Thursday,
January 24, 2008
One Idiot Art Critic Says:
The
ANNOTICO Report
LA
Times journalist Lee Rosenbaum has the Unmitigated Gall, and Unadulterated
Audacity to claim that since
I
would ask Lee Rosenbaum would she therefore accept my hiring a thief to
invade her house, steal her art pieces, or valuables, and
justify it, because she has so much more than I ,
and she can afford it ????
If she finds
out, that I have her art pieces, I say she can afford to replace
them, I can't, Allow me to enjoy them. Be a Mensch.!!!
The outrageous
stupidity of such a position is obvious.
Had
Rosenbaum thought a little more clearly she could have suggested that the Art
Loans be for a Fee, commensurate with the Value of the Antiquity. That
makes sense.! Why should incredibly Well
Endowed US Art Institutions, in the Wealthiest Country
in the World feel the need to Beg for Charity. That's obscene!!!!
Los Angeles Times
By Lee Rosenbaum
January 21, 2008
The
much-celebrated and hotly contested Euphronios calyx-krater is the
To the victor in the cultural-property wars belong the spoils. But now that
American museums have acceded to demands for restitution, it's time to ask not
only what "universal museums" can do for
antiquities' countries of origin, but also what the source countries can do for
the world's encyclopedic museums.
American institutions have been chastened by evidence demonstrati
ng that objects in their possession were probably
looted. The ongoing criminal trial of former
Now that source countries have forcefully asserted their claims, the time
has come to make loans, not war. Everyone wins when cultural objects are
internationally disseminated, studied and appreciated. Even objects that
came into the custody of American museums through questionable means should be
allowed to remain here on long-term loan, in recognition of the principle that
art lovers everywhere should have the opportunity to admire the best of world
art. The ownership, but not the venue, of these objects should change, and
laws like
The fact is that source countries, possessing more high-quality artifacts
from their ancient pasts than they can adequately display, don't need to get
everything back. The Met's senior research
associate, Heidi King, organizer of that museum's upcoming show "Featherwork in Ancient Peru," said that Peruvian
museums already own ceramics of far greater quality than the pieces that
Aside from being magnanimous lenders, source countries should al low some
legally excavated antiquities to be bought and sold. Lesser objects could be
marketed to collectors, dealers and museums, with the proceeds benefiting
archaeological projects. Enabling citizens of other countries to appreciate and
acquire selected pieces of
More controversially, I believe that source countries should consider training
and licensing citizen archaeologists. The antiquities police can't hope to end
all the looting or shut down the black market completely. But if those who make
finds are compensated for reporting them and perhaps trained to help excavate
them, midnight marauders who mangle masterpieces and destroy archaeological
context may become less numerous and destructive. One precedent for the
"if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach is
That said, American museums should stop falling
back on the "times were different" justification for past antiquities
sins. Many collectors and museum curators always knew full well that
their activities were ethically dicey. Just ask the previous director of
the
In the bad old days, acquirers of antiquities knew, or at least suspected, that
what they were doing was problematic. What's changed now, thanks to aggressive
enforcement by the source countries, is that it's become much harder to get
away with it.
Lee Rosenbaum is a contributing editor of Art in
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