September/October 2009 Notes
From PRIMO’s Editor Truby Chiaviello…
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Our feature article on San Francisco Opera is sure to make Italian Americans in that city, and those of every city in America, especially proud.
As the article points out, the opera company, today considered one of the finest in the world, was founded by Gaetano Merola of Naples over 70 years ago. We feature an in-depth biography of this incredible visionary who deserves credit for establishing opera not only in San Francisco, but in Los Angeles as well.
Merola’s legacy is immediately noticeably in a music education program that bears his name. The Merola Opera Program, offered by San Francisco Opera, fosters the talents of promising opera virtuosos. The 11 week program provides classes and opportunities for young artists to perform in public. Some 1,000 students have graduated from the program. Known as Merolini, alumni have gone on to sing in operas performed all over the country.
Visit the War Memorial Opera House and you will find inside a plaque commemorating some of the Italian Americans who supported Merola in his bid to start an opera house in San Francisco. In 1921 Italian American fishermen, bakers, grocers, and residents of North Beach and other neighborhoods donated funds to Merola to produce his first opera there. In 1931 Italian Americans supported the construction of the War Memorial Opera House.
The catalyst in the community was Giuseppe Brucia, an immigrant from Capo San Vito in Sicily. A well-respected businessman, he acquired a $15,000 loan from A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, to satisfy one picky tenor’s demand for payment in gold coins. His son Joseph was also a major supporter of the opera company, funding the first opera simulcast held at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. Joseph’s dogged determination led to the aforementioned plaque reinstalled in the opera house, after the first was stolen. Besides his father, names on the plaque are those recognized for their generous donations such as Louise Dana, Antonio Farina, James V. Frevola, Milano Milani, Alfonso Napolitano, Amedeo Napolitano, Amalio Paoni, Amedeo Paoni, Anacleto Paoni, Giulio Stradi, and Gigulielmo Torchia.
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ITALY’S REPATRIATION OF ARTIFACTS
What makes this PRIMO edition truly remarkable is our investigation into Italy’s repatriations of relics and artifacts owned and displayed by America’s museums.
Titled “Who Owns Italian Culture,” consisting of four articles and an essay, our expose stands head and shoulders above all other media outlets in coverage of this issue. Much of what was written on the subject in other magazines and newspapers reported missed the mark. Disturbing elements in the story were overlooked. Reporters seemed to side with the Italian government and their claims that artifacts and items of antiquity here in America were stolen from Italian archives, libraries and archaeological sites. Our coverage shows a different view.
Read “Who Owns Italian Culture?” and you will be as troubled as I was regarding the Italian government’s denial of property rights, their presumption of guilt and the belief that history belongs to government not people.
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Three art museums, in particular, had to turn over considerable material to Italy. For lack of space, we were unable to include the following list of items returned:
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
Apulian Crater Vase, Apulian Epichysis, Apulian or Campanian Lid, Donkey Head from Greece, Processional Cross, Tuscany, Sicilian Vase in the form of a pig, 435 B.C., Red-Figure Duck Askos, 350 B.C., Etruscan Bracelet, silver, 6th century B.C., Etruscan Bracelet, silver, 6th century B.C., Column Krater, Greece, 590 B.C., Campanian Bird, 4th century B.C., Red-Figure Lekythkos, Campania, 4th century B.C., Apulian Lekythos, 4th century B.C., Epichysis, 4th century B.C.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON
Two-handled vessel (nestoris) about 420-410 B.C., Lekythos, about 500-490 B.C., Water jar (kalpis-hydria) depicting Apollo making a libation before gods and goddesses, about 485 B.C., Two-handled jar (pelike) depicting Phineus with the sons of Boreas, about 450 B.C., Statue of Sabina, about A.D. 136, Water jar (hydria), about 530-520 B.C., Vase for bath water (loutrophoros) depicting Pelops and Hippodameia in chariot, 320-310 B.C., Mixing bowl (bell-krater), about 380-370 B.C., Oil flask (lekythos), about 490 B.C., Two-handled jar (amphora) depicting the murder of Atreus about 340–330 B.C., Triangular support for a candelabrum shaft, decorative colonette, or small basin, A.D. 20-60, Two-handled vessel (nestoris) depicting athletes in conversation with girls, late fifth century B.C.. Mixing bowl (bell-krater) with Thracian hunters, about 440-430 B.C.
