The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Fla., was booming as “From Chaos to Order,” an exhibition of ancient Greek art, became its first major traveling exhibition in years, making stops in museums in Florida and South Carolina before preparing to head west.
“The idea was to look at the origins of Greek art in a new way,” said Michael Bennett, the former St. Petersburg curator who organized the museum’s exhibition of works. Geometric periodcirca 900 to 700 BC “We felt like he had something new to say about Greek art. »
But earlier this year, when the exhibit was scheduled to go to the Denver Art Museum, staff hesitated because many of the 57 artifacts lacked detailed provenances. None of the antiquities loaned by businessman and collector Sol Rabin had been looted, but some had been purchased from sellers accused of handling stolen antiquities in the past, Denver museum officials said.
The Denver museum recently experienced its own scandal when it income four artifacts in Cambodia. Its director, Christoph Heinrich, suggested postponing the Florida exhibition in the hope that provenance issues could be resolved.
“I am sure you know how changing legal and ethical standards and perceptions of collecting and displaying antiquities are at the center of many museums of world culture today, including ours,” Heinrich wrote to St. Petersburg officials. He described the exhibition as a risk, noting that Denver had “recently experienced negative press for a small number of our legacy collections and associations with red flag dealers.”
The show never made it to Denver. Two months later, Bennett, the St. Petersburg curator, was placed on leave. A month later he was fired.
The exact circumstances of Bennett’s dismissal, which dismayed his supporters in St. Petersburg, remain unclear. Museum officials declined to detail their reasoning, saying they could not discuss personnel matters, but in a statement they emphasized the importance of adhering to the highest industry standards in a changing world and said they had begun a comprehensive review of the provenance of the museum’s collection.
The episode highlights a broader debate which is now reverberating across the art world.
While many museums actively pursued With little concern for their ownership history, curators have in recent decades adopted stricter standards intended to ensure that the antiques they acquire or display have not been looted or stolen. During the last years, sheet music objects have been returned to countries around the world after museums admitted they had been misled in transactions or had not done enough research into the origins of works of art.
Bennett said in an interview that he was never given a good reason for his dismissal, but was told at one point that his leave was related to the issue of reaccreditation with a museum association , without further details. He said his office was sealed with duct tape and he was escorted out of the building. A letter from the museum’s attorney to his attorney about his firing, obtained by The New York Times, said that as an at-will employee he could be fired at any time without cause, but added that “if cause was necessary to terminate Due to Dr. Bennett’s employment, the MFA would have more than sufficient reason to do so, as Dr. Bennett well knows. Bennett said that despite his repeated requests, he was never informed of any cause and never given the opportunity to discuss it.
Board member Robert Drapkin said he believed the issue of provenance was a factor, but was told there was more than one reason for the firing.
Some experts have suggested that it was unwise of Bennett and the museum to mount the exhibit without further investigation into the origins of some of the objects.
But Bennett, his supporters and several other antiquities curators said they feared the firing was an overreaction to concerns raised in Denver. Several docents, current and former board members and others associated with the museum said they were dismayed by his dismissal, and two donors cited his dismissal as the reason they were withdrawing planned antiquities donations to the museum .
“The response has been overblown,” said Belinda Dumont, a St. Petersburg museum board member. “I think the hysteria around provenance is deeply misguided, because objects have value to be shown to the public.”
In a statement, Anne-Marie Russell, who became director and chief executive of the museum after the exhibition began touring, and Piers Davies, chairman of its board, described their efforts to comply with best practices in the material.
“It is our responsibility as a museum to safeguard and preserve works of art – objects that represent the highest aspirations of humanity – in perpetuity,” the statement said. “Yet we do so in the context of a dynamic and ever-changing world. »
Bennett’s supporters note that the items involved in this case do not appear to have been looted. But by modern standards, they exist in a sort of provenance blur, without the kind of prior ownership history that most museums look for today when acquiring ancient objects, but that many did not always have required in the past when they were building their collections.
Some Greek pieces have come under scrutiny due to the dealers or galleries who sold them. Some came from Robert Hecht, a prominent antiquities expert who, according to investigators, often trafficked in stolen items. He deceased in 2012.
“There is absolutely no logic because a dealer claims to be a red flag dealer that whatever he sold is a red flag,” said Rabin, the owner of the works in question, in a interview.
Several major American museums with antiquities collections hold objects that they, or a donor, acquired from Hecht, who was one of the world’s leading antique dealers.
But there is no doubt that the standards applicable to museums have evolved.
In recent decades, museums have adopted best practice guidelines of not acquiring an object without clear and documented evidence that it left its country of origin before 1970 or was legally exported. after 1970. The guidelines for museums accepting short-term loans are a little more relaxed than for acquisitions – and in some cases even encourage the exhibition of works with an incomplete history, as this might incentivize people with new information to manifest. But the guidelines also say museums should conduct rigorous research and consider risks before making loans.
According to Denver’s analysis, most of the 57 objects in the St. Petersburg exhibit did not provide evidence that they were already outside Greece in 1970.
With so many questions about the history of the artifacts, it was surprising, said Elizabeth Marlowe, director of the museum studies program at Colgate University, that Bennett “lends his scientific stamp to this collection, which is still in the hands of private, and exhibit it several times in museums.
Before coming to St. Petersburg in 2018, Bennett worked for many years at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he was considered one of America’s leading experts in the field of Greek and Roman art. But two of his purchases there also attracted attention.
A Greek bronze statue of Apollo, which the museum still holds, had spotty provenance and an ancient Roman portrait of Drusus Minor had to be returned to Italy. Bennett said he only agreed to buy the Greek statue after scientific tests showed it had been excavated more than a century ago. He also contributed to the research that led to the return of the Roman artifact.
Since Bennett’s firing in Florida, two fellow antiquities curators have spoken out in his favor. Michael Padgett, former curator of ancient art at the Princeton University Art Museum, wrote to the St. Petersburg board of trustees praising Bennett.
And Carlos Picon, the former chief curator of Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said in an interview that Bennett should not have been fired, but should have been informed of the problem “and given the opportunity to explain and resolve the problem. he.”
Neither the Rollins Museum of Art, in Orlando, Florida, nor the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, where the exhibition was on view, raised any concerns about the loaned objects.
Patty Gerstenblith, cultural heritage expert and professor at DePaul University College of Law, said questions about the artifacts went beyond red flags. “What is higher than red?” she asked.
She said these signs of caution do not necessarily constitute proof of illegality; just that the organizers should have done more due diligence.
Rabin, who currently serves as chairman of the Harvard Art Museums’ Committee on Ancient Art, said his collection of Greek art, which numbers some 700 pieces, was built over several decades, with advice from Bennett and David Mitten, an emeritus. professor of classical art and archeology at Harvard who died last year. He added that two of the exhibits had also recently been loaned to other major museums.
Rabin said he did not ask the dealers he worked with for full provenance information, but did ask for clear assurances that the items had not been stolen.
Of Hecht, Rabin said: “I would look him in the eye. He said: “No, everything is fine. These are legit parts, so I purchased them.
Bennett said the reality is that for decades, ancient items have changed hands without any oversight that is now considered routine. As a result, he explained, there are many legitimate items without established ownership history but which should not be considered looted.
The best approach, he suggested, would be to openly display objects of uncertain provenance, in a way that promotes scholarship but also invites closer examination.
“People often talk about orphan art,” he says. “I think they need somewhere to live.” I think it’s a good thing that we know where they are and what they are so we can understand them better, and then we can have a discussion.
Géraldine Fabrikant contributed reporting from St. Petersburg, Florida.
