Overview
The Getty, being one of the largest and wealthiest
art institutions in the world, has resources that other, smaller museums do not
have to apply toward cataloging their cultural objects. It seemed unfair to
compare the Getty’s mostly clear and accurate descriptions to small museums
with little funding, so I chose to limit my comparisons to photo collections from
other prominent art institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the
Met), the Los Angles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA), and others. Although not as well-funded as the Getty, these museums were
comparable in their compliance / non-compliance of descriptive naming
conventions.
CCO Compliant
Example
I found some interesting examples from the Getty
that were in compliance with the Object Naming guidelines from Cataloging Cultural Objects. I also found several titles that could have been more
descriptive, but I’ll begin with the compliant example first – a photograph by
Lauren Greenfield that the artist calls: Erin, 24, is
blind-weighed at an eating-disorder clinic, Coconut Creek, Florida. She has
asked to mount the scale backward so as not to see her weight gain. The Getty record (below) reflects the artist's preferred
title offers an alternate title, Girl Culture, which is the series title.
According to the discussion section of CCO, the purpose
of a title is to identify and refer to a work. The title should be accurate and
descriptive enough to facilitate user identification. Greenfield’s title, while
lengthy, is certainly descriptive enough for even sight-impaired users to gain
a clear sense of the subject matter and content of the photograph.
The naming of this photo also follows the CCO Rules
for Titles 1.2.2.1 (below) by placing the artist created title in the “Title”
field at the top of the record, thus distinguishing it as the unmistakable preferred
title. The series title is then recorded in the “Alternate Title/s” field with
an identifier signifying it as a group title: Girl Culture (Group Title).
1.2.2.1 Brief Rules for Title
Recording at least one title, identifying
phrase, or name for the work of art or architecture is required. If multiple Titles are recorded, one must
be flagged as the preferred Title.
Preferred Title
For the
preferred Title, use a concise
descriptive title in the language of the catalog record (English in the
United States). It should be a recent title provided by the owning institution,
a concise inscribed title, or a title
provided by the artist, if known and if it is sufficiently descriptive. […]
If no appropriate authoritative
descriptive title is known, the cataloger must create one.
While Greenfield’s title would not be considered “concise”
by most estimations and in comparison with other works or records, it is
accurate in that it was derived by the artist herself, who, by CCO rules,
should be an authority on naming her own work. Had Greenfield’s title not been
sufficiently descriptive then another title could have been created by the
cataloger. These guidelines suggest that the naming conventions of the artist,
as long as they are appropriately descriptive, take precedence above a
cataloger created title or an abbreviated version of the title. That being said,
by the letter of the Constructed Title rule 1.2.2.2.2 (below), the Getty was within its rights to have shortened the name. The Getty’s choice to include
the full title serves to increase access (including sight-impaired users),
which is the ultimate goal for guidelines – increased access. Using the
artist’s long title also reflects the documentary nature of Greenfield’s work,
thus providing a clear description of the photograph.
1.2.2.2.2
CONSTRUCTED TITLE
If no descriptive title is available in an authoritative
source, construct a descriptive title. If an inscribed or repository title is overly long, in a foreign
language, or does not describe the work, construct a concise descriptive title
in the language of the catalog record. Constructed titles may refer to the
subject, the materials, the form, or the function of the work.
I include the Greenfield example because it
demonstrates one of the challenges of creating metadata for artworks – how artists’
naming practices have potential to assist or to hinder user access. Greenfield
describes, even over-describes her photos, while other artists offer too little
description to make their titles useful. For example, Robert Kinmont’s photographs in the same Getty photo collection are difficult for users to
distinguish from one another as most are titled with a single number. While theGetty offers short descriptions of Kinmont’s photos below the records, it might
have been more helpful had the catalogers included these descriptions bracketed
in the title field.
CCO Non-compliant(ish)
/ We-Can-Do-Better Example
As mentioned in the overview, my comparisons and
searches of major museum records revealed that most records are by-the-letter-of-the-law
compliant with CCO guidelines. However, in the spirit of naming and user access,
many records could be improved. As with the Robert Kinmont photos mentioned
above, non-descript titles – even those given by the artist – can be expanded
and improved upon to better describe and increase user access.
Another challenge in catalog records for artwork is
the ubiquitous “Untitled.” This dreaded non-title is often given by the artist
him/herself, which in accordance with CCO rule 1.2.2.2.5. (below) is the
appropriate title.
1.2.2.2.5 UNKNOWN TITLES AND UNTITLED WORKS
For works for
which a Title must be constructed, but where the Work Type and purpose are
unknown, construct a descriptive Title using any generic information available.
[...] Do not use the term untitled
unless the creator has deliberately named the work Untitled.
But is using “Untitled” without any further
description the best practice / in the spirit of descriptive naming? Consider
the Cindy Sherman record from the Met (below). I would argue that the title, Still from an Untitled Film, while technically in compliance with CCO rule
1.2.2.2.5. (above) and in keeping with the artist’s intentions, does not by
itself adequately identify the photograph for users and is not accurate to how
the photo is typically described within the larger art discipline.
