Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum

by Jason Felch, Ralph Frammolino

In recent years, several of America’s leading art museums have voluntarily given up their finest pieces of classical art to the governments of Italy and Greece. The monetary value is estimated at over half a billion dollars. Why would they be moved to such unheard-of generosity? 

The answer lies at the Getty, one of the world’s richest and most troubled museums, and scandalous revelations that it had been buying looted antiquities for decades. Drawing on a trove of confidential museum records and frank interviews, Felch and Frammolino give us a fly-on-the-wall account of the inner workings of a world-class museum and tell the story of the Getty’s dealings in the illegal antiquities trade. The outlandish characters and bad behavior could come straight from the pages of a thriller—the wealthy recluse founder, the cagey Italian art investigator, the playboy curator, the narcissist CEO—but their chilling effects on the rest of the art world have been all too real, as the authors show in novelistic detail. 

Fast-paced and compelling, Chasing Aphrodite exposes the layer of dirt beneath the polished façade of the museum business.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History, True Crime, Art History, Museums, Crime

375 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2011

Reviews

[Lance Charnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

We think of museums as quiet places run by brainy, arty people in tweed coats or sensible shoes, talking in MFA-speak. We don’t think of them as hotbeds of sex, betrayal, fraud, money-laundering, fencing stolen objects, political turmoil and intrigue. But as Chasing Aphrodite shows, a major American museum could be the setting for a fine soap opera, or Law & Order franchise.

Chasing Aphrodite focuses on Los Angeles’ Getty Museum and Trust, the richest museum in the world, and thirty years of its involvement in heritage artifact trafficking. The child of billionaire skinflint J. Paul Getty (of Getty Oil), the museum started life as a catch basin for Getty’s largely second-rate collection of European art and a nearly first-rate collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Upon his death, the Getty Trust inherited a huge chunk of money and the means to vault itself into the first tier of world cultural institutions. But where there’s great money, there’s great temptation, and a series of personalities attached to the Museum began scooping up industrial quantities of relics with sketchy (or nonexistent) provenances (collection histories) in defiance of a 1970 UNESCO convention that said “Thou shalt not.” The Getty didn’t stand alone, however; many of its peer museums, auction houses, collectors and dealers were also swimming in the same polluted pool.

Authors Felch and Frammolino are both Los Angeles Times investigative reporters, and their series of articles on this very matter earned them a Pulitzer nomination. This book is an extension and fleshing-out of the subject. Unlike many nonfiction books based on newspaper reporting, Aphrodite reads like a full-fledged true-crime book (which it is) rather than a cut-and-paste job. Their prose is clear and lucid, avoiding the sometimes-impenetrable art-world jargon, and their portrait sketches of the leading characters are clear and sufficient without being overladen with backstory. You don’t have to be a specialist in order to understand – and enjoy – their work.

The story itself is as fascinating as it is juicy, laced as it is with tales of tax fraud, Mafiosi, tomb raiding, smuggling ancient works of art (in purses and carry-ons on pre-9/11 airline flights), backbiting, feuds, and affairs, all involving people who should have known better. It even stars a dogged Italian prosecutor, a doomed, flawed semi-heroine, and a wastrel CEO. It wouldn’t take much to turn this into a novel.

A couple minor cavils. As mentioned, the narrative covers over thirty years and a huge, multinational cast of characters; a timeline and a list of cast members wouldn’t be amiss, and the text could use a few more mentions of dates (or at least years) so the reader can keep track of how much time is passing. Also, this story cries out for pictures of not only the cast, but of the featured art; the Aphrodite of Morgantina, the star artifact, gets one small, fuzzy black-and-white photo.

If Museum of the Missing is your gateway drug into the subject of art crime, Chasing Aphrodite is the next step up the addiction ladder – a compelling armchair read that shows you how this world works without leaving you feeling like you’ve been dragged through a pre-law program. If your appetite for antiquities looting is stimulated by this book, the authors maintain a website and blog that continues and deepens the story to include the misdeeds of other museums and auction houses. If you’re a true-crime fan tiring of bizarre serial killers, take a stroll with some forgers, smugglers and thieves. Or if you just like to read about pride going before the fall, this is the Fine Arts edition of that age-old story. You’ll never look at a vase in a vitrine the same way again.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis is one of those books that makes your jaw drop open after a few pages and remain there for the remainder of the book. It is a testimony to this book's attention-grabbing power that I read half of it during a nighttime transatlantic flight - hardly ideal reading circumstances.

The book describes in detail how museums, especially the Getty Museum in LA, bought antique Roman and Greek art under that type of "don't ask don't tell policy". That is, the curators acquiring the art assumed that, if no evidence to the contrary was forthcoming, that the objects had been legitimately put on the market and that their documented provenance was correct. In reality, the majority of these pieces had been looted or otherwise illegally exported from Italy, Greece and Turkey. And most collectors and museum curators knew this perfectly well... but as long as they were able to pretend otherwise, they went on buying. It wasn't until Italy became serious about stopping the illegal trade in looted antiquities that American and European museums started to look at their galleries and archives with more attention.

