While some museums seek to spread their brands, the Tate has always had a more distinguished approach to expansion. Its two London branches, Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and the Liverpool and Cornwall galleries are all compellingly distinct, yet they all share the same inherited character which comes across beautifully on the Tate's handsome and well-organised website.
On the website, the entire Tate collection of almost 60,000 works dating from 1,500 until today can be viewed, each one accompanied by its own information page presenting caption information and quotes from the work's wall text. While the collection can of course be browsed by artist's names, the site also allows you to search by subject matter. And this category captures quotidian characteristics including medium or movement as well as more elusive qualities such as "emotions and human qualities" and the 1,499 works listed as possessing "universal concepts."
Equally illuminating is the "glossary" section, which alphabetically lists terms that might be daunting to viewers untrained in art history. Most helpful in this context are the illustrations selected from the collections which demonstrate the characteristics of each term. Thus, a touching 1953 painting by Jack Smith of a mother bathing her infant in a kitchen sink on a dreary English day aptly illustrates the subcategory of Social Realism called "Kitchen Sink art."
But the really fun aspect of the site is the section called the "Tate carousel" where images randomly emerge and quickly switch to other images. Each image lingers on the screen long enough for knowledgeable viewers to name the ones they know and for others to be tempted to learn more or wait for the next round. Significantly, the images themselves are attractive and the spacing between them gives each room to stand on its own merits without clashing with its neighbours.
The decision to color-code each museum branch with sharp hues seems like a remedial design feature, yet it works surprisingly well because the colours are so idiosyncratic and chic. At first blush there would be appear to be little justification for ascribing a juicy flashy orange to Tate Britain's classic collection and regal exhibition space, but walking through the Tate after browsing the site, I found that the colour's contagious energy fits the museum's vibrant curatorial programming. Similarly, magenta is a cool, magnetic color well suited for Tate Modern's hard, hip industrial space and sexy vibe.
Like the Tate's actual physical spaces, the website is stately without being stuffy and erudite but it is never prissy. It ties together the four disparate locations in a welcoming and attractive format. I believe it is the best major museum site I've seen. Would you agree?
