Read this great commentary by Michael Kimmelman
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/arts/design/03abroad.html?_r=1
This is a great question, and the article has over 200 comments within minutes of its posting.
This article inspired me to write about a memory of mine (and some thoughts):
I once visited the Met in New York while I was there for a short business trip. I didn't have much time to visit - maybe an hour or so - and I was briskly walking throught the exhibts trying get a sense of the various exhibits.
On my way through a foyer to an exhibit, I looked up briefly at a copper mask made in greece, the date said it was made in 700 BC and it struck a chord with me immediately. The mask was forged 2700 years ago and made its way to New York. As I rush around trying to see the "important" meaningful artifacts, this one somehow jumped out at me fixing its gaze on me and mine on it.
It's easily 10 years later, and I can't forget my moment with the mask (which is "ordinary" compared to the other exhibit pieces in the museum) and the one instance when this item somehow connected with me. For some reason the grand scale of its travels stuck a chord with me along with it's journey through time and space. I wondered how it was made?, did a person wear it? or was it made for decorateive purposes? How did it get here? For such a short moment, it surely made an impression and I'm intrigued why it did.
The feeling I get whenever I think of that experience is a good one and it's slightly unexplainable. I remember it like I found an old
friend or a familiar item from my childhood.
I think that a person's life experience informs their visual preferences and in my case, this copper-blue patina mask fit my visual preferences.
It's odd how an article like this can stir up these memories.
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