Art is meant to be
shared and seen by the world, but specifically where in the world poses a
question to art scholars today. Should art pieces and historical treasures be
returned to their country of origin or should they remain overseas so that
viewers from other countries can share in the wealth art has to offer. Many
countries have attempted to retrieve their cultural art and artifacts from
other countries, but few have prevailed. Some people have even resorted to
stealing art to be able to return it to its home country. These people were
considered thieves in one country and reverend as heroes in another, but which
side is correct?
On the 21st
of August 1911, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was stolen from the Louvre,
in Paris. It was not until the next day that it was discovered missing. When a
painter Louis Béroud questioned the guards on the whereabouts of the painting,
no one seemed to know where it was and after checking to see if it was being
cleaned, it was confirmed that none of the staff had possession of the
painting. As soon as her absence was discovered, the French Police were immediately
called, the Louvre Museum was closed, and everyone was questioned and
investigated.
It would be two
years before the Mona Lisa resurfaced, when a man named Vincenzo Peruggia
attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Vincenzo Peruggia was an Italian Patriot who believed that the painting should
be returned to Italy “after it was stolen by Napoleon”. At the time of the
theft Peruggia had just finished his work framing pictures in the Louvre, which
included the Mona Lisa. Having framed it himself, he was easily able to unframe
it and slip the painting under his coat jacket and leave the Louvre at closing
time without anyone noticing. While Peruggia was sentenced to seven months in
prison for this theft, he got his wish: the Mona Lisa returned (albeit temporarily)
to Italy. She went on tour throughout Italy, and Peruggia was reverend as a
hero, though the painting was returned to its rightful home at the Louvre in
1913. Since the Mona Lisa was a gift for the French King Francis I by Leonardo
da Vinci himself, it was decided that its rightful home would remain France.
Famous
Masterpieces have been lost, stolen, rediscovered, damaged, restored, looted,
lost again, and finally displayed at various museums around the world. The most
notorious art thefts by an institution would be by the British Empire. At the
time of Colonization, the British Empire would bring back the spoils of war,
anything from paintings to ancient artifacts. Each of these items where moved
from their homes and shipped away to England where they now reside in her
National Museums to be viewed by the public.
In a BCC article discussing
the battle over artifacts from various museums around the world, the secretary
of the Committee for Restoration of the Parthenon Marbles, Eleni Cubitt defends
Britain’s right to keep Greek Marbles as their museums currently have the safest
environment for preserving the marbles. Eleni Cubitt goes on the explain that
the British Museum is open for talks about returning these marbles to Greece,
but wishes for the best environment for these pieces to be viewed, preserved,
and maintained.
While many
curators wish to see various art pieces returned to their countries of origin,
all curators agree that art should not be moved without the proper means to take
care of it and preserve it both in transportation and in the new museums that
will house it. Curators are not interested in hording art in one country or
another, they wish for the best environment for their pieces with the best
visibly so that they can be shared with the world.
Denmark in its
time of colonization took many ancient artifacts from Greenland. After
Greenland gained full independence, Denmark agreed to help set up her national
museum and through this collaboration the Danish-Greenland museum collaboration
has returned over 35,000 artifacts. This collaboration shows that art can be
moved to its country of origin or rightful ownership if it has a stable
environment and proper curatorship. The true concern expressed by the Danish
Museum was not the location of the artifacts but their condition proper to the
conservation of the piece(s) in question.
Public museums
hold the largest known collections of art, and people travel from all corners
of the globe to visit these museums. The Louvre in Paris attracts approximately
9 million visitors a year, 80% of which are not residents of France. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York receives 6 million visitors annually, while
the British Museum receives 5.8 million. Each of these museums has art on
display for the public and allocates funds to toward continuing preservation.
If museums where dismantled and all artifacts were sent to the countries of
origin we would lose much of the world’s global heritage as the constitutions intended
to preserve and safeguard these artifacts would be disrupted.
