I am having a debate with the director of our campus museum. When my office refers to a display of works in her museum as an "exhibit," she corrects us, saying the term used must always be "exhibition." Mind you, this is a small museum and not even the largest show on view rises to the level of an exhibition in my book. I do see the distinction between an exhibit, as in "exhibit A" in a court case. In this sense, an exhibit is one object. In the art world, an exhibit is only one or two objects also. An "exhibition" is many of those objects placed together to be viewed as a whole.

However, in common parlance, the two terms can be used interchangeably,and I found at least one dictionary reference, from the 1913 Websters unabridged, that seems to suggest that an exhibit can be a collection of items:

Ex*hib"it, n.
1. Any article, or collection of articles, displayed to view, as in an industrial exhibition; a display; as, this exhibit was marked A; the English exhibit.

My biggest gripe with this insistence on using the correct art-world terminology is in headlines. In the particular instance now being debated, it concerns a one-column web heading in a calendar listing. This heading is drawn automatically from a calendar database which displays the calendar events in a grid where the individual listings are only half an inch wide. The word "exhibition" in such a listing is ridiculously long. I think that even the art world should allow for abbreviated forms of words in headings.

I realize that my goals as a publicity writer are different from the museum director's. I am trying to inform people of what is going on as briefly as possible; she is trying to preserve the dignity of her museum among her colleagues.

I'd appreciate comments on this debate and if I'm dead wrong, I'll change my ways; but if my usage is acceptable, I'll continue to try to convince our director that my practice is also acceptable!

Wordmatic

Perhaps your director has the ability to put the entire Bible on the head of a pin, but modern databases don't have that capability. The director should allow you to do your job and not allow pettiness to impose unmanagable hurdles.

I think I plagiarized that from a John Grisham novel.

See if she'd settle for "show" instead of "exhibition."

quote:

Originally posted by jerry thomas:
See if she'd settle for "show" instead of "exhibition."

I've already asked her about "show," and am awaiting a response.

Plagiarize away, Proof! It's all good.

WM

quote:

The director should allow you to do your job and not allow pettiness to impose unmanagable hurdles.

Sorry, that's too much to ask of managemnt.

Try the boy who cried wolf argument.

If she calls every group of three or four objects an exhibition, then when the real thing comes along, people won't think it is anything special.

lThen it will become an "extravaganza." Try to fit THAT in a column head.

didn't someone write, "What we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet" ??

Several recent dictionaries I've checked define exhibit as one or many objects shown.

Our local zoo only "exhibits" animals in an "exhibit." They are never, as far as I know, an "exhibition."

May not apply to the art world, though. Pretentious %$^!@@$^%s. :-)

Your responses reflect what I think, that here in the U.S., and outside the frou-frou community of art curators, scholars and snobs, the precise distinction between "exhibit" and "exhibition" is basically gone. But I should have confseed upfront that when I looked up "exhibit" on Onelook and found listings in 37 dictionaries, I checked four different ones before I found the Websters listing that backed up my point of view. The OED online, the Merriam Webster, the American Heritage all seemed to support the museum director's view--dang!

I'm curious to know whether this fine distinction is made in the U.K. Or maybe you are like us: you go to the museum and see a Van Gogh exhibit--and by that you mean you saw more than two of his paintings?

I actually have one of those 2-volume Book-of-the-Month Club OEDs on my bookshelf, one of the ones in 4 pt. type, but I've lost the magnifying glass that came with it, and I'm not sure I could actually read the thing now without it. I'll have to check the big one at work next week. What I'm hoping to find is some example of "exhibit," meaning a display of a whole collection, dating back to 1570 or something, that I can dangle in the museum director's face!

Wordmatic

Wordmatic, I looked it up in the online OED and found this particular definition that might be useful:

quote:

5. A showing, producing in evidence, display.
1654 GAYTON Pleas. Notes III. v. 95 The Play was to be presented to some few friends before the publick exhibit. 1864 FESSENDEN in Times 24 Dec., The power to compel an exhibit of books of account. 1886 B. W. RICHARDSON in Pall Mall G. 27 Sept. 6/2 There was no exhibit in these workers of any deficiency of muscular perception or skill.

Then the next entry defines it as "exhibition" (specifying "N. American") and includes these quotes:

quote:

1894 Official Guide Calif. Midwinter Exposition v. 45 The following are the groups into which the exhibit in the Agricultural building is divided. 1915 A. POLLITZER Let. 26 July in Lovingly, Georgia (1990) 7, I have fixed up one of the rooms in our big old barn{em}as a kind of studio{em}& I took them [sc. the drawings] up{em}thumb-tacked them on the walls & had a real exhibit. 1928 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. X.19/1 While the exhibit closed yesterday, it will be continued this week at the Washington School. 1944 S. BELLOW Dangling Man 90 John Pearl writes of an exhibit of his pictures at a women's club in New York. 1974 G. PALEY Enormous Changes at Last Minute 104 They had gone to see the missile exhibit on Fourteenth Street. 1985 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 Oct. D3/2 Douglas E. Brown: Swell Times, paintings at the New Art Gallery of Toronto... This is a streetwise exhibit that's all over the place in terms of subjects.

