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Hot pots and potshots
Art in America, April, 2006 by Lee Rosenbaum
De Montebello said that the Italian tempest would not shake the Met's current acquisitions policy, which conforms to guidelines issued in 2004 by the Association of Art Museum Directors. They call for rigorous investigation of the history of prospective acquisitions, but do not preclude collecting antiquities with uncertain provenances. Museum purchases of such works, de Montebello said, allow them to be displayed, published and exhibited "with the very clear notion that were there to be a legitimate claim, the museum would take responsible action."
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Following AAMD's 2004 recommendations, the Met will not acquire ancient art unless it is "known to have been out of the country of origin for 10 years," de Montebello stated. It will "publish all acquisitions of antiquities in printed form and electronically, including the provenance, both for the benefit of scholars and for claimant nations, so that they might find them" The Met also intends to abide by new AAMD guidelines released in late February, which extend 2004 recommendations to objects borrowed from public and private collections. The Met would not have borrowed certain objects from its trustee and major benefactor, collector Shelby White, had those guidelines been in effect, de Montebello conceded. He added that he was trying to facilitate negotiations between White and Italy, which claims that several objects in her collection (including one on display at the Met) were illegally removed.
Certain provisions in the new AAMD guidelines on borrowing could easily convince some previously generous collectors to confine their antiquities to their own premises: Lenders may be asked to provide "an appropriate warranty of their legal ownership" of works that they loan to AAMD members. What's more, museums are encouraged to warn lenders that they may never get their property back if the objects are subject to "third-party claims" With museum antiquities acquisitions already reduced to a trickle, this could well tighten the spigot on future loans.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
