Derek Fincham comments on the lawsuit filed in New York State court against Subhash Kapoor‘s Art of the Past gallery by the Australian museum which purchased a bronze statue known as Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja) in 2008:
This lawsuit is exactly what should happen when a purchaser with clean hands purchases a work of art from a dealer who knew that a work of art was looted or stolen. I’ve argued before that acquisitions like this defraud the legitimate trade in works of art, and also corrupt our understanding of history.[...] So why haven’t lawsuits like this occurred with more regularity? [...] They should be happening every time looted art is repatriated. [...] But this has not happened in the antiquities trade for a couple reasons. First, many curators and museum officials had too much knowledge of the illicitness of objects they were acquiring. A lawsuit like this would have embarrased institutions [...] by raising uncomfortable question about what due diligence was taken before an acquisition [...].Derek Fincham, 'New York Lawsuit shows due diligence pays, as much as $5m', Illicit Cultural Property blog February 12, 2014
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