The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has set aside a gallery to remind visitors that today’s carefully-spaced and lit exhibits are not the only way to show art, only the way we do it now. The gallery is arranged to show the late 19th century (and earlier) taste for letting it all hang (out).
Displays like this not only allowed showing a full range of a collection’s holdings, but also served a purpose at juried shows such as the Paris annual salons; it served as a competitive line-up, with artists jockeying for ‘on the line’ space for their big paintings, leaving smaller works and lesser artists to be ‘skied,’ or hung closer to the ceiling.
