Provenance: An Alternate History of Art: Issues & Debates

Provenance: An Alternate History of Art offers a broad perspective that ranges from ancient archaeology to conceptual art, that encompasses Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and considers a variety of media. The essays demonstrate in myriad ways how an owner’s relationship with a work of art or, in varying degrees, with the object’s previous owners, can change irrevocably the way the work will be perceived and understood by future generations. 

Limiting the scope of provenance to only the highly charged context of international legal custody battles or the painstakingly researched lists of names and dates in archives and catalogs is entirely insufficient to the richness of the subject. By considering provenance in its critical and theoretical dimensions, this volume endeavors to integrate this alternate narrative into art history.