The Ownership of Art

I have an easy art essay, its 3 pages. the requirements are below.

Stolen Art & Artifacts
The next time you’re in a museum, and you see artifacts from Mexico, Africa, Pacific
Islands, Indonesia, Native American, and so on, ask yourself—how did it get from “there”
(the country of origin) to “here”—in this museum? Did the museum buy it from the native
peoples where it is from? In many cases, it was looted/plundered/stolen/ill-acquired by a
colonizing nation. It was common practice for the colonialists to collect souvenirs and
artifacts of this “new” discovery or newly occupied territory. These artifacts were sent
back and displayed in a museum or some other institution. Today it is common practice
for museums to sell their artifacts to other museums or private collectors, who then, after
some amount of time, sell or gift them back to another museum or collector, etc.
Eventually we find ourselves admiring one of those taken-bought-sold-resold-donated-
gifted artifacts and wondering “Is this legitimately here or has it been “laundered” through
the exchange of multiple owners?"

This assignment focuses on these issues as well as the excavation of ancient sites
(sometimes burial grounds).
PART 2 (RESEARCH)
 Images
o You are required to use at least 4 artworks (include: artists, cultures/country,
date) NOT from your textbook as examples throughout your writing. Please
also include the image into the body of your essay, that way your writing will
flow more smoothly. Do not include the images as separate documents.

 Sources
o Use at least 4 sources from the links that I have provided. You may use other
sources; be sure that they are verifiable sites and not blogs or Wikipedia.

1. Examples of antiquities/artworks
This is a brief list of some examples of artworks that are under the banner of "acquired by
questionable means." (You do not have to use these works of art- though they should
serve as inspiration for research. And besides, there’s a ton more where these came
from.)
Examples:
 The Gates of Babylon taken and distributed in museums throughout the world from
Iraq
• Marble reliefs from the Parthenon frieze taken by the British in the late 1700’s
• Native American artifacts, of dubious origin, in museums donated by collectors
• African artifacts from Benin (and countless other places in Colonized Africa)

• Incan Peruvian Art taken by Yale scholar in 1911

Answer Preview……………..

The preservation of artifacts is crucial in maintaining historical records. For this reason and several others, museums are instrumental in conserving history through storing and safeguarding artifacts to ensure that generations of precious and sometimes delicate art are maintained through storage and security. On the other hand, maintaining these records often includes both legal and illegal ways of obtaining the artifacts from the culture to place it in the museum. A dilemma ensues as to whether the museums are justified in taking away stolen art and keeping it. Primarily, my opinion is that as long as the art is legally acquired, museums should be allowed to keep it and conserve it as part of historical records. Colonialist nations cannot legitimately acquire art. A colonialist nation takes over the art in the colonized nation because they control every aspect of governance. Therefore, they take what they feel suits them back to their countries. At the time of colonization, the legal authorities in that country are the colonizers. Therefore, it becomes extremely hard to stop them from………
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