Names transform beings like things. Montreal painter Edwin Holgate (1892-1977) painted an oil-on-wood portrait of a West Indian woman in 1929 and titled it Young coolie girl, Jamaica. In his day, the term “coolie” referred to an exploited field or city worker, often of Asian origin.
The pejorative appellation posed a problem when it came time to exhibit the work in a recent new deployment of the permanent collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec (MNBAQ), where the portrait has been located roughly since its creation.
“We added a label to explain the origin of the term ‘coolie’, its degrading meaning, but also its reappropriation by certain people of Indo-Pakistani origin in recent years,” says Anne-Marie Bouchard, art curator. modern at the MNBAQ. “We don’t erase anything, we don’t forget anything, we just offer an additional perspective. »
The museological conundrum of the names of the works resurfaced in the news this week when the National Gallery in London announced that it was renaming Ukrainian dancers a pastel work by Degas (1834-1917) known for more than a century under the title Russian dancers. The choice was justified by the index of blue and yellow ribbons, the colors of the flag of Ukraine, invaded and ravaged by Russia.
“This type of correction makes it possible to link a work that has a very strong historical value with current events,” says Marie Fraser, professor in the Department of Art History at UQAM. I don’t see it just as a corrective exercise. I also see it as a way of positioning oneself politically in relation to the war. »
A transvestite and Innus
The curator of the MNBAQ stresses the need to proceed on a case-by-case basis, without preconceived ideas. “Because each case deserves reflection and verification,” she says. She explains that she regularly corrects errors in location, identity, documentation, a practice also highlighted at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
“But the title changes have become potentially polarizing, because they are not always intended to correct a fact, but also sometimes to repair what is perceived, today, as an impropriety, even an injustice, adds Mr.me Bouchard. There is a thin line between the two, hence the impossibility of having an overall posture that applies to all shots. »
With the Holgate, two other recent cases seem particularly enlightening with regard to new ways of doing things.
The first case concerns a photograph from the 1960s of Gaby (Gabriel Desmarais) which represents A transvestite from Montreal, according to the original name. A visitor pointed out that this term was no longer in vogue and considered pejorative. “After research, including in gender studies, I saw that the term was widely used, says Ms.me Bouchard. We decided not to change the title, among other things to not change the intention of the artist. When you erase a title, you also erase the testimony of an era. »
The second case is a photo of the people of Liver which refers to “a camp of Montagnais”, a now decried colonial term. As this title was inscribed on the print, the curator added a clarification on the label explaining that the nation represented now refers to itself as Innu. “You have to balance between the awareness that certain titles constitute microaggressions and, at the same time, the obligation not to erase the old vision of history and society. A change of title can be an opportunity to remind the public that the vision of the works is changing. »
Decolonize the museum
Professor Fraser links revision practices to the broader agenda of museum decolonization. This perspective criticizes the representation of cultural and indigenous communities in collections and exhibitions, but also the relationship to the past and to the founding myths of a society.
She gives the example of the Musée d’Orsay, which organized The black model from Géricault to Matissean exhibition on black figures in the visual arts since the first abolition of slavery in the French Republic, in 1794.
“When installing the labels, the museologists realized that there were a lot of offensive, racist and inappropriate terms to designate the works, describe them or situate them historically,” says Ms.me Fraser. A great work of correction was therefore carried out, in particular by the art historian Anne Lafont, holder of a master’s degree from UQAM.
Current revisions go beyond insulting titles. For example, museologists are trying to name certain models so as to no longer be content with anonymous titles such as “A Seated Woman”. Mme Fraser points out that this approach could have complemented the work of the National Gallery concerning the Degas. This kind of historiographical investigation can also modify the vision of the history of art, always dominated by male painters and unknown female models.
Museums and archives in Canada are obviously very sensitive to this question of the decolonization of their collections and their exhibitions. The Art Gallery of Ontario began the revision in 2018 by removing the word “Indian” from the title of a canvas painted by Emily Carr. The National Collections in Dresden have changed the titles of 143 works since 2020 (to eliminate n-words, in particular), and the approach has been described by some as institutional wokism.
“For me, museums are doing very important critical work,” says Marie Fraser, holder of the Research Chair in Curatorial Studies and Practices. Students in graduate programs are very sensitive to these issues of inclusion, equity and diversity. Future museologists wonder how to transform the museum, decolonize it, when as an institution, the museum is anchored in colonial history. »