[ad_1]
This story was co-published by Crain’s Chicago Business, a source of news, analysis and information on business in Chicago, and ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.
Sign up for Dispatches, ProPublica’s newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country. Sign up for Crain’s newsletters to keep up with all things Chicago business.
CHICAGO — Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublica have identified at least nine objects once owned by James and Marilynn Alsdorf that have been sent back to their countries of origin since the late 1980s. Nepali activists — and government officials, in one case — are pressing for the return of more Alsdorf objects donated to the Art Institute of Chicago, saying they have evidence the pieces may have been looted and sold on the art market. (Marilynn Alsdorf’s son and an attorney for her trust declined to comment for this story.)
RELATED: Nepal Wants A Sacred Necklace Returned. But The Art Institute Of Chicago Still Keeps It On Display
Returned Objects
Credit: Brooke Herbert for Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublicaSculpture of Tara: The Yale University Art Gallery in May returned to Nepal a stone sculpture of a goddess that had once belonged to the Alsdorfs. The Alsdorfs had sold the piece in a 2002 Sotheby’s auction; it was later donated to the gallery.
Credit: Brooke Herbert for Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublicaStone stele of Nagaraja: This 12th century piece was one of three objects sent back to Nepal by the Marilynn B. Alsdorf Trust in 2022, according to records obtained by Crain’s and ProPublica.
Credit: Brooke Herbert for Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublicaFigure of Buddha: Estimated to be from the 14th or 15th century, this was one of three objects sent back to Nepal by the Marilynn B. Alsdorf Trust in 2022, records show.
Credit: Brooke Herbert for Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublicaStone stele of Padmapani: Estimated to be from the 10th or 11th century, this was one of three objects sent back to Nepal by the Marilynn B. Alsdorf Trust in 2022, records show.
Credit: Brooke Herbert for Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublicaLinga with four faces: The Art Institute helped facilitate the return of this object, which Marilynn Alsdorf loaned to the museum, in April 2021. The object, a sixth-century sculpture depicting Shiva, was stolen from a shrine in Nepal in 1984, according to Nepali news reports and records obtained by ProPublica and Crain’s.
Credit: Courtesy of Christie’s June 2020 online ancient art catalogMarble hare: Christie’s pulled this second to third century Roman piece from a 2020 Alsdorf estate sale after receiving information that it had been linked to a convicted antiquities smuggler. Christie’s helped return the piece to Italy, according to a spokesperson.
Credit: Courtesy of Christie’s June 2020 online ancient art catalogBronze eagle: Christie’s pulled this second to third century Roman piece from a 2020 Alsdorf estate sale after receiving information that it had been linked to a convicted antiquities smuggler. Christie’s helped return the piece to Italy, according to a spokesperson.
Lakulisa sculpture (not pictured): Marilynn Alsdorf returned a sculpture of Lakulisa, a figure associated with Shiva, to India in 2000 after researching the piece for a 1997 exhibit at the Art Institute and finding issues with its provenance, according to research by an academic.
Vishnu carving (not pictured): The Art Institute agreed to return to Thailand a decorative stone beam of the god Vishnu, which the Alsdorfs had bought through a New York art dealer in 1967, according to news articles at the time. The Thai government said the carving, which the Alsdorfs’ foundation donated to the museum in 1983, disappeared from a temple in the 1960s.
[ad_2]
Source link