Who Owns the Past?: UTSA & SAMA Provenance Project
Last spring, students in UTSA Professor Jessica Nowlin’s class “Who Owns the Past? Monuments and Cultural Heritage in the Mediterranean” had the opportunity to explore the modern history, or provenance, of works in SAMA’s Ancient Mediterranean collection.
Portrait of Marcus Aurelius, Roman, ca. 140-150, Marble, height: 94 7/8 in. (241 cm), width (plinth): 32 1/2 in. (82.6 cm), depth (plinth): 26 3/8 in. (67 cm), Gift of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., 85.136.
As part of a collaboration between Jessica Nowlin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Classics at UTSA, and SAMA's curators, the students created interactive StoryMaps outlining the history of works in the Museum’s and biographies of some of their former owners are now available through the Museum’s website. Each artwork has a webpage detailing its history, from its place of origin or discovery to its present home at the San Antonio Museum of Art.
Twenty-four students completed final projects on objects or collectors with help and feedback from Lynley McAlpine, Associate Curator of Provenance Research at SAMA, and Jessica Powers, SAMA’s Chief Curator and The Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., Curator of Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World.
Statue of Sekhmet, Egyptian, ca. 1390-1352 B.C. , Granodiorite, h. 71 in. (180.3 cm); w. 21 in. (53.3 cm); d. 40 in. (101.6 cm), Bequest of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., 2005.1.28
When asked what she hopes people can take away from exploring these StoryMaps, Nowlin replied, “I hope that the public will start to think more about how these ancient artifacts from the Mediterranean came to be displayed here in San Antonio, Texas.”
“Each object within SAMA’s collection has a unique biography of its own, with different people and institutions acquiring the object for different reasons. Each time these objects changed hands, it tells us something about how these ancient objects continued to resonate with modern people in different ways,” Nowlin said. “ I hope visitors see these objects not only as important for showing us how people lived in the past, but also for showing us how people today relate to history and tell certain stories about the past.”
Griffin Attachment from a Cauldron, Archaic period, ca. 650-620 B.C., Bronze, h. 7 11/16 in. (19.5 cm); w. 2 13/16 in. (7.2 cm); d. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm), San Antonio Museum of Art, Purchased with the Grace Fortner Rider Fund, 2012.37.
Nowlin said the students were thrilled to be able to work with objects in SAMA’s collections which they have been visiting as part of their coursework.
“Many of these students are hoping to enter into careers in cultural heritage, so doing a hands-on project like this was helpful for them to see the kinds of work they might get a chance to do in their future professions,” she said.
