Chasing Aphrodite at the Walters

CHASING APHRODITE
A Story of Antiquities Purchases, Confidential Sources & Ethical Dilemmas

Authors Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino will field questions from local WYPR radio host Tom Hall and the audience, relating to their controversial new book Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum. This is the first-ever presentation of this topic in an art museum, and participants will also include Baltimorean Arthur Houghton, a one-time curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum and major source for the book, and Walters Director Gary Vikan, who will help frame the broader question of how new cultural property guidelines might affect encyclopedic museum collections.

Mining their confidential sources at the Getty, Felch and Frammolino reconstruct a compelling narrative that takes the reader—and will take the audience—through an exotic and sometimes ethically challenging world of antiquities acquisitions. The authors will provide their own account of how Getty museum officials grappled with the question of acquiring Greek and Roman antiquities for over 30 years and the eventual indictment of the museum’s antiquities curator in 2005. A reception will follow.
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Where
The Walters Art Museum, Graham Auditorium
When
Saturday, October 29, 2 p.m.
Price
Free