Call for papers
THE HISTORIES OF LOANS :
MEMORIES AND CHALLENGES OF MUSEUM LOANS
Paris, Ecole du Louvre, 28-29 September 2017
International symposium
Since the end of the 19th century, the expansion of temporary exhibitions has determined the emergence of an international system for museums, based on the circulation of artworks and objects. For museums, sharing pieces from their collection has become crucial to ensure that they in turn get the loans they need to organise their own exhibitions. Lending artworks to prestigious institutions, particularly foreign ones, also enables curators to guarantee a heightened visibility to their own collections. Where to exhibit, how often, and which pieces can be obtained from which partners: nowadays, these are the fundamental criteria of a museum’s positioning within the international hierarchy of cultural heritage prestige. But loan policy does simply affect an institution’s image: it acts directly on the definition of the objects. The acceptation or refusal of a loan is the result of complex transactions, formulated or not, during which the value of an artwork is negotiated and reviewed. It also reflects the importance and rank of institutions, sometimes even of towns and nations.
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