Critical Foundations
Where do objects in our collection come from, and how did they get there?
Introduction
Oftentimes when we go to a museum or when we look at art, we focus on what we see in front of us. How often do we take the time to ask, discuss, or research? Where did this object come from? How did it get here? What objects are missing, and why?
Museums acquire artworks and cultural artifacts in several ways, most often through purchase or gifts and donations. The history of the object’s ownership and how it entered the collection is called “provenance”. Yet even museums don’t always know the provenance of all their objects.
Museums do know that, especially when it comes to non-Western collections, issues such as political turmoil, religious persecution, and the impacts of imperialism and colonialism create conditions for cultural objects to be removed from their countries of origin.
Here are examples of two objects in Mia’s Asian art collection:
Jade Mountain
Mia’s Jade Mountain was created during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the last period of imperial rule in China. The Qing [pronounced “ching”] emperors ruled through traditional Chinese institutions of government, higher learning, and religion. Its rulers also had great respect for Chinese cultural tradition and sought to preserve the achievements of the past and to encourage the arts of the present. One of the first supporters of scholarship and art was the emperor Qianlong [pronounced “chee-en long”], who ruled from 1736 to 1795.
An undated photograph, likely from around 1915, shows the sculpture atop a tablecloth, surrounded by dinnerware and flowers. Around 1899–1900, Herbert Squires, the secretary of the U.S. delegation to Peking (now known as Beijing), brought the sculpture, originally housed in the imperial palace, to the United States. Squires is unflatteringly described in many accounts as having acquired troves of porcelain and cloisonné—decorated metal ware—through nefarious connections. The failing Qing dynasty was financing its survival by selling many of its cultural treasures out of the Forbidden City or by placing them in banks as collateral or cash. When Squires died in 1912, the carving went up for auction, and T. B. Walker, founder of the Walker Art Center, bought it for $4,000. The mountain, along with 25 of Walker’s other jade artworks, eventually came to Mia as the Walker Art Center turned exclusively to modern and contemporary art and sold off Walker’s older artwork. It remains the largest jade carving outside China.
Shiva Nataraja
In the early 1900s, the exotification of Eastern culture enticed many Western collectors and museums to acquire objects from Asia. A man by the name of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was hired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and began to popularize Indian arts and culture. He wrote a collection of essays titled “The Dance of Shiva,” which inspired many museums in America and Europe to seek their own Shiva Nataraja, a sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva, the almighty creator and destroyer of the universe, portrayed as the lord of the dance.
One of the art dealers who connected collectors in the West to artworks from Asia was C. T. Loo. At the time, Loo was the West’s greatest pipeline to the East. He was working in the antiques import business in Paris and had offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and New York. In the early twentieth century, most Asian art came through him. Loo sent men to southern India to retrieve a Nataraja statue and deliver it to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. When they found it at a temple in a small village, they negotiated with the priest of the temple to purchase this statue in exchange for a new, larger version if everyone in the village agreed, and if the god agreed to leave. After the priest and the villagers prayed and watched for signs, Loo's men were granted access to remove and exchange the statue, which was boxed up, put on poles, and carried out of the town to become part of Mia’s collection.
Video: Docents in Training
Video Discussion
What do you think are the most important messages this video is communicating? Provide some examples to support your interpretation.
How does FAWK use humor to critique how museums often present art, and specifically art from cultures that are not European or Euro-American to the public? How does FAWK also use humor to confront stereotypes about Asian art? How does FAWK critique the ways museums collect art?
What do you think is the significance of the docent trainer saying “You should never lower yourself... I like to empower people, especially Asian women”?