BMCR 2009.06.39: Rust on Waxman, Loot: The Battle Over Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World

Sharon Waxman, Loot: The Battle Over Stolen Treasures of the Ancient
World.  New York:  Times Books, 2008.  Pp. xiv, 414; 8 p. of plates.
ISBN 9780805086539.  $30.00.

Reviewed by Thomas C. Rust, Montana State University Billings
([email protected])
Word count:  1298 words
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In an extremely readable, though not overly analytical book, Sharon
Waxman takes us through the rather unseemly story of how museums have
acquired artifacts -- and continue to do so -- from the ancient
Mediterranean and how they deal with demands for repatriation by the
countries of origin.  While this may sound simple, the work shows how
nuanced and complicated, both legally and ethically, it truly is.
Waxman is a former cultural correspondent for the New York Times and,
though holding a master's degree in Middle East Studies from Oxford,
she "sought to get at the truth behind the accusations and claims made
by museums and source countries -- not as an art historian or an
archaeologist, but as a journalist with a passion for foreign cultures
of all kinds and a love of museums that first kindled that passion" (p.
9).  The work generally follows the approach of a responsible
journalist who tries to provide a fair voice to all parties involved
without overtly interjecting her conclusions or analyses. Thus,
Waxman's approach is more descriptive than analytical, although she
does raise interesting and thought-provoking questions.

The book is divided into four parts that focus on case studies of
specific conflicts between museums and countries in the Mediterranean
basin.  Part 1, entitled "Pharaohs and Emperors" details how so many
Egyptian antiquities ended up in Europe, particularly France, and how
the current Egyptian Secretary General of the Supreme Council of
Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, has made it his personal crusade to have them
returned.  She describes the expeditions of Napoleon and Giovanni
Belzoni, an Italian weightlifter who discovered the temple at Abu
Simbel, and their confiscation of artifacts for European museums and
private collections. The removal of the Denderah zodiac and its
placement in the Louvre provides a colorful example of European
colonialism's destructiveness during the 19th century.  Further, to
Waxman's chagrin, the artifacts are currently exhibited with no
explanation of how they came into the possession of each museum or
context for their removal. Juxtaposing interviews with Hawass, who
insists on repatriation of all Pharonic artifacts, with those of
officials at the Louvre, she provides substantial voice to all sides of
the issue.

Part 2 is titled "Tomb Robbers on Fifth Avenue" and focuses more on the
modern antiquities market.  Here Waxman examines the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and its willful purchase of illegally excavated
artifacts.  Thomas Hoving, former director of the Met, admitted that he
"had a rolodex of the best smugglers," who used their own children to
transport illicit artifacts across European boarders, giving the
children ice cream so custom officials in their "dress whites" would
pass them through with ease (p. 193).  She examines in detail how in
1967 the Met illicitly acquired the Lydian Hoard -- 219 pieces of gold
from an illegal excavation in Turkey.  After a payment of nearly $1.5
million dollars, the artifacts were kept in the museum's storage for
many years so as not to attract attention.  Finally, when select pieces
were put on display, a Turkish journalist described them and Turkey
demanded them back.  After much legal wrangling, the Met exhausted its
delaying tactics and the pieces were finally returned in 1993.
However, as Waxman points out, the artifacts may not have been better
served in Turkey.  They were moved to an underfunded one-room museum in
Usak where 769 people saw them in a five year period -- one hour's
worth of people at the Met.  In addition, it turned out that the
curator, after a series of personal tragedies and massive gambling and
womanizing debts, stole one of the pieces, sold it, and placed a fake
on display.

Part 3 returns to the context of the impact of European colonialism
entitled "Lord Elgin's Legacy."  Waxman goes down the well beaten path
regarding the British Museum's refusal to repatriate the "Elgin"
Parthenon Marbles.  Like Part 1, we see European colonialism at its
worst with regard to antiquities and the exploitation of subject
countries.  Little new is revealed in this part, although Waxman takes
great pains to interview as many interested parties as possible.  It is
the shortest of the four parts and will also be the least substantial
even to the casually informed reader.  Waxman does make a good case for
repatriation since Greece has constructed an exceptionally modern
facility with adequate security (unlike the Lydian Hoard in Part 2),
and she attempts to tie the issue into the larger political issues of
today.

The J. Paul Getty Museum and, in particular, the trial of its former
curator of antiquities, Marion True, are the focus of Part 4 "Rough
Justice."  In true journalistic fashion, Waxman examines the trial with
the clarity of a court reporter.  However, she is also not above
unnecessary journalistic sensationalizing of the problems at the Getty.
She goes on for four pages describing how employees admitted that
"they were f***ing behind the paintings" and that the general
atmosphere at the Getty was "convivial in the most carnal sense of the
word" (p. 327).  She freely admits "the sexual shenanigans were not
directly tied to the problems the Getty would later face over stolen
antiquities, but they were not insignificant either, creating a
backdrop of interpersonal drama and tension" (p. 328), something she
does not entirely prove.  The Getty is portrayed as a generally amoral
institution, letting True become a scapegoat for the institution's lack
of integrity.  Even Barry Munitz, the head of the Getty Trust,
ultimately stepped down from his position and relinquished a
substantial benefits package claiming that the Getty was a "spoiled and
arrogant and self-involved" institution (p. 342). However, the Italian
authorities and their handling of True come off little better.  Their
heavy-handed approach would seem to discourage other museums from
voluntarily cooperating with repatriation efforts.  While both sides
claim the moral high ground, the significance of the artifacts over
which they are arguing almost becomes lost in the quest for victory.

The general tone of the book is that of a journalistic inquiry rather
than an analytical academic work, which has its benefits and its
problems. It avoids the more moralistic tone of James Cuno's Who Owns
Antiquity? Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage and allows
the reader to wade through the issues to reach his or her own
conclusions.  However, Waxman's attempts at evenhandedness border on
indecisiveness. In her conclusion she painfully presents every argument
and counter argument.  Countries of origin have a legitimate claim for
artifacts acquired either in the 19th century colonial context or the
modern illegal antiquities market.  Yet Waxman feels that more people
and the artifacts themselves might indeed be better served in Western
encyclopedic museums.

Waxman's style is very readable and generally accessible. Her use of
interviews provides a voice to all the players involved. Her choice to
focus on four general case studies provides adequate information to
examine the issues of repatriation, though scant attention, other than
a passing mention in the conclusion, is made of areas outside of the
Mediterranean.  In addition, the voices of the legitimate (and perhaps
illegitimate) archaeologists who discovered the artifacts in question
are not examined, which is surprising given the extent to which both
sides of the conflicts are given equal voice through copious
interviews.  Surely at least one archaeologist could have been
interviewed for his or her perspective.  Even a tomb robber has a story
to tell and room could have been made to include these voices by
cutting out some of the extraneous details such as the full discussion
of the setting for her interviews that goes into such detail as the
color and pattern of the carpet.  Still, if one is looking for a
readable and general introduction to the issues and problems of
repatriation and museum ethics, this book is a fine beginning.