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Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
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13 Jun, 7 tweets, 5 min read
In the last two months, four stolen sacred artworks from Nepal have been identified in the Alsdorf/@artinstitutechi collection. It’s time to look real hard at what remains there.
@KnightLAT @hyperallergic @newcity @claire_voon I hope you’ll ask @artinstitutechi what they’re doing to find more stolen art hiding in their collections...
A reminder that among the hundreds of Alsdorf donations to the AIC are 14 the museum admits it doesn’t have sufficient information about, but has retained on the reasoning that they trust the Alsdorfs not to have bought stolen art... 😬
What really gets me is that neither of these stunning sacred artworks are even on display at the Art Institute. We've robbed Nepal of their deities, just to stick them in storerooms.
Here are the in situ/ pre-theft photos, both taken in the 1980s, located by @LostArtsofNepal in a post here: facebook.com/lostartsofnepa….
And here are the artifacts at the museum:
artic.edu/artworks/13070…

artic.edu/artworks/14837…

artic.edu/artworks/14839…
And this article from @registandiary has details on the theft of the necklace - apparently also the shrine's records were taken, to conceal the thefts: ekantipur.com/news/2021/06/1…

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More from @artcrimeprof

Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
14 Jun
For the past year, I've been investigating an auction house that's make millions selling thousands of likely looted or forged undocumented antiquities. They're so shady it's hard to know where to start. The time they faked a shipwreck? The past fraud conviction of the owner?
The way they get authentications from beyond the grave from a scholar famed for saying ridiculous fakes were genuine? The fabricated credentials of their experts? Well, I've got time today. I'll tell you about it all. Presenting: a monster thread on Timeline Auctions.
Let's start with the Wreck of the Fake Chrysanthemum. In 2016, Timeline auctioned off supposedly 17th c. Chinese porcelain found in the 'Blue Chrysanthemum Wreck,' a ship lost in the South China Sea and rediscovered in 2014. Here's their promotional video:
Read 68 tweets
Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
13 Jun
May I introduce you to America's pettiest monument? Here's a short thread about a boot. Image
In September 1777, a brave American officer led a charge against British troops, saving the day during the Battle of Freeman's Farm in what is now Saratoga National Park, New York. His leg was wounded severely and pinned under his fallen horse. Image
After surgery and months of recovery, the officer and his leg were safe... but all that spare time had given him time to think. He decided to join the British side. Yup, we're talking about Benedict Arnold.
Read 5 tweets
Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
17 May
Debates about Confederate monuments as arguments with your parents about them displaying a giant portrait of your shitty ex over their mantelpiece: a thread.
Adding contextualizing signage to a monument = your parents sticking a post-it to the portrait frame that says “some people argue that Jerry was a jerk, but other people still believe he would have made our sweetie very happy in the long run.”
Moving Confederate monuments to cemeteries = your parents saying “fine, sweetie, if you don’t want to look at Jerry, we’ll just move the portrait to our bedroom.”
Read 6 tweets
Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
4 Apr
Today, I'm thinking about the inmates of the Stone Mountain Correctional Institute, who dyed eggs for the world's largest Easter egg hunt in the shadow of the world's largest Confederate monument - one they were forced to help make. Here's the story.
Stone Mountain is, in the words of the SPLX, “the largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world.” It was begun in 1916 and finished only in 1972, on the side of a mountain outside Atlanta famous as birthplace of the revived Klan: splcenter.org/fighting-hate/…
While researching it for my book, I grew fascinated with one little-known aspect of its history: the convict labor at the heart of its economics.
Read 17 tweets
Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
4 Apr
Highly recommend this exhibition @metmuseum: metmuseum.org/exhibitions/li…
One of many spectacular works: metmuseum.org/art/collection….
Read 4 tweets
Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
26 Feb
Since the 2020 protests, thirteen state legislatures have considered bills that would make the removal of public monuments more difficult, ranging from adding a few bureaucratic hoops to flat-out prohibitions. Here's my list:
Alabama: hyperallergic.com/623101/alabama…
Georgia HB 238 (2/2021): forbids authorities from removing or concealing any publicly owned monument to any military personnel, whether of US or the Confederate States of America.
Read 16 tweets

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