A history of Ottoman art history through the private database of Edwin Binney, 3rd

This article examines one of the United States’ greatest art collectors of the mid-twentieth century, Edwin Binney, 3rd (1925–86); specifically, his collection of Ottoman art, which is now divided between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Harvard University Art Museums. The most accessible windows into Binney’s world of Ottoman art history and collecting are his four exhibition catalogues on the subject, which accompanied shows held in New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. This public legacy is complemented by Binney’s private thoughts on Ottoman art, which he meticulously recorded on the pages of three notebooks now preserved at LACMA. Using Binney’s refreshingly transparent and detailed notes as a primary source, this article traces the development of his Ottoman collection over the course of three decades. In doing so, it introduces the international world of Islamic art collecting c. 1958-84 and raises larger questions pertaining to the formation of collections and canons.