Met Cancels Art Loan to Russia
September exhibit in Russia without art as Chabad dispute intensifies
August 11, 2011
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.’”
Breaking: Met Cancels Loans to Kremlin Museum [NY Observer]
Earlier: Art Wars
Stephanie Butnick is the founder of GOLDA, a Jewish lifestyle newsletter. She hosted the Tablet podcast Unorthodox, co-authored The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between, and worked as a writer and editor at Tablet.
