February 15, 2003

Subject: Kimbell: Last effort to receive information about provenance of Huari statue

Send reply to: securma@xs4all.nl
Date sent: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 18:04:10 +0100

Dear Samantha Sizemore,

On several occasions the Museum Security Network and it's Peruvian subscribers to the Museum Security Network Mailinglist have tried to receive adequate information about the provenance of a Huari statue the Kimbell Art Museum acquired recently. Most unfortunately this far you have only presented information about the route this statue followed within the USA. In my mail to you (Jan. 24, 2003) I informed you that provenance only is relevant if it goes back as far as the original source of a cultural object. Information offered by dealers and auctions houses limited to the moments an object reached their trade is not only irrelevant, but in many cases very inadequate. I need only refer to a publication such as Peter Watson's "Sotheby's, the inside story" to support this view about auction houses and provenance information. Once again I ask you, and this time most urgently to cooperate in revealing the Huari statue provenance from the moment it was first discovered in Peru. In my opinion this question reaches the very core of a museum's task: the study of a cultural object's (art)history. I am very much convinced that the Kimbell Art Museum does benefit from this research. Your museum, I am convinced, most certainly will be interested in the archaeological and art-historical context of this statue.
Next to art-historical 'curiosity' the Kimbell Art Museum also has an obligation to the global cultural community to prevend and fight possible illicit and/or immoral trade in cultural objects by providing information about the origin of cultural objects acquired.
The Museum Security Network's possibilities are limited to just asking questions, and hoping for adequate answers. It is up to the Peruvian authorities to take other steps to convince the Kimbell Art Museum that there is a moral obligation to inform Peru and the museum community about the provenance of this Huari statue.
I understand that such steps are being prepared by Peruvian authorities.
For your convenience I have included in this e-mail relevant texts of the ICOM code of Ethics, plus the earlier messages I have send to you. Besides you can read one (of many more) message I received from Peru.

Yours,

Ton Cremers

ICOM CODE OF ETHICS.....

(read full text of this Code: http://icom.museum/ethics_rev_engl.html)

3.2 Acquisition of Illicit Material

The illicit trade in objects and specimens encourages the destruction of historic sites, ethnic cultures and biological habitats and promotes theft at local, national and international levels. It places at risk endangered species of flora and fauna, violates the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and contravenes the spirit of national and international patrimony. Museums should recognise the destruction of human and natural environments and loss of knowledge that results from the illicit servicing of the market place. The museum professional must warrant that it is highly unethical for a museum to support the illicit market in any way, directly or indirectly.
A museum should not acquire any object or specimen by purchase, gift, loan, bequest or exchange unless the governing body and responsible officer are satisfied that a valid title to it can be obtained. Every effort must be made to ensure that it has not been illegally acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin or any intermediate country in which it may have been owned legally (including the museum's own country). Due diligence in this regard should establish the full history of the item from discovery or production, before acquisition is considered.
In addition to the safeguards set out above, a museum should not acquire objects by any means where the governing body or responsible officer has reasonable cause to believe that their recovery involved the unauthorised, unscientific or intentional destruction or damage of ancient monuments, archaeological or geological sites, or natural habitats, or involved a failure to disclose the finds to the owner or occupier of the land, or to the proper legal or governmental authorities. Nor should a museum acquire, directly or indirectly, biological or geological material that has been collected, sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any local, national, regional or international wildlife protection or natural history conservation law, or treaty, of the museum's own country or any other country.
A professional conflict can exist when an acquisition, highly desired by a museum, lacks provenance. However, the ability to establish legal title to the item must be an overriding factor when considering acquisition. In very rare cases an item without provenance may have an inherently outstanding contribution to knowledge that it would be in the public interest to preserve. Such discovery is likely to be of international significance and should be the subject of a decision by specialists in the discipline concerned. The basis of the decision should be without national or institutional prejudice, based on the best interests of the subject discipline and be clearly stated.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

January 27, 2003

- RE: Peruvian Huari Statue; Open letter to Kimbell Art Museum (reaction Mariana M. de Pease, Peru)

Dear Subscribers,
The translation of Mariana's message (see below) was generated by an on-line language tool.
The result is far from perfect, but I do trust that those of you who do not speak Spanish will be able to understand it.

