1. An exhibition organised by the Whitworth Art Gallery and the
Centre for Museology, The University of Manchester
Resonance and Wonder is the second
in a series of three exhibitions called
‘The Object of Encounter’ which are
organised jointly by the Whitworth Art
Gallery and the students and staff of the
University of Manchester’s Centre for
Museology. As a university art gallery,
the Whitworth is committed to the
development of innovative curatorial
practice and to collaboration with
academic colleagues and students. Each
exhibition in the series will display objects
from the Whitworth collections in
unconventional contexts, prompted by
the ideas about art contained in a critical
or philosophical text.
Seven students from the MA programme
in Art Gallery & Museum Studies
have contributed to the project as
researchers, exhibition organisers,
interpreters, and publicists. They are:
Ozge Altinkaya, Megan Benton, Alison
Horrobin, Elaine Mateer, Kerry Patterson,
Martin Skelton, and Jennifer Sinclair.
The organisers are grateful to the Trustees
of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London
and to the Museum of Science and Industry
in Manchester for key loans to the exhibition.
For further information about the Centre
for Museology please contact:
Dr Helen Rees Leahy
Director, Centre for Museology
School of Arts Histories and Cultures
The University of Manchester
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
Email: museology@manchester.ac.uk

2. Resonance and Wonder by Stephen Greenblatt was first published in Ivan Karp and
Stephen D. Levine (eds) Exhibiting Cultures. The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display,
published by The Smithsonian Press, Washington DC and London, 1991 (pages 42-56).
What makes you stop and look at a work of art? Does your knowledge of the artist or
their work contribute to your enjoyment of it? Can you still appreciate an object in a
museum if you know nothing about it?
Resonance and Wonder poses these questions by inviting you to look differently at a group
of objects that you may, or may not, have seen before. At the centre of the exhibition is
‘The Whitworth Tapestry’, designed by the artist, Eduardo Paolozzi, for the Whitworth Art
Gallery in 1968. This is shown in isolation and without any explanatory information. Elsewhere
in the exhibition, related objects create a visual web that weaves together Paolozzi’s sources,
influences and images.
STEPHEN GREENBLATT AND THE NEW HISTORICISM
THE WHITWORTH TAPESTRY
The central object in the exhibition is
‘The Whitworth Tapestry’, designed by
Eduardo Palazzo and woven at the Dovecot
Studios of the Edinburgh Tapestry Company,
under the direction of head weaver, Archie
Brennan. The tapestry was commissioned
by the Whitworth Art Gallery to mark its
reopening in 1968, following extensive
renovation and modernisation. The open
plan, Scandinavian-influenced design of this
room dates from that time. ‘The Whitworth
Tapestry’ is, therefore, a symbol of the
Gallery’s commitment to showing modern
and contemporary art, and the history of
the object is closely interwoven with that
of the institution.
Resonance and Wonder is the title of an
essay by the American literary scholar and
theorist, Stephen Greenblatt, in which he
analyses how and why art museums use
different display techniques to evoke either
the charisma or genius (wonder) or the
historical or cultural context (resonance)
of a work of art.
This is how Greenblatt himself defines his
terms:-
By resonance I mean the power of
the displayed object to reach out
beyond its formal boundaries to a
larger world, to evoke in the viewer
the complex, dynamic cultural
forces from which it has emerged
and for which it may be taken by a
viewer to stand. By wonder I mean
the power of the displayed object
to stop the viewer in his or her
tracks, to convey an arresting
sense of uniqueness, to evoke an
exalted attention.
Greenblatt is interested in the ways the
resonance of the work of art is suppressed,
starting with the process of displacement of
an object from its original context (for
example, in a church or house) prior to its
entry into the museum. Similarly, cleaning
and conserving an object erase those signs
of wear and tear (whether accidental or
intentional) that would otherwise bear witness
to its former use and history. In compensation,
the object’s context is only partially restored
through explanatory texts on labels and in
leaflets. Meanwhile, the wonder of a work of
art is often accentuated by its isolation from
other objects on display and by its illumination
within a focussed pool of light: techniques
which are designed to inspire within the viewer
surprise, admiration and delight at the special
qualities of the object and/or the materials
used in its making.
Although Greenblatt’s primary interest is in
literature, his essay Resonance and Wonder
clearly reflects the intellectual project for which
he is best known: namely, the new historicism.
He describes the new historicism as having
distinct affinities with resonance, given that he
says that his, ‘… concern with literary texts
has been to reflect upon the historical
circumstances of their original production and
consumption and to analyse the relationship
between these circumstances and our own.’
In Resonance and Wonder ‘The Whitworth
Tapestry’ is displayed alone, without even the
customary text label to distract the viewer’s
attention. Our intention is to let the tapestry
speak for itself, in the hope that you will enjoy
its collage of vibrant colours, striking shapes
and patterns, and popular imagery.
The exhibition also uses the metaphor
of a tapestry of connecting threads to link
‘The Whitworth Tapestry’ to some of its
sources and influences, both in Paolozzi’s
imagination and also in wider visual cultures.
For example, as well as starring both Mickey
Mouse and Donald Duck, the tapestry
includes images from a print series by
Paolozzi entitled ‘Universal Electronic
Vacuum’ that he made in 1967. Prints from
this series are shown with other works by
Paolozzi on one wall of the gallery, linking
‘The Whitworth Tapestry’ to the repertoire
of images, patterns and motifs that
populated his work at this time. Another wall
shows material that places ‘The Whitworth
Tapestry’ in the historical and visual contexts
of other objects in the Whitworth collections.
These objects are concerned with particular
textile techniques and their relationship to
mechanisation, and the fascination of many
contemporary artists and designers with
imagery that relates to computers and
digital culture.