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Year 7

Art, empire and museums: who owns art?

I can explore, research and curate a display showing an understanding of context and history.

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New
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Year 7

Art, empire and museums: who owns art?

I can explore, research and curate a display showing an understanding of context and history.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Museums and galleries have a range of artefacts from around the world and often link to histories of Empire.
  2. Museums are rethinking the ethics behind collections in terms of colonialism.
  3. Some indigenous communities are asking for their artefacts to be given back and this is known as repatriation.
  4. Understanding the original purpose of artefacts is vital as this may differ to how they are shown in museum collections.

Keywords

  • Collection - the gathering of art by a private or public institution

  • Colonisation - the process of a country taking over another

  • Repatriation - when an artwork or artefact is returned to the country of origin

  • Curate - to select artwork and organise art for presentation

Common misconception

All of the artwork held in public institutions within the United Kingdom originates from there.

Some artwork held in the collections of public institutions in the UK were created by civilisations that were colonised by the British Empire.


To help you plan your year 7 art and design lesson on: Art, empire and museums: who owns art?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Do some background research on the artefacts. For Task A, prepare options for different online gallery and museum colletions for the pupils to explore.
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Teacher tip
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Equipment

Pencils, paper or sketch books. Paints or other art materials can also be provided.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
All art is permanent and displayed in a gallery.
True
Correct answer: False
Q2.
Art can make change in the world through changing , actions and policy.
Correct Answer: opinions, attitudes, perspectives, beliefs
Q3.
What is the term given to the form of art based on designed activities on film or confined to a time and place?
Correct Answer: performance, Performance
Q4.
What is the term given to artwork that is made to be purposefully temporary and to change over time?
Correct answer: ephemeral
performance
abstract
representational
Q5.
The of an artwork is the focus, topic or image of an artwork.
Correct Answer: subject, subjects
Q6.
How can abstract art be defined?
Art that depicts a realistic picture of a place, person or object.
Art that only uses black and white to depict a place, person or object.
Correct answer: Art that doesn't depict a recognisable picture of a place, person or object.
Art that is created solely for commercial purposes of places, people or objects.

Exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
What is the official term given to selecting artwork and organising art for presentation?
present
Correct answer: curate
display
show
stage
Q2.
Which of the following statements is correct about museums and galleries?
Museums and galleries do not allow visitors to see the artwork.
Museums and galleries are only for displaying art from local artists.
Correct answer: Museums and galleries have collections of art the public can visit.
Museums and galleries primarily focus on selling art to collectors.
Q3.
Which statement about public institution collections in the United Kingdom is correct?
All of the artwork and artefacts originate from the United Kingdom.
None of the artwork and artefacts originate from the United Kingdom.
Correct answer: Some of the artworks and artefacts originate from the Britain.
Q4.
What is the term given to artworks that are returned to their country of origin?
Correct Answer: repatriation, Repatriation
Q5.
Why do some artists prefer not to display their work within traditional gallery spaces?
to create larger artworks that can't fit in a gallery
to focus only on art that can be sold to exclusive audiences
Correct answer: to display it in more accessible places to gain larger audiences
to work exclusively with digital media so a gallery is not needed

Additional material

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