"In a very rare and likely precedent-setting agreement, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston has agreed to return two works from 1857 by the Black potter David Drake (around 1800-around 1870), who made his ambitious jars while enslaved, to his present-day descendants. "In achieving this resolution, the MFA recognises that Drake was deprived of his creations involuntarily and without compensation," a museum spokesperson said in a statement."
""We've become very expert in Holocaust restitution. We're dealing with [repatriation] issues in our African collections and Native American collections," he says. "And we want to bring the same standard to the fullness of our collection." He considers Drake's work an example of "stolen property" too, "since the artist is always the first owner of his work and he never got to make the call about where it went"
MFA Boston agreed to return two 1857 jars made by the Black potter David Drake while enslaved to his present-day descendants. The museum recognised that Drake was involuntarily deprived of his creations and received no compensation. The settlement represents the museum's first resolution of an ownership claim for works wrongfully taken under 19th-century US slavery. The descendants' lawyer described the agreement as groundbreaking for applying ethical restitution principles to artwork created by enslaved Americans. MFA officials referenced lessons from Holocaust restitution and repatriation work in African and Native American collections and characterised Drake's signed work as stolen property.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]