Histories of Art, Race and Empire: 1492-1865

Rationale

Museums evolved from their origins in the early modern period as collections of objects assembled by wealthy individuals. Since the nineteenth century the museum has itself as unquestionably authoritative, the purveyor of truths about art and history. Carol Duncan reflects on how museums reflect and reify social values and how curators accomplish this work by saying “To control a museum means precisely to control the representation of a community’s highest values and most authoritative truths.” ²

Critiques of museum have been gaining in energy since the 1960s, an evolution has accelerated in recent decades, especially within the last few years following the 2020 George Floyd protests. Particularly significant is the way United States respond to Indigenous objects in their collections. They are bound under NAGPRA ³ to investigate claims of repatriation of artifacts to the Indigenous people they may have been taken from and return the artwork if the claim is found valid. Histories of slavery, equally, demand that museums reconsider traditional approaches. Many museums are updating their labels for paintings like colonial-era portraiture, acknowledging that the wealth highlighted in and that enabled these portraits were the result of the sitter’s participation in slavery. ⁴

While museums can be a force for the preservation of historical objects and for the education of a community, they, like any institution, face serious issues. Why would a museum like the American Museum of Natural History contain Native American artwork from the 19^th century, ⁵ when contemporary work from European artists sits squarely in fine arts museums? What does it mean that, until recently, Indigenous American artwork was described as primitive when artwork made at the same time in Europe or by white Americans, were not? ⁶

Many of my high school students reach voting age with apathy, sure they could never change anything, and their voices do not matter. But civic engagement on cultural issues has shaped their world. It brought down the Confederate statues that once guarded the way to the local arts museum. In research, exploration, and discussion of ethical issues still present in museums today, I hope to help my students feel engaged with their community and empowered to affect positive change, leaving my classroom ready to be active citizens, ethicists, and art detectives.