Should replicas of destroyed sculptures be in a museum show?

Let's say a sculpture has been destroyed and the artist who made it is no longer alive, but a museum has the capacity to make a reasonable replica. Should the copy be included in an exhibition?

That knotty question arises in the case of Jack Goldstein, an admired artist whose sculptures are currently included in "It Happened at Pomona: Art at the Edge of Los Angeles, 1969-1973." The show is on view through Feb. 19 at the Pomona College Museum of Art. Goldstein, who died in 2003, is known today primarily as a painter, although he made films, photographs, sound pieces and other works as well. But as a graduate student at CalArts he also made a few sculptures, some of which were shown at Pomona 40 years ago. None survive.

That posed a dilemma for the current show, an excellent Pacific Standard Time accounting of the ambitious program of new art advanced by the college museum between 1969 and 1973. (My reviews of its first two parts are here and here.) Back then, Goldstein had a solo exhibition that consisted of eight sculptures, all long-gone. How could he be represented now?

The museum decided to make two sculpture replicas.