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Those Infamous Chinese Bronzes Are Headed Home

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
rabbit head

Two Chinese bronzes, a rat head and a rabbit head, allegedly looted from Beijing's Summer Palace in the 19th century, owned for a while by Yves Saint Laurent, "purchased" at the auction of his art in 2009 for $37.7 million by a Chinese national who then refused to pay, are headed home. And it's all about business. Late last week, French billionaire François-Henri Pinault -- son of Francois Pinault, the art-collecting titan who apparently bought them a while back -- has now said that his family will give them back to China, "their … [Read more...]

04/29/13 9:44 AM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Uncategorized |

Deaccessioning Thomas Cole: Seward House’s Folly?

February 25, 2013 by 1 Comment
Cole

With the blockbuster movie "Lincoln" in cinemas around the country, his secretary of state William Seward has returned to the country's collective consciousness. Aside from aiding Lincoln, he engineered the purchase of Alaska, you'll remember from grade school. Seward's residence in Auburn, N.Y. -- a house museum -- has been the home to Portage Falls on The Genesee by Thomas Cole - until last Thursday.  That's when trustees of the Fred L. Emerson Foundation, which owns the painting -- which was a gift to Seward -- decided to remove it to a … [Read more...]

02/25/13 1:47 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Uncategorized |

Do We Need To Reshuffle Native American Art Collections?

February 24, 2013 by 14 Comments
hall-of-northwest-coast-indians_dynamic_lead_hero_image

This decade may end up being the years of a great re-shuffling of art, with some museums -- mostly in the U.S. -- returning looted antiquities to the country in which they were found and, presumably, stolen, and others continuing to return Nazi-looted art that turned up in their collections. On the later score, The Guardian recently wrote about a promise by France to return seven paintings to the descendants of their owners, and today The Telegraph published an article about a new effort in France: President Francois Hollande's … [Read more...]

02/24/13 9:07 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Curatorial Matters, Museums, Uncategorized |

The Al-Sabah Collection Is Going Places — Not Just Houston

January 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Al-Sabah jewelry

It was news last fall when the  Museum of Fine Arts in Houston announced a five-year partnership with Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, of Kuwait -- through which the al-Sabahs would send parts of their collection for long-term viewing in Houston. They want their treasures seen around the world, as a means of expanding the view people have of Muslims to include its culture. Given so many political ties in Texas (the Sheikha visited George H.W. Bush last week), and with its oil … [Read more...]

01/31/13 5:04 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Exhibitions, Uncategorized |

A Short Message About Museums And Antiquities

January 27, 2013 by 1 Comment
Ka-NeferNefer

Hugh Eakin has it exactly right in his long piece in today's New York Times, headlined The Great Giveback. In it, he chronicles what has been happening at American museums regarding the antiquities in their collections. While some of those objects have clearly been obtained under suspicious circumstances -- and have now been returned, as they should be -- many do not have proven problems. Yet museums have fallen victim to what amounts to extortion some foreign governments -- sometimes voluntarily. Meanwhile, the looting that these cases … [Read more...]

01/27/13 5:39 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Curatorial Matters, Museums, Uncategorized |

Lessons For Many From Fort Ticonderoga

December 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
FortTiconderoga

Historical homes and other places have been losing their appeal to visitors for years. So, the other day, when I saw something positive about Fort Ticonderoga, which was in pretty dire straits a few years ago, I stopped to look.  A quick recap: In August, 2008, the Fort was set to celebrate its 100th anniversary (for visitors) when it lost the support of its biggest donor, Forrest Mars, of candy fame, owed money,  and set out to sell some of its collections to cover the debt. As the New York Times reported at the time: The fort had a … [Read more...]

12/16/12 7:24 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Museum Funding-Fundraising, Uncategorized |

Turkey Admits Theft, Fakes At Its Ankara State Museum

August 11, 2012 by 4 Comments
devlet_resim_ve_heykel_museum_ankara_turkey_photo

No sooner had I written about the looting and destruction of cultural heritage troubles in Syria  this week than the last lines of the article to which I referred, Syria's ancient treasures pulverised by Robert Fisk, came to mind: This is why it is so important to have an inventory of the treasures of national museums and ancient cities. Emma Cunliffe, a PhD researcher at Durham University, published the first detailed account of the state of Syrian archeological sites in her Damage to the Soul of Syria: Syria's Cultural Heritage in … [Read more...]

08/11/12 12:39 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, Museum Funding-Fundraising, Museums, Uncategorized |

Syria’s Cultural Heritage Under Threat: Sadly, No Surprise

August 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
RomanTheater-Bosra, Syria

We knew this was coming: Political troubles in Syria are causing damage to the country's ancient treasures. As the inimitable foreign correspondent Robert Fisk, now working for The Independent but with experience at British newspapers including The Times and the Sunday Express, wrote in Sunday's paper: The priceless treasures of Syria's history – of Crusader castles, ancient mosques and churches, Roman mosaics, the renowned "Dead Cities" of the north and museums stuffed with antiquities – have fallen prey to looters and destruction by … [Read more...]

08/7/12 3:11 PM | filed under: Cultural Heritage, People, Uncategorized |

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