That is the general background; the specific story is that of the Getty Museum. After JP Getty's death, this dusty tax write-off became, overnight, the world's richest museum. A frenzy of prestigious purchases followed, mostly initiated by a maverick Hungarian refugee. This same man also devised a tax fraud scheme whereby wealthy Hollywood residents would buy specific pieces of art at his recommendation, then donate them to the museum and enjoy a huge tax write-off based on fraudulent appraisals. Provenance paperwork was invented, forged or simply omitted. Murky alliances between the dealers, the collectors and the museum staff persisted for more than three decades. And once it became clear that many of the Italian dealers had ties with known looters, and even with the Mafia, there was little doubt that something had to change. Interestingly, the Getty curator who was most vocal about the need for reform, Marion True, had been implicated in some very questionable deals herself. She ended up being indicted by the Italian government, an almost unprecedented legal move. Her story seemed to be a classic "do as I say, not as I do" fable. Or was it a case of Freudian displacement, ie. she tried to prevent other people from committing the same misdeeds she had on her conscience? Either way, I found Marian True to be an enigmatic character, and the fact that she did not agree to be interviewed for this book, undoubtedly contributes to the contradiction.

The book also takes a look at the management of the Getty Museum, and the observations are appalling. The whole world of museum boards seems to operate on the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" principle. There is gross abuse of funds, of privilege, of power. There is intimidation of lower-ranking officials, there is harassment of whistleblowers, forced resignations.... It all makes for a rollicking, if slightly salacious, read. Like a soap opera in the highest levels of society. Even Maurice Templesman, Jackie Kennedy's last companion, is somehow implicated as the buyer of ancient art of dubious legitimacy.


The bigger philosophical question remains : should art be stored and displayed for the public in the coutry of origin, or does every museum around the world have equal rights to a piece of the patrimony of humankind? I sympathise with the first view, but then I wonder : taken to its logical conclusion, does this philosophy mean that one would have to fly to Italy in order to see any great Roman art? That would make the study and appreciation of some of the most beautiful sculpture and pottery in the world the exclusive joy of a few privileged people.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are into museums, history and archaeology then this is a book you will enjoy. It explains how one of the richest museums amassed its massive collection and how it lost it, why it lost it and how this was a cautionary tale to US museums to amend their acquisitions policies from them on.

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many times I have stood in front of a piece of art and wondered; Who commissioned it? Who created it? Who looted it/ smuggled it/ “disassembled” it/ made money off of it? Who has cared for it and who has paid for its care and keeping? Ultimately this book tries to answer; Who does it belong to?

For much of my reading I was skeptical about this piece of investigative reporting. There was just a little too much finger-pointing at its main target; The J. Paul Getty Museum and the scandals and misbehaviors that have happened there throughout its history. At times it felt a little gossipy to me. But in the end, I think there is some good art history nuggets in this book and some thoughtful conclusions.

It talks about the cultural property conflicts between museums, archeologists and source countries. It details the problems with looting and un-provenanced artworks. And in the end there was some hopeful news;

“A generation of grand acquisitors passed away or retired during the scandal, they’ve been replaced by a younger cadre of more enlightened directors, who may have sinned in the past, but eventually embraced reform. A similar evolution has begun in the antiquities market itself; the men who dominated the trade for decades were consumed by their legal battles, yielding to younger generation of dealers, who wrestled more openly with the ethics of the trade.”

Also several museums have adopted better practices according to these authors, including; The Metropolitan in New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey. They didn’t say much about the Smithsonian.

40% of the e-version is end material. That helped a lot, as I was starting to wonder; how long can these guys go on about this?

Own on Kindle

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The desire to acquire stuff must be one of those human needs right up there with the need for food, shelter, and sex. This book seems well-researched work (if over-stuffed) on the backstory of acquisitions at the Getty in particular and museums. Some of the people featured in the book are indelibly linked, for good or for ill, to the museum's collection (and there is much controversy and more than one side to what's presented here)—the lust to acquire by individuals and organizations fuels the looting of artifacts and the market for forgeries. I overheard heard a Met Museum docent remark, "We have one of the best collection of Egyptian artifacts outside Egypt. And we don't have to give any of it back!" Point taken.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was laid out extremely well, and highly readable for anyone not familiar with art or the Getty Scandal. It covers the founding of the Getty museum all the way the repatriation of Italian and Greek antiquities in 2010. And despite the book being nearly 15 years old, I think it still holds a lot of relevance today in topics such as museums buying known looted antiquities, repatriation to source countries, and essentially the role of the museum.

[BookishStitcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about museum practices during the 20th century of buying antiquities that were known to be looted from archeological digs in Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc. The book deals specifically with the Getty museum in California. It describes the Italian detective that headed the case and brought the curators to justice.

[Michelle Hoogterp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. The tale within of the downfall of the Getty Museum in California that was seduced by the illicit antiquities trade is an eye-opening tale to lay-persons such as myself who naively believed all antiquities in museums were there by honorable and sanctioned means. The book is well-written and engaging. My only complaint about the book is its ending. While former Getty curator Marion True was left to twist in the wind when the Italian government began prosecuting her for dealings with looted antiquities, with which she filled the Getty (after Jiri Friel’s own troubles for getting involved with stolen goods for the museum), the author ends the narration by shining a light on Marion True by claiming she took the brunt of damage that ought to have been shared out by all museums who were no less culpable in the illicit trade. Though many museums may have gotten off without prosecution by countries that were looted to supply cultural artifacts for their exhibits, Marion True was still a player in the illegal trade and I believe she was due what she was given, as painful as it was for her and for the museum. Yes, other people should’ve been indicted, prosecuted, jailed even, but True was just as culpable as the rest, and certainly more hypocritical. She gave lip service to stricter collection policies and working within patrimony laws and yet flouted them herself to collect for the Getty. What she did was illegal and immoral and it appears to me that the author imposes either his own feelings that True was hit too hard or that he’s offering a thank-you to the Getty Museum for cooperating in his research by giving a quick coat of whitewash to True at the end. Regardless, this is a worthwhile read.