Met title: Still
from an Untitled Film
My revised title: Still from an Untitled Film (Untitled
Film Still #21, career girl)
This title is a tricky one in that it must balance
conventional naming of Sherman’s works within the art discipline and
publications (see below, the Title rule 1.1.2.1.2.), clear disambiguation of
this work from all of Sherman’s other untitled pieces, the inscription on the
photo and the artist’s intentions (see further below, the Inscribed Titles
section of CCO rule 1.2.2.2.3 under Various Types of Works), and the naming
conventions and database fields within the owning institution. Although the
original title is CCO compliant, I would argue that it could be improved by
following other CCO guidelines, particularly the Title rule 1.1.2.1.2. (below),
which invites consulting other publications and standard art history textbooks.
1.1.2.1.2 TITLE
Museums and other repositories should assign Titles for
their own works based on local guidelines, which may include consulting published scholarship or
culling title information from documents accompanying the works.... Visual
resources collections should record Titles as found in authoritative sources when possible, which could include... [exhibition catalogs, inscriptions on the work, standard textbooks in art history, subscription
art databases and art dictionaries (of which CCO lists several)].
In my renaming process, I started with the title
that the artist provides, as this should take precedence according to CCO
guidelines. In looking at the Sherman record under “Object Information”
(above), we can read that the inscription, “Still from an Untitled Film,” was underlined and presumed as the official
title. The Inscribed Titles section of rule 1.2.2.2.3. states that if an
inscription from the artist is intended to be a title, it should be applied as
such. This underlined inscription, Still
from an Untitled Film, is the one (and only title) the Met applied to the
record.
1.2.2.2.3 VARIOUS TYPES OF WORKS
Titles, names, and other
identifying phrases will differ depending on the type of work, the history and content of the work,
and the available documentation.
Inscribed Titles
If
any work contains an inscription that was applied by the creator with the
apparent purpose of giving it a title, record it as a title.
For prints and books, record any title inscribed in the printing plate or on
the title page. Punctuation and spelling should be preserved, if possible. The
inscribed title may be repeated in fuller form in the Inscription element (see
Chapter 3: Physical Characteristics). Inscriptions that are not titles should
be recorded in the Inscription element. If the inscribed title does not
describe the work concisely in the language of the catalog record, construct a
descriptive title as indicated above. [...]
The inscribed title need
not be the preferred title. If the inscribed title is not well known
and is in a foreign language, is too long, has abbreviations, or has obsolete
or incorrect spelling, construct a preferred descriptive title.
The rule above also states that the inscribed title
need not be the preferred title. This exception, when combined with consulting
“authoritative sources,” caused me to consider replicating what most sources
have listed as the title for this photo: Untitled
Film Still #21. Consulting Gardner’s
Art Through the Ages and other standard textbooks in Art History, the film
still number is usually included in Sherman’s untitled film stills. Without
these identifying numbers, it’s difficult to know which work is being
referenced. As well, other museums, such as the MoMA, who also owns a copy ofthe same photo, have applied the more common title: Untitled Film Still #21.
I chose to include the more common title, but not to
use it as the preferred title because this would conflict with the explicit intentions
of the artist indicated in the inscription.
To change the title, however slight that change might seem, would change the
meaning of the work. Untitled Film Still
#21 has a different nuance than
Sherman’s original title, Still from an
Untitled Film, which is meant to invoke (as supporting art historical
documentation describes) interchangeable feminine identities. The stills in
this series are “stock characters.” They are not intended to be unique, which
is why all the photos in this series were given the same title. They are meant
to be read as one among many, none standing out, and all being equal. That
being said, users (scholars, students, etc.) do need to be able to distinguish
between the individual stills in order to discuss them, which is why most
institutions and publications use the “#21” and often the description “career
girl” to identify this particular photo. Even under the label information
within the same Met record (above), the disambiguating phrase, “career girl,” is
included. This description is also found in other art history textbooks and
authoritative resources.
Although the original title is CCO compliant, I
would argue that it could be improved by following the other CCO rules
mentioned above. Again, the goal should be toward accuracy and increased user
access, which is why I kept the Met title but included the more familiar alternate
title, Untitled Film Still #21, and
the disambiguating phrase, “career girl,” both of which are found in the Met
and other institutional records and the larger disciple of art history publications.
And, on that, I refer to rule 1.2.2.2.4. (below) regarding multiple titles.
My revised title, Still from an Untitled Film (Untitled
Film Still #21, career girl), keeps within the naming conventions already
established by the Metropolitan Museum. The Met uses brackets for constructed
titles but does not qualify preferred titles with the label “preferred title.”
The Met also does not have an extra field for alternate titles, which is why I
applied the last sentence of the Multiple Titles rule 1.2.2.2.4 (below). My
revision keeps the record simple and clean, which is in keeping with the
convention of other records in the Met’s photo collection.
1.2.2.2.4 MULTIPLE
TITLES
Record multiple titles when
a work is known by multiple titles or when a concise
descriptive or other title must be constructed by the cataloger; use Title Type
to flag one title as preferred.
Examples
Titles: Edgar J. Kaufman House
(preferred) • Fallingwater
Titles: Allegory with Venus and
Cupid (preferred, repository title) • Venus, Cupid, Time, and Folly • Allegory
of Lust and Love
Titles: Selimiye Cami (preferred)
• Mosque of Selim II
Put each Title in a separate occurrence of the Title field. However, if a repository or creator’s title
includes multiple titles in the same field, enclose the second title in
parentheses for display.
Bibliography
Note: I've tried to fix the formatting here, but alas.