GETTY MUSEUM
Cult Statue of a Goddess, perhaps Aphrodite - 88.AA.76, Askos in Shape of a Siren – 92.AC.5, Fresco Fragments – 71.AG.111, Lekanis – 85.AA.107, Two Griffins Attacking a Fallen Doe – 85.AA.106, Attic Red-Figured Neck Amphora – 84.AE.63, Fragment of a fresco: lunette with mask of Hercules – 96.AG.171, Apulian Red-Figured Pelike – 87.AE.23, Apulian Red-Figured Loutrophorus – 84.AE.996, Attic Black-Figured Zone Cup – 87.AE.22, Attic Red-Figured Kalpis – 85.AE.316, Attic Red-Figured Kylix – 84.AE.569, Apulian Pelike with Arms of Achilles – 86.AE.611, Attic Red-Figured Kylix – 83.AE.287, Attic Red-Figured Calyx Krater – 88.AE.66, Attic Janiform Kantharos – 83.AE.218, Attic Red-Figured Phiale Fragments by Douris – 81.AE.213, Marble Bust of a Man – 85.AA.265, Attic Red-Figured Amphora with Lid – 79.AE.139, Apulian Red-Figured Volute Krater – 85.AE.102, Attic Red-Figured Calyx Krater – 92.AE.6 and 96.AE.335, Attic Red-Figured Mask Kantharos – 85.AE.263, Etruscan Red-Figured Plastic Duck Askos – 83.AE.203, Statue of Apollo – 85.AA.108, Group of Attic Red-Figured Calyx Krater Fragments (Berlin Painter, Kleophrades Painter) – 77.AE.5, Apulian Red-Figured Bell Krater – 96.AE.29, Statuette of Tyche – 96.AA.49, Attic Black-Figured Amphora (Painter of Berlin 1686) – 96.AE.92, Attic Black-Figured Amphora – 96.AE.93, Attic Red-Figured Cup – 96.AE.97, Pontic Amphora – 96.AE.139, Antefix in the Form of a Maenad and Silenos Dancing – 96.AD.33, Bronze Mirror with Relief-Decorated Cover – 96.AC.132, Attic Red-Figured Bell Krater – 81.AE.149, Apulian Red-Figured Volute Krater – 77.AE.14, Statuette of Dionysos – 96.AA.211, Attic Red-Figured Calyx Krater (“Birds”) – 82.AE.83, Group of three Fragmentary Corinthian Olpai – 81.AE.197, Paestan Squat Lekythos – 96.AE.119, Apulian Red-Figured Volute Krater – 77.AE.13
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END THE CASE AGAINST MARION TRUE
One cannot talk about repatriation of artifacts without mentioning Italy’s case against Marion True.
Not all lovers of Italian culture are Italian. True is one such person. A native of Oklahoma, True is the former antiquities curator at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. An expert in classicism and ancient Mediterranean culture, she was in charge of the Getty’s acquisition of artifacts and relics. She helped to establish the renowned Getty Villa, located in the hills outside LA, filled with items of antiquity from ancient Rome and Greece. Thanks in part to True’s efforts, the Getty rose to become one of the top art museums in the world within a 20 year period.
Now True’s world is turned upside down. She is the first American museum antiquities curator ever to faces criminal charges in Italy for trafficking in illicit artifacts.
Italy’s case against her is more eventful than justifiable. Trial proceedings in Rome are tarrying. Four years and six months into the case and the prosecution has yet to rest. The defense phase may take another four years. The presiding judge will retire in three. Meanwhile a host of issues between the Italian government and America’s museums have been settled.
One wonders what good can still come of the case.
Damage done to Italy from True’s alleged crimes is resolved. The Getty returned to Italy many of the suspected artifacts mentioned in the trial. Civil charges against True were dropped last year. A similar criminal case in Greece was dismissed earlier because the statute of limitations had run out. Most American museums have changed their acquisition policies to reflect greater compliance with Italian patrimony laws. Italy’s message has been received.
The prosecution’s case adds to the burden of justifiability. The convoluted nature of the antiquities trade makes it so. Too long is the line of buyers and sellers, brokers, middlemen and women, conservators, auctioneers, and private collectors to reasonably conclude True knew she was buying hot merchandise. Weak circumstantial evidence has led prosecutors to offer guilt by association. Touted are the curator’s sporadic dealings with suspicious collectors, i.e., a thank you note from her to a convicted smuggler on an unrelated matter is entered into evidence. Another tack is criminal negligence. A patronizing tone by Italian archeologists accompanies the theory that True should have known artifacts were stolen based on her extensive experience and education.
The case is unnecessary and unfounded. Italy should drop the charges against her.
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