[Marianne Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read, I had no idea of this dark side of museum artifact collecting. The end got confusing, who was asked to leave the Getty museum, who was still on the board, who was consulting a lawyer, etc. The first half of the book was excellent, detailing the slippery slope, some deceitful and dubious collectors, how looting works and how there was a "dealer" who would sell the antiquities for a large profit to collectors and museums. I don't know how a museum specialist could unknowingly purchase an antiquity and not wonder whether it had been looted from an archeological site, but it happened all the time. However, the Getty was in such a hurry to have a renowned collection, it spent the money and had 42 such items on display, mostly bought by Marion True for the Getty. Her downfall is plotted in detail here.

[Bhan13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the typically plain style of most books written by journalists (in my experience that means some repetition and not quite enough technical bits), it's thorough, I would only wish for more photos. (I almost always want more than a book includes but this is about artwork after all.) It's thought-provoking about the ethics of collecting and what belongs to whom but remains neutral.

[Jim O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any interest in a story that involves tax-evasion, Swiss bank accounts, imaginary archaeologists, the mafia, bribery, money-laundering, art thieves, reclusive billionaires, ethically challenged CEOs, obsessed police investigators, and the world’s most incredible archaeological treasures?

Pulitzer Prize finalists Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino offer up just that in Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum

This is the story of the Getty. Truth is stranger than fiction indeed. And far more tragic.

Illicit looting of archaeological sites around the world has become an epidemic. It happens everywhere. No country or culture seems immune. I’ve had my own run in with looters as I’ve noted before. Roger Atwood’s excellent Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World lays this practice bare with all its tragic consequences. Antiquities collectors are ensuring the loss of human knowledge and cheapening our understanding of our collective history.

One would think that venerable institutions such as museums would prove a bulwark against this practice. In fact, they encourage and actively participate in the destruction of our archaeological inheritance. While the authors focus on the example of the Getty Museum, American, British, German and French museums among others have been acting out this imperialistic greed for over two-hundred years.

Founded as a tax-shelter in the 1950s, the J. Paul Getty Museum of California found itself with an astounding amount of money upon the death of the ascetic Getty just over forty years ago. The museum jumped into high gear as an antiquities collecting institution in the 1970s, when its officials cynically crossed all lines to build the Getty into a “world class” museum and research institution.

The antiquity at the center of the book is the cult statue of “Aphrodite”. The stunning statue was stolen from a Sicilian archaeological site in the late 1970s and, after passing through many hands, ended up as a purchased item at the Getty in 1988 where it remained for 22 years.

Clearly a looted item, the officials at the Getty actively avoided any knowledge of the origins of the “Aphrodite” and, astoundingly, turned down numerous opportunities to learn more about its origins and meaning. Amazingly, soil found on the statues was collected into a vial and hidden away for years. When offered opportunities to learn more about the statues and even to gain access to missing fragments, the Getty refused. The authors make a powerful case that this was not a one-time incident but rather a pattern of behavior from the Getty, the Met and other powerful collecting institutions.

When confronted, the Getty refused from the beginning to make changes (and they knew this stuff had recently been ripped from the ground!).

“The reality is that 95% of the antiquities on the market have been found in the last three years. The only way one obtains them is if you do not ask the specific questions that would elicit the specific answer about provenance that made the material un-buyable….” a Getty official said when confronted by attorneys for the institution. “Certain knowledge” was to be avoided. A practice that became known as “optical due diligence”.

And again, “optical due diligence’ wasn’t and isn’t a practice limited to the Getty. Some might defend the practice of antiquities collecting by claiming that more is to be learned through antiquities collection than otherwise but I say this is silly. Of what use is a “mute object of beauty”, as the authors labeled the ”Aphrodite” in a subsequent article?

What knowledge does an institution preserve by refusing to learn more? The claimed public mission to educate is more often than not undermined by the greedy, hording nature of the institutions. Thousands of items and unfathomable knowledge are destroyed for each “Aphrodite” pulled from the ground and sold to Western collectors.

Not only is the very concept of “partage” corrupt but it actually does more harm than good.

Loaded with fascinating characters and driven by a fast-paced narrative, “Chasing Aphrodite” makes a powerful case that museums have destroyed far more knowledge of the ancient world than they have preserved by driving the black market and the illicit destruction of precious archaeological sites.

Central to the story is Getty Antiquities Curator Marion True. A tragic figure straight from the very best of fiction. A reformist who at once advocates for a change in institutional acquisition practices undermines those efforts by embarking on a reckless scheme to gain the best of ancient antiquities for the Getty regardless the origin. She at once evokes sympathy (perhaps empathy as well) and disgust. Her choices were oh-so-human and oh-so-troubling. Either way, the evidence against her as presented in the book is extensive and extremely negative.

(It should be noted that True refused an interview of the book and many questions remain about her actions. True’s trial ended in late 2010 without a verdict, after “Chasing Aphrodite” had gone to press.)

Much of the book is based on an extensive review of internal Getty documents. They too are damning of the entire internal culture of the institution. The ethical violations, bribes, smuggling, money-laundering, tax-dodging and general dishonesty that are routine in the museum world will astound most readers.

