Objects of our heritage are not consumer goods
Purists in the French art world are outraged that the Louvre has signed a multimillion-pound deal to rent the Louvre name, art treasures and expertise to a new museum to be built in Abu Dhabi.
“Museums are not for sale,” proclaimed the headline of an opinion article in Le Monde on Dec. 13 signed by three heavyweights of the French art world, including Françoise Cachin, former director of French museums. From a moral point of view,” the authors wrote, “one can only be shocked by the commercial and promotional use of masterpieces of our national heritage.” France should lend works of art, they said, but without charge.
Is this, as critics suggest, tantamount to ‘cultural prostitution?’ Or should museums be adopting a more entrepreneurial, self-promotional role in the face of globalization?
This has become a political dispute in France where national museums are government owned and heavily subsidized. However, there is the suspicion that the Louvre is being used as a tool of diplomacy. Critics have accused President Jacques Chirac of using the country’s museums to promote France’s political and commercial interests abroad.
Should museums be used as pawns on the international stage?
Could this situation ever arise in the UK?
To read more go to:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2536280,00.html
Topic posted: 11 January 2007.
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