The Denver Art Museum curatorial, collection, and provenance research staff work daily to research, preserve, and refine the global art collections in their care. The museum and the staff are committed to both transparency and accuracy, as well as the museum’s core values, which include respect and inclusivity.
The DAM posts online a selection of its permanent collections. This resource began as the “top 100” highlights for each collection at the museum. Currently, the museum is home to more than 70,000 artworks in its permanent collections, and about 10 percent of artworks in the DAM’s permanent collection are now posted online, with staff digitizing and posting additional works regularly to expand this resource. Recognizing the public interest in its collections, the museum has invested heavily in this work, including launching a Department of Provenance Research and two new full-time positions to focus on researching provenance, securing photography, and posting provenance information for pieces added online.
When an object is formally removed from the museum’s collection, that process is called deaccessioning and is a standard museum practice to refine and shape collections. The museum publicly posts its collection policies online, which include specific processes for how artworks are removed from permanent collections. Objects may be removed from the collection for a number of reasons—including redundancy, quality, a better representation of that artist or style is acquired, or the work no longer fits with the museum’s collecting focus for that department. When an object is deaccessioned from the museum’s collection, it is removed from the online listings if it was posted previously, as the scope of the online collection is to highlight objects in the museum’s permanent holdings. The museum is committed to providing accurate information to the public, and staff members are available to answer questions regarding permanent or deaccessioned artworks.
Another reason an artwork is deaccessioned is if it is found to belong to another individual or nation based on provenance research (which focuses on an artwork’s history of ownership) or new facts that may not have been available when the object was acquired. The number of repatriations is much smaller than the number of overall deaccessions. New facts can be the result of the museum’s own research, which includes accessing online databases or archives, collaboration with international researchers, or government documentation. Sometimes new facts are provided by outside parties. All facts are reviewed to ensure accuracy. If evidence confirms an artwork does not belong to the museum, the artwork will be restituted (the process of returning a piece to an individual owner) or repatriated (the process of returning a piece to a nation or people of origin). The museum is committed to confirming details related to an artwork to ensure works are returned to their rightful owners.
In September 2022, the DAM created its department of Provenance Research to expand its resources and investment into this ongoing work. In January 2023, the museum expanded the provenance research information available to the public with a new Provenance Research page, which includes museum collecting policies, the areas of research focus, repatriations, and updates. Our process since the creation of the Provenance Research department has been to post repatriation announcements on the museum’s press and provenance pages. Recent returns associated with donors and collectors later found to be engaged in the illicit art trade—including Emma Bunker, Douglas Latchford and Subhash Kapoor—are all reflected and publicly accessible. Returned objects appear on the Provenance Research page. The museum’s work in this area is in alignment with best practices and guidelines in the field.
At this time, the museum’s focus is on adding more works and provenance histories for works on its online collection postings, including artworks from nations of origin known to have experienced war, civil unrest, and potential looting. These countries are a focus because in many cases, the unrest resulted in cultural patrimony ending up in world museums. Currently, the team is in the process of adding all artworks from Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam online for public viewing.
Community members with questions about artworks in the museum’s collections, artworks deaccessioned from the museum’s collection, or repatriation queries are welcome to contact the museum to request the known provenance facts, or to provide new facts. The DAM is committed to ethical collecting practices and responds to all queries from government officials, scholars, the public, and media about its collections. If you have questions or feedback about the DAM’s collections or information appearing on the website, please contact pressoffice@denverartmuseum.org or provenance@denverartmuseum.org.
