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Met Cancels Art Loan to Russia

September exhibit in Russia without art as Chabad dispute intensifies

by
Stephanie Butnick
August 11, 2011
Paul Poiret designs from the Metropolitan Museum Collection.(Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Paul Poiret designs from the Metropolitan Museum Collection.(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

In a sign of escalating tension surrounding the art dispute between Russia and Chabad, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has canceled scheduled loans to the Moscow Kremlin Museum for a September exhibit. This decision comes on the heels of a U.S. court ruling legitimating Russia’s fear that art lent to the U.S. might be seized by Chabad.

The cancelled loan included works by Paul Poiret for an upcoming exhibit on the French fashion designer.

Laura Gilbert reports:

“The ‘loans won’t be going forward,’ Mr. Holzer said, ‘in response to’ Russia’s embargo on lending art to U.S. museums. ‘As long as the loan embargo is in place, the museum believes it can no longer lend’ to Russian museums. A ‘one sided’ relationship would, he said, be ‘unfair.’”

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.