Courtauld Institute of Art – lecture on “Provenance” given by Hannah Williams for the “Critical Debates” lecture series that is part of the Courtauld MA Program
Abstract: This session focuses on provenance research as both a methodological tool and a critical framework for art history. We will explore debates around provenance to consider how histories of object ownership can illuminate broader questions of power, mobility, and historical context. The lecture will examine provenance research within the collaborative project, Colonial Networks, directed by art historians Hannah Williams and Meredith Martin, which focuses on the collecting practices of eighteenth-century French plantation-owners and the entanglement of Parisian art collections with colonial wealth and slavery. Through case studies, students will explore how provenance reshapes our understanding of museum collections and consider the possibilities and limitations of provenance as a method for writing more critically engaged histories of art.