In April 2024, we were delighted to welcome to Glasgow over a hundred conference delegates from all over the world – including scholars, museum professionals, practising lawyers and community representatives – for From Scotland to the World: two events co-convened by CREATe, The Hunterian and the Institute of Art and Law (the ‘IAL’) which concerned two different areas of gallery and museum practice.
First, over drinks in The Hunterian Art Gallery on Thursday 18th April, we celebrated the collaboration of CREATe, The Hunterian and the IAL in the publication of a Special Issue of the IAL’s journal Art Antiquity and Law: ‘Donor Restrictions on Galleries and Museums’, recently made available for free download. With talks from the guest-editors of the Special Issue, Dr Elena Cooper (Senior Research Fellow, CREATe) and Steph Scholten (Director of The Hunterian, Glasgow) and in the presence of both the journal’s general editor Ruth Redmond-Cooper (IAL Head of Publications, and IAL co-founder) and also one of the contributors to the Issue – the art historian Dr Alicia Hughes – the event invited reflection on the legal, ethical and practical issues raised by restrictions imposed by donors of art works on galleries and museums. For example, The Hunterian, part of the University of Glasgow, holds one of the world’s largest collections of the work of the artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), but many of the works cannot leave the University, due to the restrictions imposed by the donor: Whistler’s executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958).
Photographs by Lukas Powroziewcz
We were delighted that Whistler’s painting Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden (1894-1895) was brought out of store, and displayed in the main gallery space, especially for the talks. The public display of Portrait of Lady Eden – we believe the first time since the late nineteenth century – was a direct result of the interdisciplinary scholarship in the Issue: drawing together insights from art history and legal history, enabled a re-thinking of how Philip’s prohibition on the exhibition of that painting (imposed in the 1930s) should be best interpreted today, so as accurately to reflect Philip’s intentions in a changing legal landscape. This event was funded by the University of Glasgow’s Knowledge Exchange Fund (GKE).
The second event forming part of From Scotland to the World, was a major international conference: Repatriation and Museums, which took place in Kelvin Hall on Friday 19th April, funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant awarded to CREATe (GBP 1 million, 2024-2028). Over 20 speakers from all over the globe – including leading professionals, scholars and practitioners in the fields of museums, heritage and repatriation – addressed a packed-out auditorium on diverse issues relating to the return of artefacts held by museums to communities of origin.
The full programme for From Scotland to the World can be found here. The Special Issue of Art, Antiquity and Law – Donor Restrictions on Galleries and Museums – can be downloaded here. CREATe has launched a conference resource page for ‘Repatriation and Museums’, including recordings of the panels and an extended report. For updates from CREATe, please sign-up here.
