Yesterday Etiquetteer was delighted to spend some time at the Peabody Essex Museum, including taking selfies in front of the art. It’s not news, as the old song goes, that “everybody’s doing it.” Selfies at museums have become such a thing that there’s now a Museum of Selfies*.
But there are ways, and ways not, to take museum selfies. Etiquetteer has a few cautions for you:
First and most importantly, if you're not supposed to be taking photos at all, don't do it. Usually signs will indicate whether or not photography is allowed. Obey the signs, and obey the security guards when they call you out.
That said -- and this is naughty of Etiquetteer to suggest, quite naughty -- it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Wait, just forget Etiquetteer even suggested that.
We all want to be well lit, but flash photography isn’t Perfectly Proper. Seriously, it's bad for the art. Etiquetteer's great fear is that one day the flash will go off by accident and a priceless Impressionist painting or something will start flaking to the floor.
Please, please, please please please -- don't destroy anything by not being aware what is around you. News stories about artworks being destroyed by careless photographers just break the heart.
And related to that: no selfie sticks. Etiquetteer knows you want that distance, but the risk of damage is just too great. The Peabody Essex notes on its website that “Flash photography, video and the use of tripods and selfie sticks are permitted only with prior approval from the Security Department.” Other museums just flat out forbid them.
Don't become an obstacle to other museum goers. Yes, we all want to get that Perfect Shot, but people come to museums to observe the art, not the Selfie Follies**. Stay out of the way, and don't take too much time. The selfie above is not quite perfect; the left edge of the artwork isn’t in the frame. But it’s Perfectly Proper, because Etiquetteer knew other visitors wanted an unimpeded view.
Etiquetteer isn't a fan of asking strangers for selfie assistance -- it's a bit of an intrusion on their own museum experience -- but if someone offers to assist, use your own judgment.
Art was not created as a Background for Our Fabulous Selves, but to express a message from the artist. Sometimes that message is too serious or troubling to be trivialized with a selfie. The “Auschwitz Selfie” scandal of 2014 is a case in point (with both pro and con points of view). On the retail front, Etiquetteer remembers a local boutique that got into hot water for using Picasso’s powerful antiwar painting Guernica to back a jewelry display. Learn about what you’re seeing, and use discreet good judgment.
The Royal Ontario Museum has a very humorous guide to selfies, which also involves dinosaurs.
Etiquetteer wishes you joy, enlightenment, and Perfect Propriety on your next museum visit.
This is both perfect and Perfectly Proper . . . but then the gallery was empty.
*Probably more an attraction, however, than a museum.
**Or, to take their own selfies.