Investing in art

Editorial
Stabroek News
July 30, 2000


Many years ago an exhibition was mounted in the British Museum in London called 'The Gold of El Dorado'. On account of Walter Ralegh's feverish fantasies we have all got into the bad habit of thinking that El Dorado is associated only with Guyana, but in fact this is not so; the gilded one's name has been linked with different parts of the continent at one period or another. For a long time now, however, it has been known that the real El Dorado lived in Colombia near Lake Guatavita, and this exhibition was about the gold of the real El Dorado. For the first time in Britain, people could see the artistry of the goldworkers of the Muisca and other peoples, most of whose material heritage was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors.

Aside from the stunning workmanship of the tumbaga items on display, what was interesting about the exhibition was that the pieces were owned, not by a museum, but by the National Bank of Colombia. This institution over an extended time-frame had scoured the country for pre-Columbian gold artefacts - made of a gold-copper alloy, really - which had survived the depredations which the conquest brought in its train. The priceless collection, while valued in the millions, represents above all else an investment in the history, traditions and culture of the Colombian people.

In our corner of the globe we are apt to believe that preserving the artistic heritage is not the business of banks (national or otherwise) but of the Government directly, usually in the form of the Ministry of Culture. Museums, archives and now Castellani House - our first art gallery and the great cultural achievement of this administration - all come under the umbrella of one ministry or the other, and all are funded from the public treasury. In a country in as parlous an economic state as this one is, it means that cultural institutions are underfunded, usually seriously so.

Private collections of art, in particular, have played a great role in other societies in not just preserving the artistic tradition of a people, but in encouraging its development, and there is no reason why here too private collectors should not be encouraged. There are few individual connoisseurs, of course, who have enough money to invest in art, but there is no reason why our largest commercial enterprises could not think of doing so.

At one time, an enterprising bank manager of the National Bank of Industry and Commerce with an aesthetic eye purchased art works on a substantial scale, although not always, perhaps, very discriminatingly. Done with advice and discretion, a bank, for example, could build up a valuable collection. Such an investment could appreciate dramatically over the long term, and would at the same time represent a cultural asset for the nation. More especially a company could set out to repatriate historical works of art relating to this country which come on the international market from time to time. Once a collection has been built up, it could go on public display periodically, adding to the prestige of the firm which owns it.

The concept is not restricted to art alone; it could be extended to include historical artefacts of one kind or another, among other things, the proviso being that a collection should always be properly and professionally managed and conserved.

The soul of a nation resides in its culture and in its arts. And these are surely not the business of Government alone. Has not the time come, perhaps, for the larger players in the business sector to consider the kind of investment which not only makes financial sense, but which makes cultural sense as well?


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