ARTH 218 — Plundered Art: The History and Ethics of Art Collection
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Patrick Hunt
Date(s): Apr 2—Apr 30
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $360
Refund Deadline: Apr 4
Unit(s): 1
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Spring
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 2—Apr 30
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $360
Refund Deadline: Apr 4
Instructor(s): Patrick Hunt
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
In recent years, many leading museums have become embroiled in controversies centering on whether they have developed their antiquities collections unethically, if not illegally. Lawsuits and media reports have accused them essentially of plundering art, forcing the return of important objects in some cases. This course will focus on the ethics of art collecting repatriation and will offer historic examples of plundering from Nebuchadnezzar to the Nazis.
The theft of art is hardly a modern phenomenon. Nebuchadnezzar's sack of Jerusalem (c. 600 BCE) destroyed Solomon's Temple and the Babylonians looted its sacred vessels and treasures; Verres, a greedy Roman governor of Sicily, illegally amassed astonishing stolen civic treasures; and the Nazi’s art pillaging has still not seen full repatriation from major US art museums. The Roman Emperor Nero robbed Pergamon of its most famous sculpture of the Hellenistic world, the Laocoön Group, and installed it in his notorious Golden House. The Venetian sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Conquistadores’s sack of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century, and French and British expeditions in Egypt and Mesopotamia all provide examples of a trend that lives on today. Perhaps the most notable recent example can be seen in the pillaging of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and other sacred Iraqi sites. Our cultural odyssey will be global in nature and will cover millennia of purloined treasures. We will also probe into a question vexing art collectors today: When can the dislocation of art be justified (for example, when the host country cannot preserve a priceless object) and when does it cross the line?
The theft of art is hardly a modern phenomenon. Nebuchadnezzar's sack of Jerusalem (c. 600 BCE) destroyed Solomon's Temple and the Babylonians looted its sacred vessels and treasures; Verres, a greedy Roman governor of Sicily, illegally amassed astonishing stolen civic treasures; and the Nazi’s art pillaging has still not seen full repatriation from major US art museums. The Roman Emperor Nero robbed Pergamon of its most famous sculpture of the Hellenistic world, the Laocoön Group, and installed it in his notorious Golden House. The Venetian sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Conquistadores’s sack of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century, and French and British expeditions in Egypt and Mesopotamia all provide examples of a trend that lives on today. Perhaps the most notable recent example can be seen in the pillaging of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and other sacred Iraqi sites. Our cultural odyssey will be global in nature and will cover millennia of purloined treasures. We will also probe into a question vexing art collectors today: When can the dislocation of art be justified (for example, when the host country cannot preserve a priceless object) and when does it cross the line?
PATRICK HUNT
Former Director, Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project; Research Associate, Archeoethnobotany, Institute of EthnoMedicine
Patrick Hunt is the author of 26 books and is a lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America. He has worked with US Customs and international agencies in the ongoing battle against smuggling and counterfeiting of antiquities. He received a PhD from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Hunt is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club, and he is an explorer and expeditions expert for National Geographic. His Alps research has been sponsored by the National Geographic Expeditions Council. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Margaret M. Miles, Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about Cultural Property (ISBN 978-0521172905)