Denver Post, Denver, CO (February 6, 2009)
The Denver Art Museum recently employed a controversial new method
called ‘fractional deaccessioning’ to purchase an 1892 painting by
artist Thomas Eakins. In order to fund the purchase, the museum gave
Denver collector and billionaire Philip Anschutz 50 percent ownership
of the piece, in return for a monetary donation, as well as 50
percent ownership in an important piece already in the museum’s
collection, Charles Deas’ “Long Jakes.” The deal has drawn
attention, particularly since it suggests that items in a museum
collection could be sold to wealthy individuals for the right price.
The museum’s director Lewis Sharp has argued that the museum could
not afford to purchase Eakin’s work without fractional
deaccessioning. Two committees from the Association of Art Museum
Directors have conducted a review of the transaction and the
organization’s board released a statement strongly discouraging
member museums from using the same method to grow their collections.
Sharp’s own statements have wavered on the topic, at first
suggesting he would use this method again if need be and later
stating the opposite. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11639503?
source=email
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The Copenhagen Post (3 February
2009): The Danish ambassador to Italy, Gunnar Ortmann, met with
Sandro Bondi, the Italian culture minister, several weeks ago, the
latest event in ongoing negotiations between the two countries over
artifacts in the Glyptoteket Museum in Copenhagen. In 2006, Italy
requested the return of a half dozen Etruscan artifacts; in late
2008, Italy requested the return of 100 artifacts believed to be
illegally acquired. The museum has stated that many of the artifacts
on the longer list were purchased after the museum personnel
suspected of previous wrongdoing had left the museum. Some of the
artifacts purchased by the museum during the 1970s went through the
hands of Giacomo Medici (found guilty of dealing stolen goods in
Italy in 2004) and Robert Hecht (currently on trial in Italy, along
with the former J. Paul Getty Museum curator Marion True).
http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/122-culture/44647-ambassador-mediates-
in-a-case-of-stolen-artefacts.html
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Southern California Public Radio (2 February
2009): The case involving smuggled Thai antiquities that were
funneled through the Silk Roads Gallery in Los Angeles on their way
to being donated to various area museums seems to have stalled
somewhat after the death of the only person thus far charged in the
case, the Thai antiquities expert Roxanna Brown. Although no one
employed directly by the museums involved (the Mingei Museum, the
Bowers Museum, the Pacific Asia Museum, and the L.A. County Museum of
Art) has been charged, the raids have led to some changes in museum
policies, including a wariness of “shady middlemen.” http://
www.scpr.org/news/stories/2009/02/02/08_museum_raids_020209.html
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Associated Press (11 January 2009):
Egypt’s Antiquities Chief, Zahi Hawass recently unveiled a
ten-inch bronze statue believed to be an ancient Mesopotamian
fertility goddess looted from Iraq. Hawass stated that an Egyptian
man working in Jordan was caught trying to smuggle the statue into
Egypt through Nuweiba port. Hawass has stated his office has been
tracking looted Iraqi artifacts since the Invasion of Iraq in 2003
and has recovered around 5,000 items. An advocate for the return of
Egyptian artifacts, Hawass refuses to deal with any museum that also
deals in stolen Iraqi antiquities. http://www.google.com/hostednews/
ap/article/ALeqM5iMj-FkjRS8tS6ccR0rQgUN-VyCYQD95L28200
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Jakarta Post (5 February 2009)
Two stone sarcophagi have been found within weeks of each
other in a brick-making site in Keramas, Bali. Brick makers also
found human remains. However, despite the estimates of the
sarcophagi being around 2,000 to 2,500 years old, the head of the
Bali Archaeology Agency, Wayan Suantika, has stated this site to be
of little archaeological importance. Suantika has stated it is
because of the relatively small amount of ceramics and pottery found
at Keramas, compared to sites such as Gilimuk. Brick makers at
Keramas unearth pottery daily at the site. Some experts say that the
items may date back to the Song and Ming Dynasties. The brick makers
break the potentially priceless ceramics embedded in the earth to
remove clay for bricks. The bricks sell for 10 cents a piece.
Udayana University archeologist Agung Rochtri disagrees with
Suantika's take on the significance of the Keramas site, pointing to
the volume of pottery and ceramics potentially dating across more
than 3500 years. Rochtri believes that the site may be of great
importance. However, because of lack of funding, its significance is
still unknown. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/05/
bali039s-ancient-history-10-cents-a-brick.html
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