Page 14 - 2018 Art-i-facts Jan-Feb

Polk Museum of Art Collections Manager and Registrar Loren Hicks photographs artwork from the museum’s Asian art collection.
The Art of the Salon Style Hang

The way works of art are hung for exhibitions can be as hung highest on the wall, and more intimately-scaled work like
creative as the works themselves. still lifes were hung at eye-level or below.

That is particularly apparent when exhibitions are presented in Although it may appear random and effortless, salon style
salon style, as was the case with “Faces in the Crowd,” which requires the same degree of planning as a straightforward
was on view in 2017, and with “A Sum of its Parts,” which linear installation. In fact, salon style may be more difficult
celebrated the Polk Museum of Art’s 50th anniversary in 2016. to arrange. A curator must consider the proportions, color
palette, frame style and subject of a work of art, and how an
Salon style is characterized by a seemingly random artwork’s physical characteristics can affect its neighboring
arrangement of different sized works that covers an entire works to achieve a successful salon style installation that
area, and rivals the more conventional linear exhibition layout. doesn’t detract from individual works.
This type of installation is rarely used in today’s art museums,
but was once a popular practice. Salon style can be a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, where each piece
must fit comfortably while surrounded by a number of different
Salon style originated in the 17th century. It was first used by works of art, but its appearance must also somehow connect
the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Each with those other works. There should be a visual flow that
year, the Academy organized an exhibition of students’ work exists for the viewer to easily move from artwork to artwork. If
in their salon, or gallery. Works were hung close together from a work of art seems out of place, it immediately impedes the
floor to ceiling with no label information, in an effort to display visual experience. This flow is more difficult to achieve in a
as much as possible. The largest paintings with the grandest salon style installation.
subject matter – typically history and religion – usually were

14 Art-i-facts • January-February 2018 • www.polkarts.org