Ton Cremers

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: "Mariana M. de Pease" curaca@terra.com.pe
To: securma@xs4all.nl, ssizemore@kimbellmuseum.org
Copies to:

Subject: RE: Peruvian Huari Statue (Open letter to Kimbell Art Museum)

Date sent: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 06:07:44 -0500

UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS trabajan en la elaboración de una ética conservacionista internacional conducente a salvaguardar el patrimonio cultural de la humanidad, entre otras razones, por que éste es genarador de riqueza. Es así que los países hoy prósperos como EEUU y aquellos miembros de la Comunidad Económica Europea comienzan a llevarse para sus museos el patrimonio cultural de los pueblos en vías de occidentalización como evidencia de crecimiento económico desde el siglo XVIII. Hoy sabemos que éste es un proceder depredador y que la función de los museos como entes generadores de cultura universal está siendo muy cuestionado en los EEUU y la CE, por esa razón suscribo plenamente, más aún agradezco el trabajo conservacionista de Museum Security Network y aliento a difundir en los medios de comunicación este cuestionamiento sobre el origen y la procedencia de la figurina HUARI que hoy se encuentra en el Kimbell Art Museum.

Mariana Mould de Pease

----- Original Message -----

automated translation:

UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS work in the elaboration of a conducive international conservacionist ethics to safeguard the cultural patrimony of the humanity, among other reasons, so that this one is genarador of wealth. It is so the today prosperous countries as the U.S.A. and those members of the European Economic Community begin to take for their museums the cultural patrimony of the towns on the way to westernization as evidence of economic growth from century XVIII. Today we know that this one is a behaviour predator and that the function of the museums as generating beings of universal culture are very being questioned in the U.S.A. and the EC, for that reason I subscribe totally, still more I thank for the conservacionist work of Museum Security Network and breath to spread in east mass media questions on the origin and the origin of the figurina HUARI that today is in the Kimbell Art Museum.

Mariana Mould de Pease

___________________________________________________

January 26, 2003

OPEN LETTER TO THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM ABOUT ACQUISITION OF A PERUVIAN HUARI STATUE

Peru Huari Statue (Open letter to Kimbell Art Museum)

Dear Samantha Sizemore,
December 31 I informed the Museum Security Network mailinglist subscribers about the Peruvian HUARI statue the Kimbell Art Museum acquired, and about the request for provenance information I sent to your museum. The very same day the Museum Security Network Mailinglist (MSNM) received a reaction from Peru by Mariana de Paese. Mariana's message did not only reach 2100 MSNM subscribers worldwide, but also several people in her 'personal' network both in Peru and the USA.
January 7 you informed me about a small part of this statue's provenance. This provenance was provided by Andre Emmerich and Sotheby's. I will refrain from any comments about the source of your provenance information other than that in my opinion neither an auction house's nor an antiquities dealer's temporary possession of a cultural object constitute the sort of information that really is relevant. The only relevant information is information about how Mr. Emmerich acquired this statue, the way this statue left Peru, and whether this statue left this country in accordance with local rules and laws.
I do realize that 1970 - the year according to Emmerich's declaration this statue came in his possession - the USA did not yet ratify the Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. I also realize that the 1986 ratification by the USA is not retroactive. In my opinion, in this case not only legal, but also ethical and moral standards are applicable. This statue may have reached the USA long before ratification of the Unesco 1970 Convention, but it reached the Kimbell Art Museum - signatory of the ICOM Code of Ethics - long after that date. The Kimbell Art Museum really is obliged to perform sufficient efforts to try and discover how this HUARI statue left Peru and arrived in the USA. On behalf of the MSNM subscribers and very interested parties both in Peru and your country I urge you to answer my e-mail to you dated January 7, 2003. To avoid future unnessary correspondence I advise you to refrain from legal argumentation, but take moral and ethical aspects in consideration as well. Acceptable possession of this statue by no means may only be founded on legal arguments, but more importantly on ethical standards.

For your convenience I have included all earlier correspondence about this matter at the end of my e-mail.

