via El Pais, 05 June 2023: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is creating a team of four experts dedicated to tracing the provenance of pieces suspected to have been obtained via looting.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (the Met) is creating a team of four experts dedicated to tracing the provenance of pieces suspected to have been obtained via looting. Pressure from foreign governments, as well as judicial measures against the illegal trafficking of artworks, have pushed the museum to review its collections in the context of a global rereading of history; decolonization today involves returning marbles, bronzes and ceramics to the places they were stolen. The creation of the provenance team comes partly as a result of disputes like the ones the institution currently has with Cambodia. In short, it is a matter of redefining the concept of cultural property and doing so, for the first time, in a systematic way.
“With the appearance of new information and the changing climate around cultural goods, we must be proactive and deliberate in our focus and dedicate the resources and attention necessary for this labor. The initiatives we are creating, based on the principles of research, transparency and collaboration, trace a path to follow in this complex territory and show the world that we are committed to being a proactive and committed participant in ongoing debates, as well as an exceptional place to learn about the world’s cultures,” Max Hollein, the director of the Met, explained to EL PAÍS. He emphasized the institution’s preeminence in global culture. “As the guardian of almost 1.5 million artworks from more than 5,000 years of human creativity, and as a prominent voice in art and cultural heritage, it is essential for the museum to get involved in this issue,” he added.
Source: The Met in New York takes on the cultural property debate | Culture | EL PAÍS English