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What They Collect

Museum Wall Text Could Use an Editor

· 1 min read
Collection of landscape paintings displayed on a wall
Photo by You Le on Unsplash

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.

The American Set on film — also on Instagram.

With reporting from Artnet News.

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