Provenance

ABSTRACTS

CHAIR: Jon Evans

Chief of Libraries & Archives

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Panelists

Paul R. Davis

Curator of Collections, The Menil Collection

From the Solomon Islands: Intercultural Histories of Architectural Sculptures

Questions concerning the cultural heritage and colonial histories of objects are increasingly pressing issues for museums in Europe and North America. In the context of ongoing museological work that is required to address these issues, this paper examines the iconography, provenance, and intercultural histories for a group of figural posts carved for a canoe house (ofa or aofa) or meeting and ceremonial feast house (ruma tora). Reportedly from Owaraha (Santa Ana), a small island off the coast of Makira (San Cristobal Island) and one of the several-hundred islands comprising the archipelago of the Solomon Islands, these posts are now dispersed throughout museum collections in Europe and the United States, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Menil Collection. Close reads of these architectural sculptures and their intricate pasts point to the complex agency of Solomon islanders, the ways objects are embroiled in multivalent sociopolitical and economic systems of exchange, and the perpetual transformations of cultural heritage over time and place.

Kariann Fuqua

Visiting Assistant Professor of Foundations & Director of Museum Studies

University of Mississippi

Out of the Classroom and into the Museum: Working with Students on Provenance Research

An object’s ownership history, its provenance, is an undervalued resource that museums have at their disposal to tell another story to the public rather than relying solely on object-based analysis. Provenance can tell much about what was deemed culturally valuable to collect; show connections between artists, dealers, and patrons; help to trace the history of the piece from production to exhibitions and more. It can also illuminate a darker side to the art world-- the illegal trade of fakes and stolen art. With the proliferation of forgeries and looted objects in the marketplace, museums (now more than ever), need to devote resources to provenance research to perform due diligence, not only for future acquisitions but also for objects in current collections. One potential resource for university museums--many of which are understaffed and have limited budgets--are students in Museum Studies programs, which have proliferated in recent years. These students can assist with provenance research while learning valuable skills that are transferable to future museum work. This presentation will examine how provenance inquiry can be embedded into art history or museum studies courses where the learning outcomes can have meaningful and engaging real world impacts in the museum field.

Charles A. Stewart

Associate Professor of Art History

Benedictine College (Kansas)

Fighting the Illicit Byzantine Antiquities Trade

Every year new Byzantine artworks appear on the global art market. Often these objects appear without a traceable record, and this leads to skepticism regarding their authenticity and legitimate ownership. Several countries have drafted treaties, known as Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), which emphasize the importance of provenance research in establishing the legal status of an artwork in order to thwart the looting of archaeological sites and prevent art theft. As such, provenance research is recognized as a unique art historical methodology which investigates the evidence for an object’s location through time. It is useful for determining the identity of the artist as well as the item’s subsequent owners. With this provenance record, art historians and curators can ascertain an object’s authenticity, value, influence (on other artworks), and how its meaning or purpose changed over time. Now provenance research is used in a legal sense to determine the ownership of artworks and this has ramifications regarding how artworks are perceived by the general public. Using case studies, this presentation will explain the importance of MOUs and the fight against the illicit antiquities market.