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Chasing Aphrodite
Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum | Jason Felch, Ralph Frammolino
5 posts | 2 read | 9 to read
A “thrilling, well-researched” account of years of scandal at the prestigious Getty Museum (Ulrich Boser, author of The Gardner Heist). In recent years, several of America’s leading art museums have voluntarily given up their finest pieces of classical art to the governments of Italy and Greece. Why would they be moved to such unheard-of generosity? The answer lies at the Getty, one of the world’s richest and most troubled museums, and scandalous revelations that it had been buying looted antiquities for decades. Drawing on a trove of confidential museum records and candid interviews, these two journalists give us a fly-on-the-wall account of the inner workings of a world-class museum, and tell a story of outlandish characters and bad behavior that could come straight from the pages of a thriller. “In an authoritative account, two reporters who led a Los Angeles Times investigation reveal the details of the Getty Museum’s illicit purchases, from smugglers and fences, of looted Greek and Roman antiquities. . . . The authors offer an excellent recap of the museum’s misdeeds, brimming with tasty details of the scandal that motivated several of America’s leading art museums to voluntarily return to Italy and Greece some 100 classical antiquities worth more than half a billion dollars.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “An astonishing and penetrating look into a veiled world where beauty and art are in constant competition with greed and hypocrisy. This engaging book will cast a fresh light on many of those gleaming objects you see in art museums.” —Jonathan Harr, author of The Lost Painting
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shanaqui
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And finished! Pretty compelling reading. Interesting that the authors don't seem to particularly care about other repatriation arguments (like the Elgin Marbles).

Saying that Marion True was guilty of hubris is quite the cliché given her field, but it works.

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shanaqui

Marion True sounds like quite the piece of work from this book. I wonder if she's written anything about this from her point of view?

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shanaqui

I've been meaning to read this forever, so I picked it as a palate cleanser between Kate Daniels books. I know almost nothing about the Getty Museum, but know a little about the scandal this book discusses.

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BookmarkTavern
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Popped a meclizine, switched to a physical book for the bus, and all settled in for the ride to Edoras.

47 likes2 stack adds
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TheresaGivan
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My current obsession is studying art and artifacts that have been looted, illegally sold, illegally traded, and all the coverups and lies that go along with it. I cannot recommend this book enough. I‘m almost finished and it has drawn me in and not let me go. #readingatwork #chasingaphrodite #museumobsession

17 likes4 stack adds