The international controversy over who "owns" antiquities has pitted museums against archaeologists and source countries where ancient artifacts are found. In his book Who Owns Antiquity?, James Cuno argued that antiquities are the cultural property of humankind, not of the countries that lay exclusive claim to them. Now in Whose Culture?, Cuno assembles preeminent museum directors, curators, and scholars to explain for themselves what's at stake in this struggle--and why the museums' critics couldn't be more wrong. Source countries and archaeologists favor tough cultural property laws restricting the export of antiquities, have fought for the return of artifacts from museums worldwide, and claim the acquisition of undocumented antiquities encourages looting of archaeological sites. In Whose Culture?, leading figures from universities and museums in the United States and Britain argue that modern nation-states have at best a dubious connection with the ancient cultures they claim to represent, and that archaeology has been misused by nationalistic identity politics. They explain why exhibition is essential to responsible acquisitions, why our shared art heritage trumps nationalist agendas, why restrictive cultural property laws put antiquities at risk from unstable governments--and more. Defending the principles of art as the legacy of all humankind and museums as instruments of inquiry and tolerance, Whose Culture? brings reasoned argument to an issue that for too long has been distorted by politics and emotionalism. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Kwame Anthony Appiah, Sir John Boardman, Michael F. Brown, Derek Gillman, Neil MacGregor, John Henry Merryman, Philippe de Montebello, David I. Owen, and James C. Y. Watt.

Product Description: The concept of an encyclopedic museum was born of the Enlightenment, a manifestation of society’s growing belief that the spread of knowledge and the promotion of intellectual inquiry were crucial to human development and the future of a rational society...read more

Product Description: The Swami Vivekananda's speech to the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 is the centerpiece of Indian artist Jitish Kallat's new work, Public Notice 3. The installation went on view at the Art Institute of Chicago on September 11, 2010, exactly 108 years after Vivekananda delivered his groundbreaking address calling for an end to "bigotry and fanaticism...read more

Product Description: Whether antiquities should be returned to the countries where they were found is one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the art world today, and it has pitted museums, private collectors, and dealers against source countries, archaeologists, and academics...read more

Product Description: One of the world's foremost collections of Latin American abstract art, the Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros features works from Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay by Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Helio Oiticica and Jesus Soto, among many others.

Product Description: Donna and Howard Stone, two of Chicago’s premier art patrons, have collected works of art in all media for more than 30 years, building one of the most distinguished private collections of contemporary art in the country. Much of what they have acquired relates to advanced Minimalism and Conceptualism in the art of the 1960s and 1970s, and the various kinds of artistic practices that these movements inspired in contemporary art...read more

Product Description: This revised, expanded, and redesigned edition of a best-selling book from the Art Institute of Chicago features many favorite paintings from the collection—approximately 150 works from Europe and the Americas, ranging from the 15th to the early 21st century...read more

Product Description: Two important collections of Rubens’ oil sketches and drawings are brought together in this revealing look at the artist’s inspiration, technique, and place in history. The Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens created a breathtaking body of work, which included many altarpieces, murals, and triptychs commissioned by wealthy patrons...read more