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January 24, 2008
Federal Agents Raid LACMA
Photo by Fire Monkey Fish via flickr.
Forget medical marijuana storefronts, the feds have found a new kind of place to storm into -- museums. Today, four Southern California museums, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, were raided in an attempt to bust an "alleged illegal smuggling of Southeast Asian and Native American artifacts."
The search warrants, which were executed shortly after 7:30 a.m., gave agents the authority to search the museum's galleries, storage areas offices and computers. The targets of the investigation are Robert Olson, an alleged art smuggler, and Jonathan Markell, the owner of Silk Roads Gallery in Los Angeles, which also was raided Thursday.According to the warrants, the men illegally smuggled looted artifacts from Thailand, Myanmar, China and Native American sites and sold them to Southern California art museums. Some of the museums' curators knew the artifacts were illegally or suspiciously purchased, according to the warrants. [CBS2]
The multi-year investigation included the IRS and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement among other agencies.
In an lengthy, in-depth report, the LA Times finds that "in the case of the Bowers and the Pacific Asia museums, the warrants clearly suggest that museum officials were aware that the objects were looted and overvalued and accepted them anyway." However, for LACMA, it's unclear.
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Very little gets me to actually pay attention to the news...primaries? naahhh, celebrities mysterious deaths? naaahhh, who made an ass of themselves on American Idol? PUHleez. However, that dang art historian/archaeology schoolin kicks in whenever I hear: Museum Busted for buying hot loot....and getting caught at it.
Being a smart ass I always think to myself...well, dang it....how else can one amass a collection these days....LOL Seriously, the bad old days of 19th century plunder and smuggling ain't ever gonna return. This, compounded by repatriation issues makes building & keeping a collection of antiquities/artifacts a mind field....with slim pickins. Maybe even an impossibility anymore. Touring of collections from elsewhere seems to be the only answer.
It really is a complex situation though...dealers, some reputable on the surface, approach a museum with suddenly available goodies and it's easy to stick your hot little hand in the cookie jar and pretend you don't know the obvious score.
I'm a bit concerned about the smaller museums, this is not good at all for them. I think our Lacma will be able to weather this. Of course, now I wonder if the wonderful southeast asian and asian galleries will be closed off to the public for awhile. There is some amazing stuff (legit) there.
Coincidentally, I received the invitation/member application for LACMA's big hoohaa next month/opening gala for the loaner collection. As usual I grumbled about the cost of membership but now I'm wondering if a contribution for legal fees may be in order.
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the Pasadena museum of asian art got raided too
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_8066874