Sincerely yours,

Ton Cremers

December 31, message to the Museum Security Network messages to the mailinglist mailinglist:

Kimbell Art Museum Acquires Rare Peruvian Figurine

FORT WORTH, (amnnews.com) — The Kimbell Art Museum has announced the acquisition of a rare Peruvian inlaid figurine from the Huari empire (600–1000 A.D.), the first piece of South American art to enter the Museum’s collection. This is the only known example of a Huari freestanding figurine entirely covered in the inlaid shell technique. There are only a handful of known works that utilize this technique, among which the Kimbell’s newly acquired figurine is one of the finest. The figure is now on display as part of a new cross-cultural sculpture installation in the south galleries. The installation includes works from civilizations around the world—Western, Asian, Precolumbian, and African—that are integrated in a broadly chronological sequence spanning more than 4,000 years. more:
http://www.amnnews.com/press.jsp?id=1224

moderator's comment:
The Kimbell Art Museum has been requested to inform the Museum
Security Network about the provenance of this valuable acquisition...

Reaction from Peru (Mariana de Paese)

HUARI, and the Kimbell Art Museum acquisition of a very rare Peruvian item
From: "Mariana M. de Pease" curaca@terra.com.pe
Subject: HUARI
Date sent: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 07:57:03 -0500

Museum Security Network informa hoy sobre la adquisición hecha por el Kimbell Art Museum de una rara figurina peruana cuyos orígenes están documentados en el Imperio Huari (600-1000 d.C), para ser exhibida en su sala dedicada a las civilizaciones mundiales cuya secuencia cronológica se extiende unos 4,000 años y cuya finalidad es la presentación cultural en cruz. Esta pieza es el único ejemplo de una figurina Huari de pie enteramente cubierta de la técnica de concha incrustada. MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK HA SOLICITADO AL KIMBELL ART MUSEUM QUE INFORME SOBRE LA PROCEDENCIA DE ESTA VALIOSA ADQUISICIÓN.

Esta entrega de MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK sobre la forma de estudiar -a comienzos del siglo XXI- para comprender el arte universal mediante el trabajo cultural en cruz, debe enseñar a los diversos especialistas en el arte latino americanos desde su orígenes hasta nuestros días sobre la urgencia de establecer un claro vínculo entre los orígenes y la procedencia del arte para avanzar en el conocimiento y entendimiento humano. Por favor, proporcionar cualquier información que contribuya a esclarecer la procedencia de esta pieza Huari.

Mariana Mould de Pease
para más información, veáse

http.//www.museum-security.org/02/156.html

January 7, 2003 answer from the Kimbell Art Museum, plus reaction from Museum Security Network mailinglist moderator:
Re: Huari, Standing Dignitary (Kimbell Art Museum declaration) On 7 Jan 2003 at 9:24, Samantha Sizemore wrote:

Dear Mrs. Mould de Pease and Museum Security Network Members, Thank you very much for your inquiry regarding the Kimbell's new acquisition, the Huari Standing Dignitary, and please accept my apology for the delay in responding. I am pleased to release the following provenance information to you:
Andre Emmerich and Alan Lapiner, 1970
The Collection of Alice M. Kaplan, 1970-1999
Private collection, United States, 1999-2002

I hope you find this information useful.
Thank you for your interest in the Kimbell Art Museum.
Sincerely,
Samantha Sizemore
Curatorial Assistant
Kimbell Art Museum
3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard
Fort Worth, TX 76107-2792
Tel: (817) 332-8451, ext. 233
Fax: (817) 877-1264
E-mail: ssizemore@kimbellmuseum.org

Dear Samantha Sizemore,
Thank you very much for your response to my query about the provenance of the very rare Huari statue the Kimbell Art Museum acquired recently. I did already notice the provenance information in Sotheby's catalogue. However, a few questions remain. The Andre Emmerich acquisitions date coincides with year the Unesco convention was established. This seems to be more than just a coincidence for in auction houses' and dealers' catalogues provenance very often starts 1970. We really would like to know whether the Emmerich provenance information is only based on declarations by Emmerich, or if it is based on trustworthy documents. Where and how did Emmerich acquire this statue? Did he get it directly from Peru, or did he buy it any other way? If it came from Peru the exact date plus certified documents to back Emmerich's statements are most welcome and needed. You must be aware that the acquisition of this Huari statue did generate comments from our Peruvian subscribers. These subscribers deserve to be informed about this statue's origin starting before it left Peru, and all the way it travelled untill it's (final?) destination in your museum.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.
Kindly,
Ton Cremers
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------