The California fires have left the world in a state of shock and despair as countless people have lost their homes and their valuables. Given the number of high net-worth individuals who have their palatial homes in the area, it comes as no surprise that there are also priceless works of art that have been turned to smithereens as a result of the devastation.
In the last few decades, human beings are equally to blame for disasters such as forest fires and earthquakes. Climate change, rapid and unplanned development for example have certainly played the role of a catalyst as a growing number of catastrophic disasters are being recorded in quick succession. But the impermanence of material culture is a sad reality which religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism have been preaching for centuries now.
Even Japanese art celebrates the transient nature of life, making us question the building of borders, the concept of a home and the true meaning of materialism and identity. This is one of the reasons why it is of great importance to document and archive. When art is documented there is a record for an art historian or conservator to trace the work, the artist, even if the work itself ceases to exist.
In a workshop with Erroll Pires, a retired National Institute of Design professor I asked him why he was gifting his ornate and intricate ply split-braided works of art to a museum rather than allowing collectors to purchase it. He spoke about the work being larger than him and the infrastructure as well as the certainty of a museum to look after a work rather than an individual.
After the discovery of the Ajanta Cave complex in 1819, several attempts have been made to document the fading paintings inside them recognising their impermanence but importance as historic masterpieces. Major Robert Gill, in 1844, was commissioned to create a comprehensive documentation of these works. But when most of Gill’s paintings were lost to a fire in 1866, Sir John Griffiths (who was also at one point the Principal of Sir JJ College of Art, Mumbai) and seven Indian students from the Bombay School of Art, spent every winter from 1872 to 1885 producing over 300 detailed paintings. Majority of these works are undocumented in locations unknown. There is also little published on Sir Griffith and his contributions to Modernism in India.
The many gaps in art history fuelled by tragic disasters. In 2015, when an earthquake devastated Nepal, cultural and natural heritage was damaged and lost with over 600 historic buildings heavily affected. UNESCO and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are till date restoring the aftermath of an earthquake that took place nine years ago.
Salvaging and inventorying art, cultural heritage is of great importance for numerous reasons ranging from the historic importance of an object to the national or religious significance of a monument. However, the result of many disasters can be just as stark as, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
The Los Angeles fires are yet another tragedy with the loss of countless art from private homes to museums. Ron Rivlin’s collection of art, lost in the fire, included over 200 works by celebrated artists such as Keith Haring, John Baldessari and Damien Hirst. His collection of Andy Warhol included an iconic set of 30 works, which sadly will never be seen again. The only option at that tragic stage is to surrender and mourn the loss.
Similarly, as thousands of historic landmarks have been razed and art collections lost, music compositions such as American-Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg’s music archive of 100,000 scores has also been destroyed. While most high net-worth art is insured by individuals as well as institutions, private collectors are more vulnerable to losing treasured works for the lack of resources a person will have in comparison to an organisation. The Getty Center for example, is built out of stone which is fire resistant and protected steel keeping in mind the possibility of calamities such as this.
However, in either case, can the monetary value ever quantify the historic or emotional value of art?