Talk:Art gallery

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Contemporary art gallery which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 05:02, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Change from redirect to article

Discussion at talk: Contemporary art gallery indicates a movement towards a consensus that "Art gallery" should be an article on the general topic rather than a redirect.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 05:02, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Lead section

@A.D.Hope:, your revised wording, by placing the institutional usage first and using the words "identical in purpose" blurs the distinction between art gallery and art museum that I was trying to make in order to clearly define the topic of this article, which is galleries that sell art. Defining a WP topic is not the same as defining a word, it defines what content belongs is which article. There may by a few museums with "gallery" in their name, but thousands of galleries selling art.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 13:10, 1 September 2021 (UTC)

@WriterArtistDC: I don't see anything wrong in making the distinction between commercial galleries and art museums, but unfortunately the distinction between art galleries and art museums is blurred and the terms are synonymous in certain senses. If the topic of this article is commercial art galleries then the title should probably be changed to 'Commercial Art Galleries' (or similar), as 'art gallery' is too broad on its own.

@A.D.Hope: Unfortunately there are art galleries that are not commercial entities. The body of the article goes into detail about the different types. The lead needs to summarize this. Perhaps there needs to be a section on terminology as there is in Art museum#Terminology--WriterArtistDC (talk) 12:50, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

@WriterArtistDC: When it comes to the lead I don't mind rearranging or changing the emphasis, but I do think it's important to note somewhere (preferably early) that art galleries and art museums can be synonymous - this might not be common in the US, but it is elsewhere. A terminology section could work, though in this case I wonder if an 'Art Museum' section with a brief summary and link to the main Art Museum article might flow better? What do you think? A.D.Hope (talk) 15:19, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

@WriterArtistDC: I hope you don't mind, but I saw you'd tweaked the lead so hope you don't mind me adding my own changes. I think the short section on art museums helps avoid confusion without changing the main emphasis of the article.

I've changed the lead, but mainly to avoid the implication that 'art gallery' is an outdated term for an art museum - it may be in the US but is a current one elsewhere. Also, while I don't disagree with the sentence 'Among the reasons art may be displayed are aesthetic enjoyment, cultural enrichment, or for marketing purposes' I'm not sure if it adds much to the lead (but I am open to persuasion). I think I've kept to your intent otherwise, and hope you agree. A.D.Hope (talk) 15:15, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

@A.D.Hope: I like my wording better, because it emphasizes the distinction between entities that (1) maintain permanent collections vs. (2) those that exhibit a continually changing inventory of artworks. This distinction/categorization is the basis for differentiating the topics covered by the two articles. Your opening sentence implies that "displaying art" is the defining characteristic, making art gallery and art museum in some way synonymous. This cannot be true, since category (1) may be called either, but category (2) is never called a museum. I am not saying that the usage of gallery for (1) is outdated, but it is less precise, which makes defining the WP topic difficult. I also think the aesthetic enjoyment... sentence is a good summary of the topic that adds to the lead. (ps. There is no need to ping me since I watch this page.) --WriterArtistDC (talk) 18:45, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

I'll stop with the pinging, I was just making sure you were aware of anything I was up to - I recognise the work you've done on this page and don't want to barge in!

The issue is that 'Art gallery' is not a term which refers exclusively to commercial or co-operative galleries, so the page needs to acknowledge the other types, including art museums/galleries. I think that the best way to resolve this is to mention category (1) and (2) in the lede and give (1) a short section which links to Art museum, then devote the rest of the article to (2). This maintains the WP topic while not excluding the other important meaning of 'Art gallery', which may be imprecise but nevertheless exists.

The opening sentence is unchanged from your lead, and I think it's quite appropriate, since ultimately the defining characteristic of any type of gallery is the display of art. The basic function of galleries seems like a sensible place to begin, before getting into the different types. Maybe the aesthetic enjoyment... sentence could be rolled into it, to emphasise the other purposes of galleries from the off: 'An art gallery is any room or a building in which visual art is displayed, usually for aesthetic enjoyment, cultural enrichment, or for marketing purposes'? A.D.Hope (talk) 21:07, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

@A.D.Hope: Sorry I was unclear, in the above I meant your first sentence "The term can also refer to..." rather than the opening sentence which is unchanged.

The problem is disambiguation of everyday usage when a term has different meanings depending upon context. There is no predicting whether a person searching for "art gallery" is thinking of places to buy art or places to see historical objects. I have spent a lot of time in real life visiting both, and although the institution in my home town of Washington, DC is the National Gallery of Art (NGA), I think of it as going to a museum. The hatnote at the beginning of the NGA article states "This article is about the United States art museum. For other national art galleries, see List of national galleries." I placed a similar hatnote on this article.

Perhaps the answer is similar to what you are saying, limit the opening to the general term and have the first section about art museums with a Main article link.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 10:04, 5 September 2021 (UTC)