From the Editor

By Peter Allen
     
A few months ago, when the Los Angeles Times carried an expose on antiquities collections at the Getty Museum, Senior Editor Tom Brom remembered a story he worked on a decade ago with Jessica Darraby, a leading art law expert based in Los Angeles. The story dealt with one aspect of Darraby's expertise-provenance, or the history of ownership or documentation of art objects. As part of her research ten years ago, Darraby interviewed Marion True, the former curator of the Getty now on trial in Rome for conspiring to unlawfully acquire antiquities, and the now-deceased Lawrence A. Fleischman, whose stunning antiquities collection was acquired by the Getty with True's help. The article fizzled out, partly because it was difficult to obtain the information necessary to fill in gaps in the story line. But that all changed when an Italian prosecutor recently went after True, and the Times reported the scandal.
     
      Brom contacted Darraby, who agreed to resume the project. The result is a fascinating look at the complexities involved in the ownership of antiquities, the emerging legal responsibilities of nonprofit board members, and how the scandals might affect the country's elite museums, including the Getty (see "To Have and to Hold," page 22).
     
      "In many ways, this is the Enron story of the nonprofit world," says Darraby. "This could be the wake-up call to all nonprofit boards about corporate governance and compliance. There is a new global awareness of how provenance is ascertained and how objects ought to be acquired, and new rules are being imposed on the way art is exhibited domestically and exchanged internationally. Acquisition policies today need to be informed by contemporary cultural ethics as well as applicable laws. And it's the board's responsibility to assure that such policies are enforced. If unheeded, there may be a chilling effect in the future on how objects and collections are donated and acquired. If art becomes privatized, the public will lose something precious: the common window to our collective cultural heritage.".
     

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