Met board president faces questions over Khmer relics
NewsThe Art Newspaper has an extensive report on a San Francisco collection of Khmer relics that were illegally removed from Cambodia.
The artefacts are in the home of Sloan Lindemann Barnett, whose mother Dr Frayda B Lindemann is president of the board of the Metropolitan Opera. The objects were originally in her late husband’s collection.
The Lindemann family, which has not been accused of wrongdoing, has not responded to media questions.
The Washington Post is taking an interest in the story:
Now you see them, now you don’t: The incredible story of Cambodian relics the government says may be stolen — and how they vanished from an Architectural Digest photo spread. https://t.co/fr87sJkx8c pic.twitter.com/B53QkvdOIF
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 15, 2022
Stalin probably also didn’t respond when he had Trotsky airbrushed out of the famous picture.
The sad truth is that if those relics had not been “stolen” from Cambodia, they would have been destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, who were eager to destroy as much of their nation’s heritage as they could in order to “start over” again.
In situations of this sort, it’s unclear to me where the line is between a good deed and a bad one.
Perhaps it lies in the interpretation of “intent”. I think the lame airbrushing pretty much makes it clear.
Today’s New York Times has an article on the front page about allegedly looted Khmer art in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/arts/design/met-artifacts-cambodia.html
Only skin color and wealth are protecting this family. If they lived above 125th street, the cops would have broken down their door even if all they took were groceries from Target. The Lindemann’s stole from an entire culture, and they’re not even being accused of wrongdoing.
Looting of art belongs to museums and state institutions.
She should know her place.