Last September, the Prado Museum released a list of 25 works in its collection. plundered during Civil war and Francoismand among them are paintings of Rubens, Sorolla or Brueghel the Younger. Currently only a preliminary list, but as with artifacts taken from Jews during the Nazism period in various European museums, the Prado aims to remove any shadow of doubt about the origin of your collection and heal old wounds.
Another info: Last December, the Madrid art gallery had a premiere. New exhibition route titled ‘El Prado most feminine’aimed to honor patrons (women) who promoted, collected and inspired some of the most emblematic works of art from the 15th to the 17th centuries. It is not known whose claim is fundamental.
These are just two, but very related, examples. paradigm shift of major international museums: Review your past, old sins and repair historical debts. In weight institutions british museumFor example, the debate about reparations goes back a long way because Greece has spent decades seeking reparations. marbles and statues from the Parthenon in Athens taken during the colonial periodto the point where the question is unavoidable: What would happen to the great European museums if they started returning works of art looted in the past to their own countries?
As we said, Prado has also undergone changes in its policy regarding the ties of some of its work. the Francoism and low female presence in the museum, which started new routes of a feminist nature. Rethinking and restructuring our recent past and closing old wounds or repairing historical injustices regarding the role of women in the art world are now on the museum’s agenda.
The museum inaugurated a new route in December,’Feminine Prado’ valuing the large number of bosses (women) who helped create their time and became key figures when it came to serving as business He mediated with artists for several centuries, from the XV to the XVI. Among them we find Mary of Hungary and Isabel Clara Eugenia, Rubens, Titian, Brueghel the Elder, or Bartolomé González, who, after the death of their husbands, used their position and political, social and economic influence to create two of the most important art collections of the Renaissance. It’s a different feeling thanks to this new arrangement.
Prado spent some time trying to value women by placing them in their rightful place in their rooms. Clara Peeters, Sofonisba Anguissola or Artemisa Gentileschi. However, there are some issues that are slowly being resolved, such as the macho treatment included in many of the cartridges that accompany the images.
Thanks to this new structure, some of them, as cited, have been revised. The ugliness of Mary Tudor Derogatory or secondary elements in a portrait of Antonio Moro or “his wife” to lower the dignity and independence of women relative to men.
Another of the hot spots that marked this turbulent year was Artifacts seized during the Franco regime and the Civil War and looking for its true owners. The Museo del Prado has published a list of works found in its relics but with these characteristics. there is still no inventory that clarifies its origin, Therefore, the task of returning looted families is expected to be complex. Some, like the descendants of Basque businessman Ramón de la Sota y Llano, who found and saved several artifacts that belonged to him before the war began and were taken from him by the regime, initiated the procedures on their own. because they have nationalistic tendencies.
The enormous number is hard to keep track of. personal property extracted during the dictatorship. The fact that some artifacts are found in churches, inns or private collections makes it difficult to track them. Currently, new cases continue to emerge, such as that of Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz., his father was a politician in the Second Republic and had to go into exile.
Prado appointed a curator to investigate the origin and possible return of artifacts that may have remained in the museum against the will of their owners during the Civil War and the Franco regime. Arturo Colorado. for now they 62 studies identified beneficiaries await their return.
Since the 19th century, Greece demands return of Parthenon statues Artifacts on display at the British Museum in London have always stood out on this intricate subject. In any case, and since 2021 the business has appointed a commission analyze its extensive collection and examine the origins of those claimed by other countries or associated with vile practices such as slavery. And, as ‘The Guardian’ reported on Thursday, the museum confirmed its conduct for the first time. “Constructive talks” with Greece For the return of some of the Parthenon marbles. Thus, for an absolutely complex substance, some light appears for a moment.
Each country approaches the debate in a different way. in 2020 France returned 27 units Art to Benin and Senegal. Y The Netherlands has promised to return a number of artifacts from their colonies. And Spain? It’s not a country with a huge art backdrop from loot, but it has also received claims like Colombia has been running since 2017 to restore art. Pre-Columbian treasure in QuimbayaIt is on display at the Museum of America in Madrid.
The ethics of large donations
Public pressure and unexpected circumstances such as the outbreak of war in Ukraine forced museums and other cultural institutions to reconsider history. acceptability of certain donations. In England, 2022 will be remembered as the year the new Princess of Wales is her current boss, when Victoria and Albert finally had to give up after long resistance and announcement. Withdrawal of name of Sacklers, family of drug group amid opioid scandalIn his ‘courtyard’ and Art Education Center.
In the United Kingdom, the National Gallery and British Museum have cut ties with the name of the drug group, which has been linked to 500,000 deaths worldwide due to addiction to the opiates found in OxyContin pills, which are sold without warning of the drug’s addictive properties. just keeps Arthur Sackler Museum at Harvard UniversityIt still bears the name of its founder, who died in 1987, who financed its construction and donated more than a thousand objects to the collection.
‘London’ under review
The war in Ukraine also ignited the United States. The philanthropy debate in the art world in 2022. When the Russian invasion began on February 24, community of oligarchs Having settled in the British capital after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of the ‘London’ billionaires generously preserved cultural institutions in Britain.
was in this situation Viktor Vekselberg, a partner of Vladimir Putin, who was quietly removed from the prestigious fundraising body, the Tate Foundation, of which he is an honorary member. Another Russian oligarch, Leonid Mikhelson, also donated to Tate through the VAC foundation until 2018. His daughter Victoria was even a member of the very elite International Council of the institution.