I especially think the some of the last quotes (like the 1928 one in the NY Times) would convince them.

However, just to be fair, I checked the Chicago Art Institute's Web site, and they call them exhibitions.

I would normally expect an exhibition to contain a number of exhibits.

I agree with Richard. To me an exhibition consists of a number of exhibits. Now those exhibits might or might not be single items but if they were multiple items they would be grouped by some theme and arranged in some fashion to essentially, for the purposes of display, become a single item.

For example imagine one of those dull-as-ditchwater exhibitions of prehistoric artifacts. There might be a glass case containing arrowheads - that would be an exhibit. Another might contain bits of pottery, another might contain tools and so on. Each one is a group of items that collectively form an exhibit. The whole lot and the room(s) they occupy would be the exhibition. That's how I'd use the words anyway.

Same here. One item is an exhibit; two items are exhibits; ten (connected in some way) items could be an exhibition. It depends a lot on the sort of items when a number of exhibits becomes an exhibition.

Consider the difference between an exhibitor and an exhibitionist. ....

An exhibitionist, name of Joe,
Would not be deterred when told: ”Stow!
We strictly prohibit
That you should exhibit
The wee thing that you call “Best of Show.”

I can understand arnie's, Richard's and Bob's thoughts because, as I said above, the OED did say that the definition of "exhibit" meaning "exhibition" was N. American.

I think, WM, you're fine with your use of "exhibit," at least from an American perspective.

Thanks, everybody. Kalleh, I think I'm fine with it too, and thanks for the much longer definitions from the OED than I can find online without a subscription. I will show these to the director and see if she will accept that when we are speaking to the public, and not among ourselves, it is quite acceptable and "grammatical" to refer to our larger-than-one-glass-case collection of related objects as an "exhibit" here in the U.S. Somehow, I fear I will lose the battle, and then I'm just as likely to abbreviate her exhibition as "Exhib." in the headline!

HAH!

Wordmatic

quote:

Originally posted by wordmatic:
Somehow, I fear I will lose the battle, and then I'm just as likely to abbreviate her exhibition as "Exhib." in the headline!

HAH!

Wordmatic

Along the same lines, I used to explain to people that it didn't matter if I was called an "assistant" editor or an "associate" editor because they abbreviated to the same three letters.

These from the New York Times within the last month:

• An exhibit of these campaigns is on display at the Science, Industry and Business Library in New York …
  
• An exhibit in the museum also notes …
  
• Exhibits at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington…
  
• Ellis Island Museum to Expand …The exhibit will trace one family …
  
• Fuller was undeterred, and as this engaging exhibit [at the Whitney Museum of American Art] reveals …
  
• Tours, art exhibits, fashion shows, book signings and children’s’ fairs are all being experimented with.
  
• The whales will join Mystic Aquarium’s one male and two female belugas in the outdoor Arctic Coast exhibit …
  
• a thorough redesign of its exhibit spaces …
  
• A special exhibit will highlight past winners of the Amelia Island Concours d’Élégance.
  
• The opening day of the exhibit …
  
• the slavery exhibit at the New-York Historical Society …
  
• a bright space more suited for a modern art exhibit.
  
• the Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibit on prefabricated houses …
  
• an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum …

Of course, publications by museums would be even more persuasive. Is there any particular museum whose diction your director might particularly chose as a model?

From The Times within the past month...

Saatchi backs angry art of Middle East
...British Artists has spread his wings with exhibitions of new European and American artists...gallery, which will be free for all exhibitions, opens on Thursday at the Duke of York...artist, you must participate in official exhibitions.

A curator builds bridges between people and art
...base. Above all, see biennials, art fairs, studios, exhibitions. Study art in many places, and if possible, leave your...chances to innovate. Hans Ulrich Obrist is co-director of exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, W2.

An expert's guide to buying the best artworks
...curators and other collectors. I read about art, I see endless exhibitions and still I'm learning. New collectors will often say...Artists will have at least a three-year track record of exhibitions and sales, with prices rising as institutions buy and show...

This is War: when the shooting starts
The Barbican is devoting its entire gallery this autumn to war photography. Three exhibitions, curated by Bush, will be shown in parallel, the first on the work of Capa, the Hungarian-born photographer who made...

Definitely a UK/US difference.

quote:

Definitely a UK/US difference.

