Thursday, May 5, 2011

AIA Gala-- Are the AIA's Donors Informed of the AIA's Postions on Collecting?

The AIA's annual gala has attracted the notice of the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704187604576289372374487528.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

Such events underscore the elitist nature of the organization, something that carries over to the AIA's approach to ancient artifacts: small time collectors and the small businesses of the coin and antiquities trade are vilified. Meanwhile, collectors wealthy enough to afford high end antiquities with demonstrable provenances back to 1970 attract little criticism-- particularly if they give money to support archaeological research.

Still, one wonders to what extent the AIA's donors are informed of the AIA's position that unprovenanced antiquities should be deemed stolen.

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