Collecting and Provenance: A Multidisciplinary Approach - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1538127571 ISBN 13: 9781538127575

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019

Synopsis

The study of provenance—the history of the creation and ownership of an artefact, work of art, or specimen—provides insights into the history of taste and collecting, illuminating the social, economic, and historic trends in which an object was created and collected. It is as much a history of people as it is of objects, and its study often reveals intricate networks of relationships, patterns of activity and motivations.

This book promotes the study of the history of collecting and collections in all their variety through the lens of provenance, and explores the subject as a cross-disciplinary activity. Perhaps for the first time in a publication, it draws on expertise ranging from art history and anthropology, to natural history and law, looking at periods from antiquity through the 18th century and the Holocaust era to the present, and materials from Europe and the Americas to China and the Pacific. The issues raised are wide-ranging, touching on aspects of authenticity, cultural meaning and material transformation and economic and commercial drivers, as well as collector and object biography.

The book fills a gap in the study of collecting and provenance, taking the subject holistically and from multiple standpoints, better to reflect the widening interest in provenance from a range of disciplinary perspectives. This book will be a service to the field, from established scholars and museum professionals to students of collecting history, cultural heritage, and museum studies.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Milosch directs the Smithsonian Institution’s Provenance Research Exchange Program, and was founding director of the Provenance Research Initiative (SPRI), which focused on WWII-era provenance research, international cultural heritage, and training programs. She previously served as Senior Program Officer for Art, leading pan-institutional programs and strategic planning efforts, and was appointed the U.S. Representative to Germany’s “Schwabing Art Trove” Task Force. She has held curatorial positions at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. and in Detroit, Iowa, and Munich, Germany, and is an Honorary Professor in the School of Culture & Creative Arts, University of Glasgow.

Nick Pearce holds the Sir John Richmond Chair of Fine Art at the University of Glasgow, and specializes in the arts of China, most particularly in the context of the history of collecting. His career has spanned both museums and universities, as he has held positions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, and at Durham and Edinburgh universities. He joined the University of Glasgow in 1998, where he has held the positions of Head of History of Art and Head of the School of Culture & Creative Arts, and is a Smithsonian Research Associate.

Review

In so masterfully bringing together the essays of this volume, Jane Milosch and Nick Pearce address the relevance of provenance to collecting history and cultural history in the broadest possible way. They have marshalled a team of experts in fields that include art history, material culture, anthropology, economics, and law, who present case studies ranging across five continents and spanning millennia. Together the twenty-eight chapters of the book, some of which also focus on the value of the most up to date research methodologies, comprise a groundbreaking contribution to the field of provenance research, whose importance has been accorded ever greater recognition thanks to the scholars and editors of this superb book. This is a volume that will be valued for decades to come. (Inge Reist, Director Emerita, Center for the History of Collecting, The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library)

Provenance research is increasingly critical to a broad range of disciplines with significant and cascading implications. This book provides a nuanced, cogent, and timely overview of present practices while exploring future challenges. It is an indispensable resource for those working in the arts, museums, libraries, archives, and law and policy. (Helen A. Robbins, Repatriation Director, The Field Museum)

A persuasive claim is made here for provenance research as a defining activity of responsible curatorship. More than recording an object’s history, it involves forensically researching every aspect of the multiple connections forged through the web of contexts in which objects participate, to establish a dense and inalienable biographical passport. (Arthur MacGregor, Editor, Journal of the History of Collection)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1538127571
• ISBN 13: 9781538127575
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 450
• Editor: Milosch Jane, Pearce Nick