display pieces. Philip and I met up at the Cafe for coffee and introductions before exploring the museum on foot. As we got acquainted in person, we were both interested in how one another goes about capturing photos - obviously I had my full-size Canon EOS R5 with me, like the rest of the trip, but we both agreed that the adage, “the best camera is the one you have with you” holds true. I had forgotten to format my card from the day before, and showed him a preview of some of the areal photos I’d captured not 24hrs prior. The cafe was closing, and our coffees were empty, so we continued the conversation throughout the SLAM’s walls and grounds.
The Saint Louis Art Museum dates back to 1879, and is tied for the 21st largest art museum in the US. I was most interested in hearing him describe the daily work that he does, and the many challenges of curating a museum that the average person wouldn’t think about. Most people imagine a kind of Indiana Jones “it belongs in a museum” academia-type carefully depositing artifacts into display cases, but that’s not quite the reality, and is only a tiny fraction of the intricate dance of coordinated efforts that goes on behind the scenes; this slow, detailed, and often complicated process is the topic of most of our discussion outside of specific pieces we both stopped to admire.
How many times have you read the captions of an artifact in a gallery that mentioned the piece being on loan, visiting, or from another entity’s collection? Many pieces have been purchased by or donated to the SLAM, like most public art museums, but this isn’t always the case, and is often impossible to display a comprehensive exhibit without incorporating a number of loaned pieces. In these instances, just like in the photography world, licensing is king; curators like Philip spend much of their time finding artifacts that are suitable to form a complete picture in a given exhibit, which may focus on a specific time period, cultural heritage, process or style, etc, and negotiating for their use - a process that in and of itself has many hurdles that can often take years. The reality of brilliant academics sourcing antiquity is true, but it’s happening in emails and meetings, not Temples of Doom.
A desired artifact, once it has been identified as suitable, must be available for the timeframe the exhibit or installation is scheduled; this quickly becomes a scheduling-dance, as any artifacts being leant must all be available at roughly the same time and duration. Additionally, don’t forget, the Saint Louis Art Museum like most others, also may have items from their own collection out on loan, and these all must be due for return if desired for a given exhibition. Negotiating terms and aligning timing is an extremely lengthy process.
Furthermore, an artifact may need restoration work; this could mean anything ranging from simple inspection and preventive conservation to interventive restoration. Depending upon the complexity of the cleaning or restorations needed, these processes, often carried out by specialized 3rd party organizations, can take months or years to complete. Additionally, while insurance is a part of the ownership and exhibition process the entire way, it’s not uncommon for insurance negotiations to also be required before any restoration can even be commenced, adding even more time to the process. After a piece’s restoration has been completed, a curator will typically visit to inspect the work before approving for transport; it’s much safer and easier than transporting the artifact in the event additional attention is required - site-visits to inspect artifacts account for quite a bit of the travel a curator like Philip Hu performs.
This complicated process is of course orchestrated by a team of people with different roles. Once the artifacts are secured, they must be displayed, which encompasses planning arrangement and layout, construction of the exhibit itself, and installation. All artifacts have detailed caption information describing their name, artist, creation date or time period, ownership or provenance, and of course the paragraph(s) explaining the piece’s history, significance, meaning, imagery, usage, etc. These captions are written, proofread, reread, and may go through several versions of revision before the final copy is published on display. Many artifacts or exhibits also have online counterparts, so detailed and archival photographs are often captured, especially of visual art such as paintings. The Saint Louis Art Museum does have an in-house photography studio, but some pieces are so large or difficult to position that they must be photographed in the museum’s larger halls after-hours simply in order to have the proper space for setup and lighting, if not the size of the piece itself.
Philip told me fascinating stories about his work as the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Curator of Asian Art, and I asked him questions about the curation process as he showed me some of his favorite pieces and spots in the museum. I had spent several hours touring around the museum before meeting up with him, and our couple hours conversing and touring the museum together confirmed to me that my feelings on museums is, at least to art lovers, a universal experience: you can spend an entire day in a single museum and still feel like you’ve only barely scratched the surface. I adopted the practice a long time ago that any museum piece I see and am moved to photograph, I also try to capture the caption information to read or reread later - I’d love to read every caption for each piece I see, but unless it’s a museum in a city you live and are readily able to revisit, there usually is only enough time to skim captions of the pieces or collections you’re most interested in. It’s a rare treat, but the best experiences I’ve ever had in museums have been talking with an employee, because they’re always knowledgeable from the extensive time able to absorb the museum, and their excitement for their favorite pieces and places. But this time of finally meeting the fascinating Philip Hu I’d crossed paths with virtually 11 years prior was wonderful listening to him talk about his experiences in the art world, and the paths life will lead you.
I’m so thankful we were able to find a time to get introduced and share experiences with one another. Below, I am combining pictures from my entire time touring the Saint Louis Art Museum, and I’m excluding caption information for aesthetic purpose here, but if desired, they may be see in the full photo gallery. The Saint Louis Art Museum is located in Forest Park, St. Louis, and is free to visit - the inscription above the main entrance reads: DEDICATED TO ART AND FREE TO ALL • MDCDIII (1903). Philip’s most recent curated exhibition is, Shimmering Silks: Traditional Japanese Textiles, 18th-19th Centuries, opening at the time of this writing.