I wouldn't draw that conclusion from the two sets of quotations. The NYT ones are describing things that I would call exhibits, and the LT things that I would call exhibitions, at least as best as I can tell from the limited context.

quote:

I wouldn't draw that conclusion from the two sets of quotations. The NYT ones are describing things that I would call exhibits, and the LT things that I would call exhibitions, at least as best as I can tell from the limited context.

I only took the first few entries - there were many, many more.

And I wouldn't have used the word "exhibit" to describe some of those NYT items. Certainly the one "...The opening day of the exhibit..." nmeans nothing here. The only way one could open an "exhibit" would be if it were something like a cupboard or drawer.

At an exhibit, you drink beer and wear jeans. At an exhibition, you go black-tie and drink champagne. That means Richard would be in a quandary about how to dress and what to drink.

quote:New York Times within the last month: [cites for "exhibit"]

response; quote: [London] Times within the past month... [cites for "exhibition"]
Definitely a UK/US difference.

Not so; at least, not so shown.

My point, per Wordmatic's original inquiry, was that the word "exhibit" is acceptable in her (U.S.) community.

No doubt "exhibition" is also acceptable, and I could have found many US quotes for it, but that was not the issue she raised. We are given evidence that "exhibition" is acceptable in the UK as well, just as in the U.S. Not a difference.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: shufitz,

quote:

We are given evidence that "exhibition" is acceptable in the UK as well, just as in the U.S. Not a difference.

Exhibition is not simply acceptable - it is the only word that is used to denote a collection of exhibits. Nobody here would ever say, "I am going to such and such an exhibit" - unless they were only going to see one exhibited item.

quote:

At an exhibit, you drink beer and wear jeans. At an exhibition, you go black-tie and drink champagne. That means Richard would be in a quandary about how to dress and what to drink.

Maybe in the USA; in the UK you can go to an exhibition wearing just about anything, providing that what you wear is appropriate for the class of event.

In the UK, would you describe a display case containing 6 stone axes as an exhibit, or an exhibition?

How about a grouping of 6 old masters, culled from 6 different museums, but without a special catalogue, opening, and admission?

Both, here, would be exhibits, except to WC's curator.

quote:

In the UK, would you describe a display case containing 6 stone axes as an exhibit, or an exhibition?

Neither. I would call them "exhibits".

quote:

How about a grouping of 6 old masters, culled from 6 different museums, but without a special catalogue, opening, and admission?

Probably exhibits - half a dozen would normally be too few to be referred to as an exhibition.

quote:

half a dozen would normally be too few to be referred to as an exhibition

Unless they were private parts.

Or Marilyn Monroe's toes.

I could see 6 Vermeers as an Exhibition, worthy of special treatment, etc., but generally, I agree.

quote:

half a dozen would normally be too few to be referred to as an exhibition.

I recall many years ago going to see an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's cartoons. I was disappointed in two ways:

• they weren't funny;
• there were only half a dozen or so - I'd have called them a collection of exhibits.

quote:

Unless they were private parts.

When they would probably be called "indecent exposure" - unless they were up for the Turner Prize, of course.

Once an artist of noble ambition
At a first-rank foreskin exhibition
Was cited as genius
For painting his penius
To stand out best in high definition.

If you consider the OED a gold standard to definitions, and I do, then it is a U.S./U.K. difference, as I posted above.

quote:

Exhibition is not simply acceptable - it is the only word that is used to denote a collection of exhibits. Nobody here would ever say, "I am going to such and such an exhibit"

Perhaps it depends on what you mean by what an "exhibit" is. If a museum has a collection of Monets available to the public, is that an exhibition? I've seen it called either an exhibit or exhibition here.

quote:

If a museum has a collection of Monets available to the public, is that an exhibition?

It's an exhibition of Monets; the Monets are the exhibits in the exhibition.

Not to me, it wouldn't be.

For example, on display in the National Gallery in DC are at least 6 paintings each by Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet, El Greco and Titian, to name a few. Because of the way the NG is laid out, these sets are normally all found in close proximity, but are not always in the same room.

But they are part of the permanent collection of the NG, and are on display, generally speaking, every day. No one speaks of the exhibition of Rembrandts at the NG.

When I lived in DC, I would often take visitors to the NG. I would often say, "You need to see the El Grecos", but would never have said "You need to see the exhibition of El Grecos."

My experience, as a long-time museum visitor, is that an exhibition is more of an event than a thing. Its hallmarks - in no particular order:

1) Special location in museum, with custom decor
2) Objects drawn from external sources, or from internal sources but not normally on display
3) Limited duration, often with fancy opening
4) Separate admission fee, in the case of big ones.
5) Specially prepared documentation, ranging from a coffee table book written by a world-reknowned expert to a one page flier written by a docent explaining the special nature of the group of objects
6) Press releases, paid advertising
7) Travelling - in more than one geographic location
8) Merchandise - posters, postcards and other memoriabilia


There are probably more. The bigger (not necessarily in number of objects), the more pronounced each of these factors.

