Transparency at the Metropolitan Museum: Documenting the Provenance of a Great Collection

How does a museum reckon with its legacy and move towards more ethical approaches to collecting? Join Lucian Simmons as he discusses his role as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Head of Provenance Research and the museum’s cultural property initiatives in the context of ancient art and cultures across the globe.

This program is offered through the annual Nancy S. & Peter O. Brown Guest Lectureship in the Art & Architecture of Ancient Civilizations.

About the Presenter
Lucian Simmons is the Head of Provenance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and leads the Museum’s cultural property initiatives and provenance research team. Simmons qualified as a lawyer in England in 1984 and was a partner at the London solicitor’s practice of Barlow, Lyde and Gilbert where he specialized in litigation arising from legal malpractice and white-collar crime.

Before joining the Met, Simmons was Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s North America and a Senior Specialist in Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department. He founded Sotheby’s provenance research and restitution department in 1997 and was instrumental in resolving legal and ethical claims against artworks that subsequently sold for an aggregate in excess of $1.2 billion. Simmons also played a key role in introducing Sotheby’s compliance and due diligence programs relating to cultural property.

He worked extensively with art collectors throughout North America and Europe, predominantly in the Contemporary and Modern fields. He has spoken widely on art market issues and in particular on the displacement of art during WWII. He has given many interviews on the aftermath of art spoliation in WWII on TV and radio and has appeared in several documentary films. Simmons regularly gives seminars at universities and law schools across North America and has contributed to several books and periodicals. He also speaks on the history of collecting, ceramics, Rococo enamels, and art history.

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