Adele Bloch-Bauer
in her will requested that her paintings be donated to the Austrian State, but
after her death her estate fell to her husband who controlled the estate until
fleeing the country during WWII. The Austrian State then took control of her
property and placed her paintings in the national museum. In 2006 a court case erupted
between Austria’s National Museum and the heirs Adele Bloch-Bauer, who were
named the heirs of the estate by her husband. The painting by Gustav Klimt of
Adele Bloch-Bauer entitled Adele
Bloch-Bauer I was the painting in question during the case. This resulted
in the painting’s return to the family, which was then sold shortly thereafter
at Christie’s Auction House in America and purchased for approximately $135
million by Lauder for the Neue Galerie in New York. In this case the art
changed hands, but remained on public display. In many other smaller known
cases art has been taken from museums never to be seen again by the public. After
these cases, many false claims of famous art pieces began appearing.
“The Artist
belongs to his work, not the work to the artist.” Artists wish to see and sell
their work across the globe, hoping that people from many different countries will
have the opportunity to view their artwork(s). If art was restricted to its country
of origin then the international art market would crumble and the industry
would be lost, along with millions of jobs around the world.
James Cuno, the
president of the Getty Trust and also the writer of Culture war: the case against Repatriating Museum Artifacts, writes
in favor of museums keeping their art, even if it has come from another country,
with the exception of newly looted or stolen art. Cuno explains that there are
two types of art in museums; art that was bought or purchased legally and art
that has been considered looted or spoils of war. Cuno explains that if art has
been stolen and placed in the Getty Museum and there is proof of that, and that
there is another stable museum to send the art, then he is comfortable sending
art back to its original country. The Getty Museum has kept its word, and has
returned over 40 objects since it has announced that stolen or looted art
should be returned to their proper homes.
Cuno mentions
Unesco’s Art Repatriation act, which asks museums to return any stolen or
looted art. He publically addressed this issue by writing, “This kind of
promotion of cultural purity … can produce dangerous, often violent xenophobia…
Cultural property should be recognized for what it is: the legacy of humankind
and not of the modern nation-state, subject to the political agenda of its
current ruling elite.” Cuno writes in favor of not returning art, but a massive
exchange of art loans. This would allow other museums to share artifacts with
more people around the world so that humanity’s treasures can be seen and
shared by everyone.
Many artists bring
their art from one country to another either as a gift or to sell it. Leonardo
da Vinci brought the Mona Lisa to France and gave it as a gift to King Francis
I. Despite the Mona Lisa having originally been painted in Italy the artist intended
her for France. In another case a French Painter Vigée le Brun traveled
throughout Europe painting the aristocracy of her day, and mentions in her
memoirs being part of art academies throughout Europe and how she loved being
able to display her work in so many interesting places to so many different
audiences. This shows that artists of acclaim do not wish for their work to be
restricted to their country of origin.
Words can be lost
in translation, but art is universal. Art does not have to be in one spoken
language to be understood, it relies on the language of human emotion. A person
does not have to be from the same country as the painting to understand it,
just as a painting does not need to be located in its country of origin to be
understood by the world audience. Art and the artifacts from each country
should not be horded, but rather shared throughout various world museums.
Today’s curators are concluding that art should not remain in one place, but
should be shared in the national museums of each country, as pieces of world
heritage that belong to the world’s citizens. Irrespective of how many hands a
piece of art passes through, irrespective of how many caring custodians she
has, art also belongs to the future generations of the world, who like us and
those before us, deserve to know she exists. Understanding our shared global
heritage venerates the creative spirit of our shared humanity.
Works Cited
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa 1503-1506 Louvre Musuem Paris,
France
The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa (Art of the
Heist) Nick Hudson. Julia Elias June 2013. Film Documentary. Youtube. Web. Dec. 6, 2013
Scotti R.A. Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the
Mona Lisa New York City: Vintage Books Radom House Inc. 2009. Print.
Novalis Hymnen an die Nacht (Hymns to the Night) Wiederstedt
1800 Print.
“Countries Battle
over Artefacts.” BBC News 1-2. 27 July, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk Web 9 Dec.
2014
The Studies and
Research Division at the Musée du Louvre. Status
Report and Key Figures. Paris: Musée du Louvre
Jones, Jonathan
“Should all looted art be returned?” The
Guardian 9 Jan. 2009. theguardian.com.
Web. 9
Vigée Le Brun,
Louise Elizabeth Souvenirs Paris:
Wildside Press, 1879. Print.
Boehm, Mike “Getty’s
James Cuno defends museums’ right to keep Ancient Art.” L.A. Times 2014. Latimes.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2014
Sefrioui, Anne A Guide to the Louvre Paris: Musée du
Louvre: 2005. Print.
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