While the authors document (and recent headlines attest) the return of items illicitly obtained over the past decade you can’t help but sense that the returns are grudging. We’re not talking the Rosetta Stone or the Haramhad here. Bits and fragments from King Tut’s tomb held in a drawer in the Met won’t cut it. Not to mention that, the museums didn’t just admit they were wrong and hand over the items. They were forced to admit the truth in the face of overwhelming evidence and left with little choice. The fact that they retain billions of dollars worth of antiquities attests to the reality that little has changed. The very practice raises countless scientific ethical questions and demeans the countries of origin.

Ancient art collection has become indefensible.

–

As I noted before , it is very bothersome that some claim that modern nations who want to retain their archaeological resources are nothing more than ‘nationalists’:

“…. Well, what does that make Cuno and his ilk? Worse than nationalists, me thinks. Attempting to parse cultural descendency is violently political. It seems safest to eliminate that nationalism infused scholarly hassle of who gets the goodies and let the countries where the artifacts lie take jurisdiction. Wouldn’t the other way give Britain claim to Boston’s historical sites? Plymouth Rock? The French get Montreal. Spain gets the Southwest missions?”

I, for one, advocate for complete return of all plundered cultural items. In reality that would mean a near complete dissolution of institutions like the Getty whose very existence pays homage to the entrenchment of Western cultural imperialism. If concern over access and or care of antiquities remains the call of the imperialists then wealthy institutions such as the Getty and the Met should assist countries of origin to contract the proper facilities. I see no good reasons for the plundered Greek marbles held in British museums not to be returned. The absurdity of one far off nation spending tens of millions of dollars to purchase the cultural heritage of another nation is made crystal clear by “Chasing Aphrodite”.

Radical? Yes. Likely to happen? No. Western nations have proved loathe to truly end the past four-hundred years of imperialism.

Until such time (and perhaps on a more conciliatory note), I suggest the following:

- Collecting should stop immediately;
- Nations of origin such as Italy, Greece and Peru should press forward aggressively in pursuit of looted antiquities;
- Simultaneously, the question of long-term loans to museums such as the Getty, the Met and so on should be perused;
- All Western museums should collaborate closely with institutions in the countries of origin to develop complete databases of antiquities collections in all locations and make that information freely available to investigators and researchers alike;
- Collecting institutions must begin using their considerable sums to help plan and construct modern museums and research facilities in countries of origin. This includes Native American lands and those of other indigenous peoples;
- Collecting institutions must begin or expand funding support for legal and ethical excavation and research in conjunction with home country institutions.

While the authors of make no objection to museums collecting antiquities legally, I left the book feeling that “Chasing Aphrodite” undermines any reason at all for museums to appropriate ancient art. Elginism is laid bare.

It is time that museums move beyond ownership. The very concept of ancient art acquisitions must be torn down and replaced.

##

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history of the Getty Museum (in Southern California), including how it was started by J. Paul Getty; how its collection of art, particularly antiquities, was expanded; and the onerous issue of looted antiquities being sold on a sort of "black market" to private collectors and museums. The focus is primarily on antiquities that originated in Italy which the Director of Acquisitions for the Getty purchased with the strong suspicion, if not with the knowledge that, the items were not acquired or exported legally from the source countries. In 1970 there had been a UN convention signed by most countries that specified that museums would not acquire artifacts that had no, or suspect, provenance. The Getty is used as the prime example of how museums worked around the convention, and the ramifications of those acquisitions when the source country chosen to pursue the return of their antiquities.

A really good and informative read that makes one think about the real role of museums.

[eve rozier · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️
and remember kids: if you ever say to yourself “a rich person wouldn’t do this” oh yes they would.

this has got to be one of the best nonfiction i’ve ever read. this book was well researched and well written, sucking you into the extravagant and manipulative world of the Getty museum and the antiquities trade.

for my museum/archaeology/art history nerds: this is a must read

[Camille Plemmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stuff the Getty (and, frankly, lots of other American museums) got away with before stricter regulations were passed on the acquisition of antiquities was absolutely bananas, and I’m surprised I didn’t already know more about it, having graduated college with a minor in museum studies. This is an incredibly confusing story by nature, since half of the action was underground and we may never know where exactly some of the looted items were found or how they made their way into American exhibit halls. This book is very well written, very good journalism, and was a super interesting read.

[Elecia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disheartening, biased (?), boring portrayal of antiquities, business, & backstabbing.
V. little art.

[Jenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fascinating! Reads like a thriller. Yet another reason to despise the mega rich too lmao.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending seemed slightly rushed, however this book was great! Super interesting content told in an accessible narrative style.

[Corrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting and well done

[Steffan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children often spend quite a bit of time inside of museums while growing up, whether they are going on walking tours, headphone tours, school tours or just meandering around the grounds and gardens with their parents on a Sunday. The education and inspiration that museums provide both children and adults is beyond measure. After reading this book, I would say that most High School age children should pick this up for classroom discussion as a proper way to wrap up that portion of their education and open consideration to museums in the real world. While this may be the detailed story of the Getty, it is actually the true story of most, if not all, museums in the modern age.

I knew what I was getting into when I picked this book as I have followed the development of the Getty Museum through the years while living in Los Angeles. I visited the Getty Villa numerous times in the 90s, semi curious about their artifacts but intrigued by their paintings and then was present for opening weekend in 1997 high up in the hills overlooking the ocean. I recall being on the property the day Huell Howser came to film the gardens and watched him for a few moments from afar.

