[MSN] Art museums wrestle with ownership issues of antiquities

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June 17, 2006 - 12:14

Art museums wrestle with ownership issues of antiquities

TARA BURGHART

(AP) - The issue of provenance - the history of ownership of a piece of art
- has never before been a more debated topic among archeologists and
attorneys, collectors and curators, museum directors and donors, countries
and cultural groups.

Art museums tell of curators spending months tracking down ownership records
for potential acquisitions and trying to verify if documents are legitimate.
They point to studies that prove how little influence museums have on the
global trade in antiquities and indicate private collectors are driving the
black market.

In this climate, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return
ancient objects to Italy; a former American antiquities curator faces
charges of knowingly buying stolen artifacts; and museums continue to
address claims about artwork stolen by Nazis up to 70 years ago.

The debate touches on issues of cultural heritage and history, international
law, and whether the way art museums acquire artifacts, accept donations,
process loans and publicize any doubts they may have about an object's hazy
provenance needs to change.

"Museums have not been willing to address those discussions because they
fear once they do, the museum doors will open up and the historical
collections will go out the door," said David Rudenstine, dean of the
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University.

Rudenstine is writing a book about one of the most disputed artifacts in
history - the Elgin Marbles, sculptures from the ruins of the Parthenon
removed by the British Lord Elgin in the 19th century and on view at the
British Museum in London. Greece has waged a long, unsuccessful campaign to
win back the large collection of sculptures.

In recent years, Italy has become more aggressive about objects it believes
were wrongfully taken outside its borders, helped in part by a warehouse
raid nearly a decade ago that turned up photos of allegedly looted
antiquities and artifacts.

In February, the Met agreed to return nearly two dozen artifacts Italy says
were illegally taken from the country, including a collection of Hellenistic
silver and the prized Euphronius Krater, a 2,500-year-old Greek vase the
museum bought 30 years ago. In exchange, Italy will lend the Met objects of
"equal beauty and historical and cultural significance," and the two sides
will co-operate on future excavations and restoration work.

Evidence from that warehouse raid has figured prominently in the Rome trial
of Marion True, the former antiquities curator for Los Angeles' J. Paul
Getty Museum. Italian authorities have charged True and American art dealer
Robert Hecht Jr. - who sold the Euphronius Krater to the Met - with
conspiring to traffic in looted antiquities. Both deny wrongdoing, but Hecht
recently told reporters that competition from other buyers meant he could
not afford to ask sellers how items were obtained.

Emboldened by Italy, other countries are becoming more aggressive in
demanding that museums return disputed items.

Egypt - led by Zahi Hawass, the country's charismatic and often
controversial chief archaeologist - is particularly pushing the case of a
3,200-year-old funerary mask of a mummy depicting a young lady, which it
said disappeared from the Egyptian Museum. The Saint Louis Art Museum says
it bought the mask in 1998 after checking with the Egyptian Museum, but
Hawass has threatened to pursue legal action.

And just this week, Christie's auction house in New York withdrew from sale
an ancient Egyptian offering vessel over concerns about how it was removed
from Africa.

Smaller institutions have struggled with provenance issues as well. The
Illinois State Museum is preparing to return to Kenya a kigango, a
traditional wooden statue erected to honour a dead male elder. A curator in
Kenya wrote to the state museum on behalf of a family who said misfortune
had followed them ever since the wooden post was stolen from their property
20 years ago.

Those who track the issue say they wonder if the increased focus on looted
antiquities and stolen cultural artifacts is just a blip or something
sustainable.

"How long will this wave go before it flattens out?" asked Los Angeles
attorney Steven Thomas, who advises clients on the purchase, collection and
sale of fine art and cultural property. "Everyone is stepping up."

Archaeologists and institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology are among the groups pushing for a
permanent change in how art museums handle such acquisitions.

Many want museums to refuse to buy or accept through a donation or on loan
any artifacts that do not have airtight documentation that they were
properly excavated and legally exported from their country of origin. This,
they argue, will discourage the black market and in turn protect
archeological sites from looters.

"When you go into a site to just pull out the goodies, you lose that
history, you lose that context and you often lose other objects, such as
human remains or objects that give clues to religion, health, socio-economic
status," said Patty Gerstenblith, a professor of cultural heritage law at
DePaul University in Chicago. "All you're left with is a pretty pot with a
pretty painted scene on it."

Mary Sue Sweeney Price, president of the Association of Art Museum
Directors, believes museums have been unfairly characterized in the debate.

"I think there is a misperception that museums are evildoers, and museums -
which actually preserve, publish and make more widely accessible
archaeological works - are the creators of an illicit trade. That is so far
from the truth, and it's an unfortunate mischaracterization," she said.

Richard Leventhal, director of the University of Pennsylvania museum, said
he would like to see art museums be more open about purchasing antiquities,
and publicizing their purchases so that countries can immediately speak up
if they feel that an item has left their borders illegally.

He wants the burden of proof shifted to the buyer, instead of the country
having to prove that the artifact was wrongfully removed from its borders.
Without proof like the photos Italy obtained in the warehouse raid, it's a
hard case to make, he said.

He also believes that art museums need to become more creative in how they
interact with countries with ancient cultural treasures. U.S. museums could
get loans from those institutions, perhaps in exchange for helping to train
staff and improving conservation efforts.

"The bottom line goal has to be to stop the looting. . . . We can reach that
goal by turning off the spigot, which is the desire on the part of large
museums and collectors to purchase more and more objects," Leventhal said.

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