How to Return Stolen Art (Update)

Museums are purging their collections of looted treasures. Can they also get something in return? And what does it mean to be a museum in the 21st century? (Part 3 of an updated series originally published in 2023.)
 

• SOURCES:
  • Patricia Allan, museum consultant, former curator of world cultures for the Glasgow Museums.
  • Andrea Bayer, deputy director for collections and administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
  • Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
  • Victor Ehikhamenor, Nigerian writer and artist.
  • Patty Gerstenblith, professor emeritus of law at DePaul University College of Law.
  • Tom Wilkening, professor of economics at the University of Melbourne.

• RESOURCES:
  • "After Seizures, the Met Sets a Plan to Scour Collections for Looted Art," by Robin Pogrebin and Graham Bowley (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "Nigeria Benin Bronzes: Buhari Declaration 'Blindsides' Museum Officials," by Barnaby Phillips (B.B.C., 2023).
  • "Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns Policy," by the Smithsonian Ethical Returns Working Group (2022).
  • "Protecting Antiquities: A Role for Long-Term Leases?" by Michael Kremer and Tom Wilkening (Working Paper, 2015).

• EXTRAS:
  • “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

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