Getty Museum Curator indicted

[caiusbeerquitius]

Finally the European countries seem to have woken up:

Getty museum curator turned 'blind eye to art theft'
By Bruce Johnston, in Rome
(Filed: 19/07/2005)

A senior curator of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles was put on trial in Rome yesterday charged with receiving stolen artefacts.

Marion True, the curator of antiquities, is alleged to have knowingly obtained 40 archaeological finds illegally excavated by tomb raiders or stolen in Italy. She is charged with criminal association, receiving stolen Italian artefacts and laundering artworks purchased privately and sold to the Getty using allegedly bogus documents. True, 56, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, denies the charges, which relate to a period from the mid-1980s until 1998.

The case is seen as an attempt to put pressure on international collectors to verify the origin of their artefacts. Experts believe the global market in stolen antiquities generates billions of pounds a year. "Museums must learn you can't turn a blind eye to art theft,'' a prosecution team member said. The trial was adjourned until November 16. Italy's arts ministry has filed for civil damages in the case.

Taken from:
[url:1p93jri5]http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/19/wgetty19.xml[/url]

[quote]Italy goes after the Getty for ‘receiving’ art
John Follain, Rome



THE curator of antiquities at California’s respected J Paul Getty Museum will go on trial in Italy next month accused of conspiracy to receive stolen goods in a landmark case closely watched by the art world.
Marion True, 56, who has worked since 1982 for the Getty, one of the world’s richest collections, is also accused by Rome prosecutors of illicit receipt of archeological items.



The trial involves some 40 artefacts and follows a nine-year inquiry by Italy’s art squad, a unit of the carabinieri â€â€Â

[Carlton Bach]

Context, context, context... objects mean nearly nothing. Morwe importantly, objects provided without context are much easier to pass off as forgeries.

Now, we do need to get more archeology done and I think one way would be licensed private digs. I have no objection to artifacts being privately owned, but I am violently opposed to clandestine digs and theft. Maybe if we did allow excavations by private investpors to 'develop' specific sites from which only run-of-the-mill finds were expected. They would have to provide a plan, keep a log, and publish an excavation report that must be made available to universities and authorities free of charge (they can sell it to private customers, if any). The authorities get to review all finds and may invoke compulsory purchase on anything that is declared unusual or of partoicular scientific value. The authorioties can also at any time carry out any additional research they deem necessary.

Result: more published finds, more professional excavations, more jobs for archeologists, more legally available antiquities and highly qualified state and university staff no longer need to spend so much of their time digging up the umpteenth beaker people urnfield ahead of the M 77 bulldozers...

[floofthegoof]

I voted context, but I do see the other side of the coin, no pun intended. If lot's of people aren't combing the hills for artifacts, then many things might just decay in ground and never see the light of day. Certainly, you learn more from an individual object when the context remains intact, but overall, it's possible that there might be a net loss of information by cracking down on the amateurs.

[Robert Vermaat]

If lot's of people aren't combing the hills for artifacts, then many things might just decay in ground and never see the light of day. Certainly, you learn more from an individual object when the context remains intact, but overall, it's possible that there might be a net loss of information by cracking down on the amateurs.

If the 'amateurs' were all nice interested peole who all declared their finds, I would immediately agree. But they're not. In by far the most parts of the world they're money-diggers, casting aside all that won't make money. Sure, our ancestors did the very same over the last centuries (before we discovered 'archaeology'), but that's no excuse today. Rob a site, rob your own past, rob your children's future.
Not that many object decay in the ground when not dug up. But all context is lost when an amateur digs.

[A_Volpe]

So how is it that these works of art are stolen, laundered and whatnot, which can be seen as ordinary works of art (and in many cases, Were mundane pieces of everyday art, in thier respective times)

And yet many of us Modern artists are having such a terrible time "making it" in the world today?

Sometimes I'd like to have my artwork fought over for and debated about and me getting tons in Royalties and Settlements. (but not stolen, that sucks)

...Fought over with short, blunt sticks!

It amazes me how works of art, in the minds of some people, are considered frivoulous or pointless, yet, notunlike the Harry Potter phenomenon, is capable of causing such incredulous behavior...Over a book? A Book?! Whoa! Crazy, man!

Guess you can't have you cake and eat it too...Cause someone will steal said cake.

[Robert Vermaat]

Sometimes I'd like to have my artwork fought over for and debated about and me getting tons in Royalties and Settlements. (but not stolen, that sucks)
...Fought over with short, blunt sticks!

No problem. First you have to cut your ear off while you live, or die (horribly, preferably), or die and wait just about 2 millenia.
But I guarantee you, museums will fight over your works! :twisted:

[floofthegoof]

Sometimes I'd like to have my artwork fought over for and debated about and me getting tons in Royalties and Settlements. (but not stolen, that sucks)
...Fought over with short, blunt sticks!

No problem. First you have to cut your ear off while you live, or die (horribly, preferably), or die and wait just about 2 millenia.
But I guarantee you, museums will fight over your works! :twisted:

Lol, what a funny thought! Just draw something on a piece of paper and bury in a waterproof box in the back yard. Jump forward 2000 years...

Oh my goodness! It's a fully intact, crude smiley face drawing from late twentieth/early twenty first century! We believe these icons had a religious significance, but we are unsure of the exact meaning. It may be a fertility symbol.

[A_Volpe]

nonono, I mean now!

Oh my goodness! It's a fully intact, crude smiley face drawing from late twentieth/early twenty first century! We believe these icons had a religious significance, but we are unsure of the exact meaning. It may be a fertility symbol.

LOL! yeah sounds about right! Reminds me of a course I took way back in college called Archaeoastronomy, one of the projects was to examine the "ruins" of an ancient "astrological" site, which turned out to be the layout of the college campus, as some buildings and streets are aligned with the Sun's movements/positions.