Russia Blocks Loans and Recalls Objects from American Museums

[John Dunn]

An account from another perspective can be found at:
http://www.newsru.com/religy/22mar2011/lancton.html

It is fair to say that past incidents have the Russians very wary about the possibility of works of art on temporary loan abroad being seized because of unrelated legal disputes and problems have arisen before as a result of this wariness.

John Dunn.  
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Margaret Anne Samu [margaret.samu at NYU.EDU]
Sent: 22 March 2011 17:49
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Russia Blocks Loans and Recalls Objects from American Museums

Last week the Russian Ministry of Culture ordered the immediate return of 37 objects that are now on  loan to the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts. These objects, from the Andrei Rublev Museum at the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, are highlighted in the museum's "Treasures from Moscow" exhibition that was scheduled to continue through late July 2011. The museum's officials are protesting the forced return in an effort to keep the exhibition open for the full length of its run. More information is available at the museum's Web site:
http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/

The order from the Minstry of Culture stems from a dispute (completely unrelated to the Museum of Russian Icons) over Jewish religious documents held in Russia. The legal details are too complicated for me to relate accurately here, but are clearly summarized in this New York Times article from early February:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/arts/design/03museum.html

In addition to the Museum of Russian Icons, the National Gallery in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are also feeling the impact of these events. Four exhibitions at those two museums are missing works that curators had intended to include. Personally, I am especially saddened that Russian paintings are being kept out of the Met's exhibition "Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century," which opens next week, because it would have been a rare opportunity for audiences to see early 19th-century Russian paintings in a broader European context. I sincerely hope this dispute will be resolved soon.

I should note that I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Met, not an employee, and am not involved in any of the exhibitions mentioned above. I am posting this as information for interested colleagues, not as publicity for any museum or political position.

======================
Margaret Samu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Nineteenth-Century, Modern and Contemporary Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY  10028-0198
212-396-5308

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