July 10, 1998

CONTENTS:

MFA won't relinquish Guatemalan artifacts

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has formally rejected a demand by the Guatemalan government that the museum return antiquities that Guatemala and prominent archeologists have said were looted from Mayan gravesites and illegally exported two decades ago. The MFA's rebuff was delivered two weeks ago, nearly seven months after the museum unveiled a major new exhibition of antiquities from the Americas, only to have its gala opening clouded by charges that many of the artifacts were looted. Carlos Enrique Zea Flores, Guatemala's vice minister for culture, yesterday deplored the MFA decision, saying he does not consider the museum ''reputable'' because ''it does not respect the cultural heritage of our country or our laws against looting.'' ''We cannot call them a museum because that is a term of honor,'' Zea Flores said from Guatemala City. ''Their collectors buy looted pieces, and then they accept them. A real museum with ethics would not accept looted goods.'' Zea Flores said Guatemala soon will decide whether to file a lawsuit to regain possession of the artifacts, which were donated to the MFA in 1988 by museum benefactor Landon T. Clay. In a June 26 letter, which the Guatemalan government made available to the Globe, MFA Director Malcolm Rogers informed Zea Flores that after a ''thorough examination of applicable law, we have found no basis for concluding that the Government of Guatemala has any claim to ownership of the objects.'' The letter provides no details of the MFA's review. Yesterday, MFA spokeswoman Dawn Griffin declined to elaborate on the museum's position or comment on Zea Flores's criticism. At issue are pre-Columbian artifacts that are part of a new permanent exhibition on the Americas, Africa and Oceania that opened Dec. 4. At the time, The Globe reported that many Mayan antiquities in the exhibition most likely had been looted from gravesites in Guatemala, and a 1987 review by Weld Henshaw, the museum's outside counsel, had discovered they were shipped in the late '70s and early '80s to the United States in violation of Guatemalan export law. But even if the artifacts were illegally exported, the museum has insisted that their import at the time did not violate US laws. The MFA has said that in more recent years, its policy has been not to acquire antiquities if there is evidence they were illegally removed from their country of origin. Meanwhile, Mexico's consul general in Boston, Hector Vasconcelos, said yesterday that he asked the MFA whether artifacts in the exhibition originated in Mexico and how they were acquired. He said he expects a response from the museum within a week or two. Late yesterday, however, Griffin said the museum had responded to Vasconcelos's concerns in an April letter. Earlier yesterday, Vasconcelos emphasized that his government has not filed any claim with the museum. Guatemala's dispute with the MFA, which dates back a decade, has served to underscore a rift between many archeologists and museum professionals. While many institutions have long decried the desecration of ancient burial sites, others believe that archeological treasures are better preserved and studied - and available to much larger audiences - in major museums in the developed world. In between the clandestine diggers and the curators who showcase such artifacts is an unregulated international marketplace peopled by smugglers, dealers, and well-known collectors who buy undocumented antiquities and subsequently donate them to museums, getting in return philanthropic credentials and, very often, substantial tax

deductions.

Mexico-Church Fire

METZTITLAN, Mexico (AP) -- A candle apparently sparked a fire in one of Latin America's oldest churches, destroying a 17th-century painting revered by Catholic faithful. The Temple of the Holy Kings, dating to the 1500s, suffered minor damage in Tuesday's early morning fire. The parish priest saw smoke coming out of the church and immediately ordered the bells to be sounded, summoning parishioners to help put out the blaze. They were unable, however, to rescue the image of the Virgin del Carmen and the child Jesus, which was painted in 1690 by Spinoza. The government news agency Notimex said a candle apparently started the blaze. Metztitlan, in the central state of Hidalgo, is 75 miles northeast of Mexico City.

