Minder

Andy Freeberg's 'Guardians of the Art World' series contrasts photos of seated female gallery attendants in Russian museums with photos of (the tops of the heads of) seated female gallery attendants in New York dealer galleries.


On visits to three public galleries over the summer break, I saw:

• In one gallery, no attendants except the person on the front door desk (and all visitors behaving themselves, regardless of the lack of supervision)
  
• In another, one person walking around briskly with a clipboard (the attendants in this gallery always carry clipboards and walk around briskly - I wonder if that's part of their training?)
• In the third, at least one attendant in each space, often chatting with co-workers or leaning on the wall reading a paperback (which is pretty understandable)

Image
Andy Freeberg, Nesterov’s Blessed St. Sergius of Radezh, Russian State Museum. Image from The Morning News.