Last night, if you weren’t able to reach a museum curator in Washington, chances are they were at the National Press Club. A well-heeled audience of over 200 heard a five-man panel discuss the pilfering of art and antiquities.
James Grimaldi, an investigative reporter at the Washington Post moderated the event. On the prosecuting side, so to speak, and in support of their book, "Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum," were Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino (the latter by phone from Bangladesh). Defending museums were former Getty curator Arthur Houghton and Gary Vikan, director of the Walter Museum of Art in Baltimore.
This is not an area I am familiar with, so I refer you to an excellent write-up by Tanya K. Lervik of ARCA.
I will say it is interesting to compare this story with steroids in baseball. Was an actual crime committed? What took so long for the authorities to intervene? Are all art pieces now suspect? What should art museums do going forward? Why go after certain suspects and not others?
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