The Work of Objects—Art Museums and the Legacies of the Dutch Slave Trade (Part 4)
“The Work of Objects: Interpretation Within and Beyond Museum Walls” is the fourth session of “Art Museums and the Legacies of the Dutch Slave Trade: Curating Histories, Envisioning Futures,” presented by the Center for Netherlandish Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Harvard Art Museums, and Harvard University’s Department of History of Art and Architecture. This four-part program explores efforts by art museums to deploy their spaces and their collections—which are often enmeshed with colonialism and exploitation—to present more complete narratives of and perspectives on slavery and its legacies.
This session includes brief talks, followed by a roundtable discussion, by academics and museum professionals who focus on Dutch and American art and history. Speakers will discuss specific objects—ranging from the 17th to the 21st century—that have posed interpretive and museological challenges. They will also present new possibilities for considering the relationship between slavery’s past and present-day racial injustice.
SPEAKERS:
Ana Lucia Araujo, Full Professor and Associate Chair, Department of History, Howard University;
Makeda Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Harvard Art Museums;
Justin Brown, Ph.D. candidate, Department of the History of Art, Yale University;
Nancy Jouwe, Chairwoman, BAK (basis voor actuele kunst) Supervisory Board, Utrecht; co-founder, Framer Framed; and co-founder, Mapping Slavery;
Imara Limon, Curator, Amsterdam Museum;
Adam Tessier, Barbara and Theodore Alfond Director of Interpretation, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
Lea van der Vinde, Curator, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis;
Introductions by Rachel Burke, Ph.D. candidate, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University;
Closing Remarks by Joanna Sheers Seidenstein, Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Curatorial Fellow, Harvard Art Museums.
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TAKE A CLOSER LOOK:
Watch the full series of videos from “Art Museums and the Legacies of the Dutch Slave Trade: Curating Histories, Envisioning Futures:” • Art Museums and the Legacies of the D... .
Calabash bowl, Surinamese, before 1831. Carved calabash rind encrusted with white clay. Völkerkundemuseum Herrnhut, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 66395, Johanna Funke: https://skd-online-collection.skd.mus...
Read article “Slave Collars Found,” Expresso (27 March 2017): https://expresso.pt/sociedade/2017-03....
Andrew Joseph Russell, “Commissary Department, Alexandria, Slave Pen, Fort Ellsworth, Seminary Hospital, Camps &c., in distance, No. 119,” 1865. Albumen silver print. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, 2018.234: https://hvrd.art/o/362540.
Learn more about Mapping Slavery: https://mappingslavery.nl/en/
Exhibition—“Natasja Kensmil at the Amsterdam Museum”: https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en/exh....
Osias Beert, “Still Life with Various Vessels on a Table,” c. 1610. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, L-R 317.2017. https://bit.ly/3lxOsFJ
Frans Post, “View of Itamaracá Island in Brazil,” 1637. Oil on canvas. Mauritshuis, The Hague (on long term loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam): https://bit.ly/3ip4NKM.
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Recorded April 23, 2021. © President and Fellows of Harvard College. For questions related to permission for commercial use of this video, please contact the Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources at [email protected].
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