Study

This seminar focuses on ways in which ownership history, or provenance, matters for works of visual art and other things that bear cultural significance. In figurative terminology, for any object its provenance constitutes a portion of its biography. Of obvious salience in the wake of theft, however defined, provenance can also bear on determining whether an object is an authentic instance of what it is represented to be. Provenance also matters to an object’s broader cultural or historical significance. Issues implicating provenance often turn on the law but often also on practices and norms that typify art museums. Provenance is a substantial consideration within the realm of art markets and their characteristic intermediaries (auction houses and dealers). This seminar complements Art Law, but Art Law is not a prerequisite.