No one would've ever guessed what was going on behind closed doors, except a few handful of people who circulated in that world exclusively. The level of secrecy that had to have been asked for, instilled and maintained throughout many years, even by lesser staff, who obviously knew quite a bit, is likely a story all by itself. While there have been numerous articles written about the Getty and their dealings, nothing reaches the magnitude of what is laid out bare in this book. If this was a book about somewhere more mainstream like Disneyland, the White House or some other supposedly sacred location, we would be hearing about this repeatedly, for weeks on the nightly news. The fact that it hasn't caused more outrage is telling. I cannot imagine this book went over well inside the Getty. I'm betting some folks may have even 'retired' just before this was published, just because.

Coming away from Chasing Aphrodite, I had more questions than answers. I think anyone reading this and paying attention to the details would.

Why did Marion True shift her position about buying looted antiquities almost overnight, even later vacillating several times about the idea of provenance whenever something shiny and new popped up on the Antiquities market, but was still running a dense PR campaign to push museums to become more ethical? I got the impression that this was actually a personal vendetta she was waging against someone outside of the Getty, possibly at another museum, but nothing concrete was stated.

Also, one could argue, based upon the correspondences and other documents that were presented that Marion True may have never been held to later account had she just maintained the status quo and not engaged in trying to reform the Getty and by defacto, other museums as well. Coming away, it was clear that she wasn't honest about her reform and she merely used it to try to generate publicity for the Getty, trying to legitimize it, but nothing about what she did really rung true, no pun intended.

I speculated about half way through that she was actually interested, honestly interested, in getting the Italian Government to loan priceless antiquities and allow them to travel to the Getty where she might try to wage a campaign to buy the priceless art for huge sums. That would be a huge achievement for anyone and create a go-to location for something magnificent and widely mainstream, like the Mona Lisa located at the Louvre. The book mentions this in a few places but doesn't really cook the meat off the bone for consumption at any time. You just see it float by in the text like a coffee cart on the veranda.

I also find it difficult to believe that she held any angst over the discoveries of Jiri Frel and his 'catalogue building' that he engaged in. Maybe she was trying to create some kind of restitution on her own terms in the weird and strange world of antiquities collecting that operated on endless Getty Trust dollars? Maybe she was trying to right some wrongs with the mess that she had found herself inextricably entwined in against her will because of the early days with Frel? Maybe it was her lack of finances and the knowledge that she was cooked if she ever stopped playing along? These things are all hard to figure out.

I think it's fair to say two things about Marion True. One, she's definitely not a villain. She's not drawn as one in these pages, but she's not written as someone you should admire. The truth is you probably should. The lady was a vanguard and a true architect of her own world and profession. She was definitely making back alley deals with shady European guys with the Getty checkbook and had very little pushback – and this image is what seems to be the one that some people have a problem with. The second thing that's obvious, is that if she were a man … yep … they would've likely made her the director of the entire Getty property for everything she did and the ability and connections she had control of. Let's just be real here.

The most important fact however, regarding Marion True -- and it's impossible to discount and look away from -- was her dealings at the Getty over a career cultivating the Fleischman Collection. The book paints a decades long relationship, building, manipulating, quid-pro-quo, receipt based relationship between both True and Barbara and Larry Fleischman. The idea that she found certain items on the market, had them bought by the Fleischmans and then donated later to the Getty is damning. It's difficult for sure, but not impossible, to answer the questions directly pertaining to that collection and how that was ultimately manipulated. The Investigation and findings of Ferri and the Italians are sadly, and very likely, the most honest. Why? Because that's what the physical evidence bears out. Most people in the world, once having looked at all the facts would have a hard time walking away and NOT seeing Marion True as a Criminal Genius who concocted, crafted and pulled off a multi-million dollar scheme to load up the Getty with illegal artifacts on Getty endowment dollars. She's the Thomas Crown for the modern age. I don't know how else to say it.

What gets me is the sheer amount of data these authors have been able to present. The personal data being the most eye-opening. Many times in the text, statements are made that are highly personal, highly self-deprecating with certain individuals and makes the reader wonder how they came about this data without speaking directly to these people and why they would admit such things about themselves. I would guess none of the people mentioned have challenged any of this, but it's like a weird irony from the book where one has to provide proof of absolute provenance and origin to make a claim in order to get anything back.

I have read elsewhere that the authors were provided these documents through a massive internal leak, but this unfortunately being a messy thing by itself, doesn't absolve anyone. Lifting a rock and putting light on something doesn't also provide asylum if there was wrong doing – just because the rock was lifted. I also think the authors did a good job in explaining that the Getty Directors and top-tier staff were all warned early on but arrogantly pushed forward regardless, something that came back to bite them later.

Most criminals, whether they be blue collar or white collar all know not to run your mouth endlessly about what your doing, what you did and who you did it with. This book seems to exist in a world where that just isn't the case, and while there were stacks upon stacks of Polaroids and police reports and even would-be Biographies unearthed in the investigations and research it is really hard to believe that these intrepid authors had complete access to everything in print that's alluded to. I'm not saying that I don't believe what's being presented, I do. Fully. This is boldly candid. I just have the feeling that there is much more here with the relationships people had in getting this information than meets the eye.

For example, while it is true what is said about all the tombs that were raided from 1950 – 1990 by the tombaroli (grave robbers) and that vases, pottery, jewelry statues and other physical trinkets were of great interest, there wasn't a single mention about a single canvas in this book – except for the portrait of J. Paul Getty hanging in a boardroom that took place during True's first contact with the Italians. Shocking to think about that, isn't it? Art theft, especially since the trafficking of canvases is a multi-million-to-billion dollar business, especially with the Getty and in Los Angeles, but not a single mention of it? I found that odd.

