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- Title
Les arts précolombiens au Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.
- Authors
HUBERT, ERELL; PIMENTEL, VICTOR
- Abstract
Adopting an anthropological approach to collections, this article situates the pre-Columbian collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts within its historical and social context. Numbering over 1, 150 objects produced by more than fifty different Latin American cultures, the MMFA's collection of pre-Hispanic works of art is one of the largest in Canada. Close to a century of acquisitions led to its current composition, and it therefore offers a unique window onto collecting practices in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Several curators, donors, and art dealers had a major impact on its creation and development. These individuals, far from being neutral, were-and continue to be-influenced by their social, political, and economic context, by their personal and professional networks, and by their own personal interests. Punctuated by great periods of acquisitions, the history of the pre-Columbian collection of the MMFA is inseparable from Montreal's history and from the transformation of the art market. The present contextualization of the collection is part of a larger effort to reassert the value of this exceptional group of objects and to heighten public awareness of the importance of protecting cultural heritage by working toward greater transparency by museums regarding the origins of the works they harbour.
- Subjects
CANADA; PRE-Columbian art; MONTREAL Museum of Fine Arts; MUSEUM acquisitions; BONDIL, Nathalie; MORGAN, Frederick Cleveland; ROSSHANDLER, Leo; BENJAMIN, Gerald; ART museums; ROYAL Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ont.); ART associations; HISTORY
- Publication
RACAR: Canadian Art Review / Revue d'art Canadienne, 2013, Vol 38, Issue 2, p7
- ISSN
0315-9906
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7202/1020791ar