Museum Wall Text Could Use an Editor

A case is making the rounds for treating wall labels the way a newsroom treats a lede: put the most important fact first, then let detail follow. The suggestion borrows the inverted pyramid, journalism's oldest structural habit, and applies it to the placard beside a painting or a case of decorative objects. For collectors who spend as much time reading labels as looking at the pieces themselves, the fix is a simple one — say what matters at the top, save the footnotes for after.

With reporting from Artnet News.