I will probably update this review in time as this information is quite a world-changer. Yes, I wrote a long review. Too bad. If you can read almost 400 pages, this review isn't going to hurt you. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Getty, Art, Museums, etc., on any level. This is a must read and should be shared in high schools, especially those interested in the arts.

[Mhd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is a great book. And, for non-fiction, it's quite a page-turner, too! If all non-fiction books were this well written and about investigation, I wouldn't need to read mysteries.

However, the subtitle is a bit misleading. It makes it sound as though there was a time when no one knew there were looted artifacts in the museum. The subtitle should be more like "The Hunt for Honesty" or "The Hunt for Someone Willing to go Public" or "Scandals in the Art and in the Boardroom at the World's Richest Museum" or ...!

The photos and the extensive notes were excellent.

Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because the story had been covered regularly in the LATimes and, indeed, the authors were two of those journalists. I like art, archeology, museums, and scandals. Also, I was employed in the CSU system while Munitz was there. So, it was all like local gossip. It's interesting to see how most of the documented liars and less-than-moral people in this book have gone on seemingly untouched (ie, Munitz's current bio at Forbes.com has him on 2 boards with handsome 'compensation', not mentioning his pensions and CSU salary, and the glowing bio makes it sound as though there has never been any trouble in his history).

I was glad I was able to see the 'Aphrodite,' the Griffins and Apollo before they were returned to Europe. But I am also glad they were returned.

Great, great, great book!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book focuses on the infighting and shady dealing of the Getty Museum in looted antiquities, mainly from Greece and Italy. But it also exposes the problem museums and private collectors generally create by supporting what, at least until recently, was a very poorly regulated area. Because museums and other collectors would pay almost any amount for the right statues, pottery etc. a huge market created an incentive to loot tombs, archaelogical sites, anyplace the material could be dug up. Thus, the much of the art's value as a record of the past was irretrievably lost as no record was kept of its provenance, date etc. The author seems to feel some pity for some of the museum curators, esp. the Getty's curator, Margaret True, who got caught and had to pay some of the legal penalties. I can't say I feel the same way. These people took something that belonged to all of us, our cultural heritage, and in exchange they lived lavish lifestyles and pretended they were doing something to enrich our intellectual life.

[CatBookMom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A feature article in the Sunday supplements of the Los Angeles Times led me to find and read this book. I found it fascinating and surprisingly difficult to put down; it reads like a big-heist thriller, somewhat akin to *Ocean's Eleven*. The lack of ethics among the purveyors and curators of antiquities is shocking, but so is the dollar value of the job benefits that the various museum and foundation directors and department heads received - private plane travel, luxurious housing, nearly-constant travel all around Europe, low-interest loans - the list just kept getting longer. While the Getty had (and presumably still has) a huge endowment, it is still painful to read of this squandering of the assets.

It's interesting to wonder if the exposure of the illicit antiquities trading and the financial misdealings have had any lasting effect at the Getty or at any of the other museums around the world.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final third of this book stressed me out so much that I was certain any minor rule-breaking I've done at work was going to come back and haunt me.

The story was fascinating, detailed, and engagingly written. What most struck me, though, was the incestuous tightness of the elite world of CSU and UC presidents, museum trustees, board members, major corporation heads, etc. Those revelations (to me, anyway) bothered me even more than the moral questions that came up around looted antiquities.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to start reading this book because it has so much of my favourite things - art! history! art history! museums! antiquities! - and while I really enjoyed the content at times the pacing of the story was lacking and made it hard for me to push through. Overall a good book for those interested in the field but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone outside of those interests.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great behind the scenes look at the Getty Museum in LA. How its collections were acquired and the problems the museum and its staff experience as a result of the not so clean artifacts that are purchased and displayed. I suggest reading about the actual case in the LA Times before you begin the book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty darn good! Terrifying how high this corruption ran and it'll put a chill in your heart to read what people are capable, but simply a must-read, especially museum folks. Knocked down a star because it got a bit too convoluted at the end and seemed a bit rushed, but just fantastic.

[Rhonda Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've ever read - a total page turner.