Steve Keller: "survival" of the fires of 1998

Safety for Visitors

Re: Safety for Visitors

Art works recovered 30 years after disappearing from Romanian castle

A 30-year-old Romanian art world mystery has ended with the retrieval of four stolen paintings in Miami, after an odyssey from a castle in Transylvania to Austria and New York, the U.S. Customs Service said on Thursday. The four paintings, with a potential value of well over $1 million, are half of a haul of eight that vanished from the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, Romania, on May 26, 1968, when Romania was a tightly controlled police state. The case was never solved, and police do not know the fate of the other four artworks. But the four lost paintings found in Florida are definitely those that vanished three decades ago from the museum, a castle in Transylvania, Raphael Lopez, Customs Service Special Agent in Charge in Miami, told a news conference where the paintings were unveiled. The most important of the retrieved works is "Man With Skull," a 15th century oil painting of a nobleman wearing a fur-collared coat and holding a skull. The painting is valued at at least $250,000, but could be worth $1.2 million if it is proven to have been painted by the son of the 15th-century Netherlands master Dierick Bouts, as is suspected, Lopez said. "They (art experts) certainly believe that it is painted by a master," he said. The other three paintings are "Man With a Pipe at a Window," a 1658 oil on double wood from the Dutch School, estimated to be worth $25,000. Another "Ecce Homo" is a 16th century oil on canvas of Christ with a crown of thorns in the style of Titian. Its estimated value is $20,000. The last of the artworks is a small, faded 17th century tempera painting on ivory, "Portrait of a Woman with a Prince Charles Spaniel," estimated to be worth $1,500. The four artworks will be presented to Romanian President Emil Constantinescu next week during a state visit to Washington. "It is not only a part of the splendid patrimony of Romania, but also a splendid part of the international patrimony," Christian Matei, cultural counselor of the Romanian embassy in Washington, told Reuters. "We are very happy that we have the opportunity to hang them on the walls of the old castle of Brukenthal and to show them to the public." Customs agents learned that the stolen masterpieces were in Florida after the Romanian immigrant who had them contacted a New York art dealer for an appraisal. The art dealer contacted art experts in the Netherlands in an attempt to identify the painter of "Man With Skull." Those experts identified the art work as one of those stolen from Romania, and contacted U.S. authorities, who found the immigrant at his home. He agreed to return the paintings. "The lead was sent to us and it was at that point that we located the individual here," Lopez said. Customs agents said they agreed not to identify the Romanian immigrant. To explain his possession of the paintings, he told a dramatic tale of a meeting with a gypsy while living as a refugee during the Cold War. The man told authorities he had fled Romania for Yugoslavia by swimming the Danube, then made his way to Vienna, Austria, where he claimed political asylum. While living there, he said he encountered a well-dressed gypsy woman identified only as "Lani," who sold him the paintings for $1,200. He said he had no idea the paintings were stolen and claimed them as his belongings when he moved to the United States, living in New York before moving to Miami. Customs agents said they had no immediate plans to file charges. Lopez said the investigation was continuing and that Interpol was attempting to locate the gypsy woman in an effort to find the other

four stolen art works.

Arizona State U. Audit Finds Conflicts of Interest and Mishandled Funds

An Arizona State University investigation into the spending practices of its fund-raising arm and its art museum has found no misuse of donations. However, the internal audits did find that conflicts of interest were widespread at the museum, and recommended changes to university procedures on how donations are deposited. The university ordered the review after a state auditor's report last spring determined that more than $275,000 in public money and donations meant for the museum had been sent instead to some of the private accounts the museum maintains at the A.S.U. Foundation, the university's fund-raising arm (The Chronicle, June 19). Private accounts at the foundation are exempt from the strict spending controls that govern university money. The results of the university's investigation, released last week, concurred with many of the state audit's findings. The university investigators reported that the museum had failed to comply with university policies on depositing donations and "did not appear to recognize the legal ownership difference between funds belonging to the university and those funds belonging to the foundation." From July 1995 until February 1998, the museum deposited about $369,700 into foundation accounts; all but about $10,400 was public money intended for Arizona State. University auditors found that the museum had spent nearly $5,800 from its foundation accounts on unallowable expenses, including alcoholic beverages, parking tickets, and flowers. The investigation also uncovered widespread conflicts of interest, with nine instances in which museum employees had hired relatives to do work for the museum. But while that practice violated university policy, there was no evidence of criminal misconduct, the investigators said. The university last week reinstated the museum's director, Marilyn Zeitlin, to her administrative post, because the auditors had found no evidence of misappropriated funds or criminal intent, said Allan Price, vice-president for institutional advancement. She had been placed on paid leave the day the state audit was made public and was reinstated to her curatorial duties a month later. The conflicts of interest, however, will be discussed this month, Mr. Price said. Lonnie L. Ostrom, president of the foundation, said in a letter last week to university administrators that the foundation has changed several of its policies and procedures regarding the deposit and administration of funds.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com Date: 07/10/98 Section: Money & Management Page: A29

Re: Options for protection

Senate Panel Acts To Curb Air Tour Noise in Parks Park Advocates Say

McCain Measure Would Protect Park Quiet