FORUM
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The Forum is an opportunity for readers to interact with the magazine on the major issues confronting the tribal arts community. To participate in an ongoing discussion of these and other topics, go to the Letters section.
The Editorial of our Spring 1996 issue.
Viewpoints on the patrimony of the artistic heritage of the past are as varied as is interest in the field. National and international museums, private art collectors and entrepreneurs, and scholarly and popular art publications each have different priorities with regard to the arts of the ancient and traditional cultures of the world, but they share a common quality: all provide awareness of the arts outside the original context of the material. Such awareness can lead to an appreciation of the art and the cultures that produced it. The same awareness can support a desire to possess the art.
The recent issue of African Arts magazine devoted to the theme of "Protecting Mali's Cultural Heritage" (Autumn 1995) was a laudable endeavor to explore the dilemma faced by Mali as it seeks to deter the destruction of its archaeological sites and other components of its cultural patrimony. Guest editor Patrick McNaughton and his colleagues gathered articles expressing the diverse viewpoints of archaeologists, museum professionals, lawyers, art historians, art dealers and others, and many of the discussions have a relevance that goes far beyond Mali's borders to other beleaguered areas of the world that currently receive less attention.
Throughout the magazine, the question of the display, publication, and sale of unprovenanced material surfaced repeatedly, but there was no consensus as to appropriate solutions. This is hardly surprising given the complexity of the problem and the diversity of the authors. The suggestion of simply refusing to publish or acknowledge unprovenanced material is one that often occurs in such discussions. Whether motivated by issues of ethics, authenticity, or historical veracity, this posture disregards the merit and power of the conflicting interests that are the real issue, and by implication diminishes the importance of much of the ancient and traditional artistic heritage that survives in the world.
The objects themselves exist. They are of value as works of art and as evidence of earlier peoples and cultures. Our potential for knowledge of these cultures has been compromised by the illicit plundering of their material remains, but it is even further reduced if we decline to acknowledge the material that these activities have brought to light.
The retail market for ancient and tribal art is a reality of the world we live in. It has serious implications for countries like Mali, but it is only one link in a complex chain of circumstances that brings an object out of the ground and into the decontextualized circumstance of a private or public art collection. It can and generally does function ethically, but it must respond to the commercial immediacies it faces. Ultimately, the art market is an extension of the nearly universal human appreciation of the beautiful, the rare, and the exotic.
Artifacts provably removed from their source by illegal means must be regarded as stolen property and be treated accordingly. Those for which there is no certain assignation, however, should not be condemned out of hand. Rather they should be allowed the respect merited by their age, cultural significance, and artistic beauty.
There is no simple solution for countries rich in cultural property but limited in other material resources. Regretting or ignoring the existence of unprovenanced objects will not reduce the appreciation or desirability of the art. Knowledge of and respect for the relevant issues rather than the suppression of existing material will advance us toward the goal of deterring the destruction of archaeological sites, curbing the theft of cultural property, and aiding fragile cultures now at risk.
-Jonathan Fogel