For example, the King Tut exhibition that was a world-wide phenomenon in 1977. It opened with immense hoop-la in DC, and after the first couple of days had long lines of people waiting to get in. That was repeated in every one of the several cities it then went to.

Now THAT was an exhibition. The collections of Egyptian stuff at other museums in the towns visited by the King Tut exhibitions were simply that, collections of exhibits.

But exhibitions need not be so grand. A county museum in rural Kansas may put on an exhibition of barbed wire styles, putting on display hundreds of types, even perhaps all from its basement. Normally, only a dozen strands are on display, but this temporary display, with a special illustrated leaflet and an announcement in the local rag, is designed to attract interest in the museum and give visitors to look in more depth at a particular subject.

That would be a barbed wire exhibition. The everyday display case of a dozen strands with labels would be a barbed wire exhibit.

At least that's what I've seen.

Essentially, that's what I'd call an exhibition, too, Valentine.

UK usage may prefer “exhibition”, but does in consider “exhibit” improper in this context? Here are what appear to be such uses of “exhibit” in the past month's London Times (I have not checked other UK publications):

Oct. 9 : This year the Metropolitan police will be hosts of an exhibit …
Oct. 2: As when some new curator with fresh ideas comes to a museum and so scrubs and polishes its most venerable exhibit that it shines again; …
Oct. 2: … walking through an exhibit that might as well be entitled My Indisputable Greatness, …
Sept. 30: The only reason they had been to the Tate Modern before is because of the slide [Carsten Höller's Turbine Hall exhibit] …
Sept. 27: … they chug back to Budapest’s Railway Heritage Park to form a popular exhibit. ...
Sept. 13: The Las Vegas exhibit pulled in 3m fans in 10 years …
Sept. 12 (failed link): … taking part in the show with its exhibit of open spaces …

Without knowing exactly what is being referred to its is possible that some of the items might be exhibitions but most seem to be exhibits, the majority of them being single items or a few items relating to a single theme.

Exhibits are thing you find in exhibitions. In an exhibition of postage stamps there might be an exhibit comprising some imperfect Penny Blacks.

quote:

Exhibits are thing you find in exhibitions. In an exhibition of postage stamps there might be an exhibit comprising some imperfect Penny Blacks.

Had you said "museum" or "gallery" rather than "exhibition", I would have completely agreed.

quote:

Had you said "museum" or "gallery" rather than "exhibition", I would have completely agreed.

That also would have been accurate. However, exhibitions do not always take place in museums or galleries; they can take place in the open air, and many do every year in the UK and other European countries.

quote:

Originally posted by Valentine:
. I would often say, "You need to see the El Grecos", but would never have said "You need to see the exhibition of El Grecos."
.

Nor would I. I'd say "The El Greco Exhibition".

If someone said "the El Greco Exhibit", I would expect there to be only one in an exhibition that also contained works by others.

I wouldn't have said the "El Greco exhibition" either. The El Grecos at the NG are a part of the permanent collection, not a part of an exhibition at all.

Nor would I have said the "El Greco exhibit".

I think we all agree that the large show with many display stations [six is not enough] may be called an "exhibition", and that each individual display within it is an "exhibit" in the "exposition".

Our disagreement is elsewhere. According to Richard, “’Exhibition’ is not simply acceptable - it is the only word that is used to denote a collection of exhibits,” at least in UK usage.

I question this. Here’s a recent UK publication using “exhibit” (as well as "exposition") to mean the entire multi-station show. (It also uses “display” to mean both the entire show and a single station within that show.)

The Russian army has put on display war trophies captured during the Georgia conflict … the exhibition is another sign that … Russia is keen to milk the propaganda spoils of the war. The display, at The Central Museum of Armed Forces, displays weapons, uniforms and personal possessions belonging to Georgian soldiers … A museum guide, who was showing a group of Russians around the exhibit, paused at a display showing the personal photos of a dead Georgian soldier.
– The Independent, Sept. 16, 2008

I would personally prefer usage to be as Richard suggests, but it doesn't seem to be the only acceptable usage.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: shufitz,

quote:

A museum guide, who was showing a group of Russians around the exhibit, paused at a display showing the personal photos of a dead Georgian soldier.

So far as I can determine from this extract, the guide is showing a group around a particular exhibit within the exhibition. We haven't previously mentioned display, but that word can be used as a synonym for exhibit in some circumstances. But neither "exhibit" nor "display" would usually be used as a synonym for "exhibition" - although there are certain applications of the word "display" that will be close in meaning to exhibition.