[Bob Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been on an archaeological ethics kick lately. I just finished this book, "Chasing Aphrodite." Before that I read "Who Owns Antiquity?" by James Cuno, President and director of The Art Institute of Chicago. And before that, I read "Finders Keepers" by Craig Childs, a naturalist and desert environmentalist. They offer a point-counterpoint analysis of the complex issue of just what should we do with archaeological finds? Do they belong in a museum for all to see, an archaeologist's laboratory for study or should they be left in situ in the field? Once removed, should they be returned to the country where they were found? Does it make a difference whether the artifact was found by a scientist or a looter? Does it matter whether the artifact was unearthed before or after 1970 (when the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted)?
Craig Childs ("Finders Keepers") is the most radical - if idealistic. His view is that archaeological materials should be left undisturbed, exactly where you find them ("in situ"). He relates how he got all bent out of shape because one of the people who was with him while he was exploring one of the canyons in the four corners area of the United States had pocketed some beads that he had found on a cave floor. Childs also removed some pottery from a museum display case once and put it back into the field. It is unclear how he might have known exactly where to place it.
He believes that even if you make an impeccable record of a "dig," verifying latitude, longitude and depth of the object and its relation with the surrounding objects, soils and flora, the act of removing the object from the ground destroys its context forever. He suggests that artifacts belong in the field, not in a museum, a university lab, a vast U.S. storage facility or private collection. While he worries about looters and spends quite a bit of time describing how damaging they are to the field, he makes no serious suggestion how to stop them. He is left to limply hope that they won't find and plunder the artifacts he (or others) found but left behind.
The author of "Who Owns Antiquity?" James Cuno, on the other hand, is an old-school apologist for the past acquisition policies of 'encyclopedic museums,' i.e., all-encompassing museums that have representative examples of the world’s (as opposed to national, regional or strictly local) artistic legacy. His thesis is two-fold: first, he takes a broad view. Antiquities belong to the whole world, not just the 'source nation.' "Antiquities are the cultural property of all humankind." Second, the UNESCO Convention and what he calls 'national retentionist laws" are both modern and political - and Cuno implies, benighted - constructs. These self-serving laws were enacted by modern day governments as a way to cement their power by creating a national identity and by raising the esteem of the country based on an ancient culture that by luck happened to be found within their current boundaries.
Cuno uses Egypt to show that there is no relationship between modern Egypt and Pharaonic Egypt (and thus its antiquities), and accordingly has no greater claim to those antiquities found within its borders. "The people of modern-day Cairo do not speak the language of the ancient Egyptians, do not practice their religion, do not make their art, wear their dress, eat their food, or play their music, and they do not adhere to the same kinds of laws or form of government the ancient Egyptians did. All that can be said is that they occupy the same (actually less) stretch of the Earth's geography."
He longs for the return to the good old days when partage - sharing archaeological finds between the excavating party and the host country - was the norm.
Cuno moves his lips, but no sound comes out, when he bemoans the looting of archaeological sites and the loss of the knowledge they contain. He does not however, acknowledge that museums have historically played any part in creating a market for looted antiquities, much less that they have been an integral part of the pipeline of 'hot' merchandise, thereby driving up the price and value of excavated goods.
In fact, he rationalizes the acquisition of looted antiquities by museums. "[I]n many respects, when faced with the choice whether or not to acquire an undocumented antiquity, the looting of the archaeological site has already occurred and the knowledge that may have been gained from the careful study of an antiquity's archaeological context has already been lost. Now the museum is faced with the choice of acquiring a work and bringing it into the public domain ... or not acquiring it." Museums have until recently opted for acquiring it.
Cuno suggests that the great encyclopedic museums had their origins in the age of Enlightenment with its spirit of curiosity and thirst for knowledge. That may be true, but he forgets to mention contributing factors, like war; colonization (and the first world’s attendant smug sense of moral and cultural superiority over the third world); and brutish sense of entitlement.
In war it is axiomatic that “to the victor goes the spoils.” How do you think the Rosetta Stone wound up sitting smack dab in the middle of the British Museum? The French, under Napoleon, discovered the stone when they invaded Egypt in 1799, and the British, in turn, took it from the French after they defeated them in 1801 (Treaty of Alexandria).
Around the same time, the Earl of Elgin, while serving as the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed almost 250 feet of a marble frieze along with about half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Why? Simply because he wanted them. He had them transported back to England. The “Elgin Marbles,” as they came to be called, also wound up in the British Museum in 1816, and there they remain today despite vehement demands for their return to Greece.
European exploration and colonization of Africa, Egypt, South America, Central America, China, India and Southeast Asia have resulted in similar systematic - or worse, haphazard - plunder of priceless and irreplaceable cultural artifacts and antiquities from the indigenous peoples all over the world.
Finally, there is “Finding Aphrodite,” which details how the Getty Museum in Los Angeles built its world class antiquities collection - they stole it fair and square with the assistance of looters and antiquities black marketeers - only to be forced to give much of it back to the governments of Italy and Greece. The hypocrisy is that, while the Getty was gobbling up some of the blackest of black market antiquities and paying top dollar for them, the chief antiquities curator of the Getty, Marion True (I’m not making that up), publicly espoused a reformist policy that all museums should immediately cease and desist from acquiring undocumented antiquities.
Of course, the curator’s dilemma is clear: he is under constant pressure to acquire (after all, that’s his job) ever more and greater antiquities that will enhance the stature of the museum not to mention his own, and yet by definition, antiquities are old and are in short supply. They rarely come on the legal market. If an acquisition cannot be made through legal channels, curators are drawn to the dark side. So, for decades the big museums (think Cuno’s encyclopedic museums) like New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum and, yes, the Getty, have augmented their collections, acquiring looted antiquities with phony provenances, by turning a greed-blinded eye to curatorial ethics, i.e. “curatorial avarice.” Like an addict looking for his next fix, curators seemingly didn’t care what low-lifes they had to deal with, where an artifact came from or what laws had to be broken to acquire it.
When confronted with a claim by a source country that an artifact had been looted from an archeological site, smuggled out of the country (sometimes in pieces) and sold to a museum through the black market, museums have historically used the same defense. They’ve stonewalled. Ignore all requests for information from a source country; deny everything; admit nothing. Recently though, source countries have become more sophisticated in tracing looted antiquities and more persistent in hounding museums to turn over their ill-gotten gains. Little by little the stone wall has cracked. Marion True of the Getty was even criminally charged in Italy for conspiring to traffic in looted art. The case led to the return of hundreds of illicit antiquities, not just from the Getty, but from dealers and private collectors as well.
Looting and antiquities have co-existed from the beginning of history. People have looted tombs, villages and other historical sites because there has always been a market for the loot. There’s money to be made in trafficking in looted antiquities. Taking museums out of the demand side of the supply-and-demand equation still leaves wealthy private collectors to contend with. Pieces acquired by collectors will not likely see the light of day unless the tax collector comes calling. So, none of the authors have satisfactorily answered the central question of how to stop looting from occurring in the first place. Maybe it will take evolution another millennium to find an answer. In the meantime, the next time we go to a museum, look closely at the gleaming artifact and see if you can’t see a bit of tarnish.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If John Paul Getty knew of the millions of dollars paid out to settle lawsuits to former Getty employees with grievances against Getty executives, or of the millions of dollars of Getty trust money frittered away by former Getty CEO Barry Munitz (in office 1998 - 2006) on travel, personal expenses, cars and more, Getty would be apoplectic. John P. Getty was known for his frugality; he’s described in Chasing Aphrodite as a “millionaire with a miser’s heart”.

