Artwashing the Past

Context Matters

David W.J. Gill

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9798881855208
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Art

Artwashing the Past: Context Matters contributes to the wider discussion about the appropriate due diligence process that should be conducted prior to the acquisition of cultural objects. The chapters were written as museums in Europe and North America were facing a series of claims on recently acquired objects in their collections in the light of the photographic dossiers that had been seized from dealers in Switzerland and Greece. They engage with some of the recent debates over cultural property that include the Ka Ka Nefer mummy mask currently in the St Louis Art Museum, and the Leutwitz Apollo acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Two of the essays reflect on the recent and controversial metal-detecting finds in England, the so-called Crosby Garrett helmet and the Lenborough Hoard.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction: The Artwashing of the Past
• Part II: Returning Antiquities to Their Country of Origin
• 1 Museums and the Looted World
• 2 Disputed Antiquities: How Do Museums Respond to the Evidence?
• 3 The Return of the Minneapolis Krater
• 4 The Returns from Princeton University Art Museum
• 5 The Returns from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
• 6 Dallas Museum of Art Takes the Initiative
• 7 Nostoi: Displaying Returning Antiquities to Italy
• Part III: Breaking up the Past
• 8 Fragmented Pots from the Collection of Dietrich von Bothmer
• 9 The Fragmentary Gifts of Werner Nussberger
• 10 Fragmented Athenian Cups
• Part IV: Remaining Questions Over Disputed Antiquities
• 11 Objects from Selinous at the J. Paul Getty Museum
• 12 The Minneapolis Doryphoros
• Part V: Selling the Past
• 13 Nikolas Koutoulakis, the Antiquities Market, and Due Diligence
• 14 Learning from the Sale of a Roman Herm: The Need for More Rigorous Due Diligence Searches
• 15 The Auction Market and Due Diligence: The Need for Action
• 16 Transparency and Good Faith in the Contemporary Antiquities Market
• 17 The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), Seizures, and Due Diligence
• 18 Compliance and the Antiquities Market
• Part VI: Sourcing Antiquities
• 19 Looting in the Balkans
• 20 From Palmyra to Mayfair: The Movement of Antiquities from Syria and Northern Iraq
• 21 Thefts from Museums and Archaeological Stores
• Part VII: Collecting Histories Matter
• 22 Collecting Histories and the Market for Classical Antiquities
• 23 The Leutwitz Apollo in the Cleveland Museum of Art
• 24 The Case of the Ka Nefer Nefer Mummy Mask in the St. Louis Art Museum
• 25 The Portraits of Drusus Minor and Tiberius from Sessa Aurunca, Italy
• Part VIII: Curating and Collecting the Past
• 26 Malibu Memoirs: Marion True and the J. Paul Getty Museum
• 27 The Graham Geddes Collection and Loans to Museums
• 28 Reflections on the Várez Fisa Collection in Madrid
• 29 Returns from the Shelby White Collection
• Part IX: Protecting the Past: Does the Approach in England Work?
• 30 The Roman Cavalry Parade Helmet Said to Be from Crosby Garrett in Cumbria
• 31 The Anglo-Saxon Coin Hoard from Lenborough in Buckinghamshire
• 32 Finding Portable Roman Objects in England
• Part X: Protecting the Past: International Agreements
• 33 Italy and the United States: Reviewing Cultural Property Agreements
• 34 Greece and the United States: Reviewing Cultural Property Agreements
• Part XI: Debating Cultural Property
• 35 Horse Trading: Museums, Exhibitions, and Cultural Property
• 36 Museums Matter: Context Matters
• 37 The Case for Retention
• References
• Index
• About the Author