tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35183976.post1454783965609313673..comments2023-10-26T06:35:55.278-05:00Comments on Illicit Cultural Property: Limiting Art and Antiquities Restitution?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00815004368881797395noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35183976.post-46447139733478695992008-12-13T15:39:00.000-06:002008-12-13T15:39:00.000-06:00The public are many and owners of art few, and so ...The public are many and owners of art few, and so there will always be more arguing for the rights of the public than of owners. Public access to art is desirable, but is public ownership of all art? A communist system may sound enticing, but in practice leads to neglect or worse.<BR/> <BR/> Owners and donors need more protection, not less. It is disgraceful that the bequest of Britain's greatest artist, Turner, has been treated with scant regard to the terms under which it was given. The obstacle to redress is not so much any statute of limitations as the cost of action in the courts and the opposition of governments. The British Parliament has, after very little debate, passed laws retrospectively enabling museums, after a short period has elapsed, to break the conditions which they accepted along with the gifts. This is surely a matter of bad faith, which museums and governments try to disguise by obfuscation and even falsehoods for fear of deterring people from making gifts today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35183976.post-79383096928994512532008-12-11T12:57:00.000-06:002008-12-11T12:57:00.000-06:00I find the argumentation of Norman Rosenthal so sh...I find the argumentation of Norman Rosenthal so shocking that,for once,I am lost for words. What kind of mind is this that will deprive peoples of rights they have from their predecessors simply because others whose predecessors suffered the same atrocious fate under the evil Nazis did not have art works?<BR/><BR/> That history is history cannot mean that we must accept the nefarious acts of groups such as the Nazis.<BR/><BR/> That claims arising from Nazi atrocities have still not been settled is surely a sad commentary on the commitment of certain governments to uprooting such evils but clearly we cannot blame the great-grand children of Nazi victims from pursuing their claims. It would be terrible if future generations would simply cease to pursue their legal rights because of the time it takes to go through legal systems which have always been on the side of the mighty.<BR/> Kwame Opoku.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com