Figured out why museums don't allow photography.

[arcadian]

They'll tell you it's because the flash on the camera degrades the integrity of oil paints. :wtf: Sounds like bullshit, but could be true, I'm no physicist. No, it's because they don't want you casing the joint to come back to rob it. I was just at a rural house museum that had two very large Navajo rugs that I estimated to be worth about $30,000 a piece. No photography and security cameras and motion sensors everywhere.

[Kali]

1. well, light does degrade all kinds of things

where were these rugs? I cringe when I think of the chewed up old saddle blankets in the barn - real Navajo stuff from the 40 and 50's. And still using the damn things on floors too.

[arcadian]

4. They were hanging on a wall.

They weren't old either, but they were enormous. One Ye'ii style, the other Ganado.

[Kali]

6. I figured that

I meant where was the museum?:D

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Museums in Paris allow it...

Some don't allow the flash, like the Louvre, and the Picasso museum kinda frowns on it, but the D'Orsay does, except for the Degas pastel rooms, which are very dimly lit, to preserve the integrity of the drawings.

:)

[AlCzervik]

3. I saw the King Tut exhibit a few years ago in LA and no cameras were allowed.

and when i went to the Tate in London i don't think you take pics there either which was sad because they had the Pollack i really love.

[arcadian]

5. Wait. Is it the one that looks like spilled paint?

Couldn't resist. I like Pollack. I didn't know he was a WPA artist. I'm wondering where some of his public works are located.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock

[AlCzervik]

7. it was! :-). I have a few different art books and there is a pollack section and

some Mondrian as well so when i got to the Tate and saw that one painting of Pollacks i've always really loved it was just so wonderful, same with the Mondrians. The Tate Moma had more than a few of his works.

[kwassa]

8. They want to sell you prints and postcards and art books.

Those gift shops generate lots of cash.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. Well, yeah... all of the above, but it really goes

back to flammable flash powder and bulbs from way back, and fire prevention.

Todays (meaning basically the last 50 years) flashes do not degrade anything faster than the lights they use, and have no fire hazard at all.