Chasing Aphrodite is about the intrigue and misbehavior that went on behind-the-scenes with the senior curators and executives who worked under the trust established upon Getty’s death. Getty left most of his estate, including his home in Malibu (now The Getty Villa), with the directive to build a cultural arts institution, free of charge for the public. Now the Getty Center (in Los Angeles), and the the Getty Villa are two of the most prestigious museums in the United States.

The story that unfolded with the Getty Trust, established after Getty’s death (1976) is dark. Authors Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, Los Angeles Times investigative reporters, tell two stories, not only the shenanigans of select curators, Getty executives and board trustees working under the trust from 1976 up to 2010, but also the story of Italy’s triumph over the trafficking of looted antiquities sold to leading museums of the United States that included The Getty, The Met, Museum of Fine Arts and others. Looting of antiquities in Italy and Greece up until the early 2000s was like a drug cartel with a network of thugs, falsified paper trails, clandestine meetings and smuggling. The cultural institutions of the US were complicit—hungry for the goods, with acquisitions feeding egos of curators and patrons, fueled by millions of dollars obtained from private and quasi-public institutions.

Chasing Aphrodite is disturbing; I naively thought museums were insulated from practices that work in the grey, like purchasing art illegally. But museums are institutions like any other with people at the helm seeking power and prestige. The book takes the reader through the monumental case of Italy’s investigation that led to a reformation of acquisition practices of museums in the US.

At times I got lost reading of the names of the key players (in the early chapters especially); it would have been helpful to have a list of who’s-who somewhere in the book with their respective titles. But overall it’s a stupendous book that reads like a spy thriller. It includes a handful of photos of the art works that were returned to Italy as part of the settlement with the Italian government in addition to photos of the key players in the Getty drama. These are great.

I'll never look at my favorite museum, The Getty Center, the same way again. However, in fairness most of the institutions (allegedly) did not know works were stolen; the authors give them the benefit of the doubt. But not so for Marion True, curatorial assistant and eventually lead curator at the Getty between 1982 and 2005. She was the fulcrum of the looting scandal; she played both sides—seemingly a champion for Italy and upholding the practices outlined in UNESCO's treaty of 1970 that sought to stop the illicit flow of cultural property, yet she was the key conspirator in purchasing looted antiquities for The Getty. But the Italian investigative team caught True in her web of lies. They busted the case wide open. It was a public relations nightmare for the Getty. But it blew over and today thousands of Getty visitors have no idea of the museum’s tumultuous history. It’s probably better that way; they can enjoy the art and beautiful museum settings as J.P. Getty would have wanted them to.

[Elina Salminen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is investigative journalism about art collecting that reads like a delightful mixture of detective story and scandal-mongering. Felch and Frammolino bring to life a cavalcade of curators, collectors, and museum directors who are rotten to the core but just human enough to make them interesting. (This, indeed, is the disquieting thing about the book: it reads like a novel full of antagonists and villains, but some of the people involved, as corrupt as they may have been, had their lives ripped apart by the scandal. There is sympathy shown in places, but mostly the reader is left rooting for the - surprisingly meager and late in coming - misfortunes of the main players.)

I won't run through the details of the scandal described in the book. In brief, the Getty Museum (along with the Met and many others) for decades collected art in willful ignorance of and often in cahoots with the black market. Sometimes their actions bordered on the fantastical: An early curator roped the who's-who into tax schemes by forging receipts for donations, running an entire illegal business with the help of several staff. Others merely used Getty funds to entertain their wives and friends in Italian luxury villas. Getty himself drove his own son to suicide by being an all-around horrible and miserable human being. The founding of the Getty Trust and Museum itself was Getty's last FU to his family: always a miser, he had to leave his wealth to someone, and he made sure not to leave it to his offspring.

Spoiler alert: somehow, all these people got away with their behavior (relatively) scot-free.

In addition to individuals looting and exploiting the Getty's coffers, however, the Getty also supported the looting of archaeological sites. Even as they were paying lip-service to the 1970 UNESCO agreement aimed at curbing the antiquities black market, they used donors to "launder" artifacts and showed an unwillingness to inquire into the origin of objects to a degree that was deemed by a judge to demonstrate willful negligence. The true detective story picks up when Felch and Frammolino describe the Italian investigators and prosecutors who built a case against the Getty. The results are somewhat unsatisfying on a "gotcha!" level, but ultimately a victory of sorts for Italy: American museums slowly started following their own acquisition policies and transitioned into long-term loans over buying new objects.

Of course, looting and illegal antiquities trade continues - take the recent Museum of the Bible/Hobby Lobby scandal, for example. Indeed, the most striking thing about the intricacies of the investigations outlined by Felch and Frammolino is just how much rich, powerful people can get away with. But the authors do a fantastic job of showing that megalomaniac lies do eventually catch up with you, and they weave it into a hugely entertaining story.