Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T12:43:50.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thinking about Antiquities: Museums and Internationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

Claire L. Lyons*
Affiliation:
J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000v, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1745. Email: [email protected]

Abstract:

John Henry Merryman’s seminal writings established the twin poles of nationalism and internationalism, which have framed debates over cultural patrimony for three decades. He has long advocated a cosmopolitan ideal of sharing the world’s artistic heritage as the best course for preservation, knowledge, and public access. Although the tensions between national ownership and universal circulation frequently put countries and museums at odds, above all when it comes to ancient art and archaeological objects, a middle ground has been found that can bridge the gap. This article reviews several recent MOUs that U.S. museums and cultural ministries in Italy, Greece, and Turkey have established for exhibition loans and research collaborations. The J. Paul Getty Museum’s experiences in implementing four international cultural agreements illuminate how sharing works in practice, and the benefits (and costs) of an object-oriented approach to cultural diplomacy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Cultural Property Society 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arndt, Richard T. The First Resort of Kinds: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005.Google Scholar
Cianferoni, Carlotta, Iozzo, Mario, and Setari, Elisabetta. Myth, Allegory, Emblem. The Many Lives of the Chimaera of Arezzo. Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum, 4–5 December 2009. Rome: Aracne Editrice, 2012.Google Scholar
Gillman, Derek. The Idea of Cultural Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Merryman, John Henry. “Thinking about the Elgin Marbles.” In Merryman, John Henry, Thinking about the Elgin Marbles. Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art and Law, 2nd ed., 2463. Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2009.Google Scholar
Merryman, . “Thinking about the Sevso Treasure.” In The Futures of Our Pasts, edited by Adler, Michael A. and Bruning, Susan Benton, 5166. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Merryman, . “Two Ways of Thinking about Cultural Property.” American Journal of International Law, 80 (1986): 831–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merryman, John Henry, Elsen, Albert, and Urice, Stephen K.. Law Ethics and the Visual Arts, 5th ed.The Netherlands: Kluwer Law, 2007.Google Scholar
Risser, Erik, and Saunders, David. The Restoration of Ancient Bronzes: Naples and Beyond. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. http://www.getty.edu/museum/symposia/restoring_bronzes/index.html (2013; accessed 16 July 2014).Google Scholar
Rose, C. Brian. “Beyond the UNESCO Convention: the Case of the Troy Gold in the Penn Museum.” Unpublished paper delivered at Restitution and Repatriation: The Return of Cultural Objects symposium, DePaul University, Chicago, 14 November 2013.Google Scholar
Seligman, Thomas K. “The Murals of Teotihuacán: A Case Study of Negotiated Restitution.” In The Ethics of Collecting: Whose Culture? Whose Property?, 2nd ed., edited by Messenger, Phyllis Mauch, 7384. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Velioglu, Ece, Bandle, Anne Laure, and Renold, Marc-André. “Case Troy Gold—Turkey and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,” Platform ArThemis (http://unige.ch/art-adr), Art-Law Center, University of Geneva.Google Scholar