So much to say about this severed relief of a severed head. The recursive, mise en abyme of violent fragmentations; the disorienting, central blank space that speaks to its misprision and misframing ... but the risk of increasing its $ value means I will not. www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
It looks a little too literal to me. Most fresco representations of Roman architecture have a lot more fantasy elements. And with so much well-documented, excavated fresco from the Pompeian region, why highlight something with no provenance?
Great thread!
I'm only seeing the first post, not the other 9!
Excellent thread!
Banjo giving you her best come hither look.
ISO narrative non-fiction books that braid together 3 separate story-threads (eg 3 different characters or 3 distinct chronological moments, etc). I know of many that do 2 (e.g. Devil in the White City with the murderer and the planning of the fair); am seeking a book that does 3! Recs? #Booksky
Reposting mostly so I can find; this reading list would make for a great freshman seminar!
"thought to have adorned the floor of a bedroom in a Pompeii home" ... Would love to see a single comparandum for this.
I'm skeptical.
Is anyone troubled by the fact that this is standard *fresco* imagery that has been translated to *mosaic*? That is a common practice of forgers (familiar iconography, fancier medium). Non-mythological erotic scenes in mosaics are extremely rare (I know of only 1 other example & it is questionable).
"Private English Collection, Thence By Descent": maybe the most non-informative provenance ever! Are they trolling us?
Horrifying, but NYT fails to mention the sculptor's ties to the KKK and also the desecration this monument represents to the Lakota Sioux at what had been a sacred site. These facts should be part of the conversation whenever we talk about this monument. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I keep thinking about why it failed so hard compared to the excellent Past Lives.
Huh! Would love a pdf.
@rogueclassicist.bsky.social @artcrimeprof.bsky.social @museumofloot.bsky.social @davidwjgill.bsky.social
Bubon fans: the Babesch organization kindly published the text of the talk I gave last month in Leiden about the looting and circulation of the statues, in which I also imagined how they might have been arranged and rearranged on the pedestals in antiquity. www.babesch.org/byvanck-lect...
Waiting for someone to say something about their enormous collection of Benin Bronzes (numbering something like 150, I believe?), whose rightful ownership was apparently not reconsidered at this opportune moment…?
Obviously the seller has made a deeply unethical choice, but let's not overlook how unconscionable Sotheby's behavior is here too in agreeing to handle (and legitimize) this sale. www.bbc.com/news/article...
... For a better model of how museums can discuss past wrongdoing, shifting ethics, and new understandings of their responsibilities to diverse stakeholders in their gallery spaces, see the recent example at the Asian Art Museum. exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/...
... that claims to address the "legal and ethical aspects" of its collecting history, it should be ready to acknowledge its own mistakes honestly. Otherwise, it's just spin masquerading as transparency ... (11/12)
... cultural property don't count and will be ignored unless U.S. law enforcement gets involved. It is also remarkable that the museum would characterize its decision to sue that law enforcement agency as "many months of productive discussion." If a museum is going to have a wall panel ... (10/12)
... had "received no legal challenges to its ownership until 2023." But in fact, Turkiye has been asking for the statue's return since 2012. The implication of the museum's statement is that requests from sovereign nations for the return of their stolen ... (9/12) www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
... for acquisition," that only reveals how out of step the CMA's standards were compared to all the other museums that took Inan's work seriously and said no to documented plunder. The "legal and ethical aspects" panel also states that the museum ... (8/12) hyperallergic.com/862516/cleve...
... why none of those other museums had been willing to risk buying it. Yes, the seller might have "claimed to be the rightful owner," but everyone, including Cleveland, knew the truth, thanks to Inan's research. If the "reported modern history of the sculpture met the CMA's standards ... (7/12)
... starting in 1979, that tied the thefts at Bubon to the statues that were circulating on the American market, including this Philosopher statue. Yes, for the 19 years that the statue was on the market, it had been "publicly exhibited in several other institutions," but there's a reason ... (6/12)
... the CMA recognizes Inan's work, noting that it "remains fundamental to understanding Bubon and its statues" and even including a photo of her in the panel on the ancient city. But her research wasn't just about "how the statues were arranged atop the bases." It was her publications, ... (5/12)
... quite unusual for how well-documented its illegal origins were. Unlike most looters, the ones at Bubon in 1967 had failed to keep their activities a secret, attracting the immediate attention of both Turkish police and Turkish archaeologists such as Jale Inan. It is lovely that ... (4/12)
... in the United States, the seller claimed to be its rightful owner, and the reported modern history of the sculpture met the CMA standards for acquisition." This implies that there was nothing remarkable or questionable about this acquisition at the time. In fact, this statue was ... (3/12)
