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The Nine-Ton Cat: Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum
Peggy Thomson with Barbara Moore
Published 1997
96 pages
This book provides a behind-the-scenes look at the National Gallery of Art. Readers learn about the different jobs performed at the Gallery in support of exhibitions and collections while getting an all-access pass into the workshops, offices, and labs visitors rarely enter. Each chapter discusses a different department and the way its tasks align with the overall mission and work of the Gallery. These roles include curators, designers, conservators, art handlers, librarians, security guards, engineers, maintenance teams, horticulturalists, and education staff. Numerous photographs show these different groups hard at work within the Gallery and offer a glimpse of the activity that happens before and after the Gallery is open to the public. Through the stories of the various departments, the reader also discovers insider knowledge on the Gallery’s exhibitions and collections.