French Culture Ministry publishes museum acquisition policy report to curb art extortion

French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak commissioned three art experts – Christian Giacomotto, Marie-Christine Labour Marie-Christine Labourdette and Arnaud Oseredczuk to improve the security of museum collections, the ministry said in the press release on Monday.

Some of the report’s recommendations include creating a joint working group between government departments and local law enforcement officials on provenance and acquisitions, and expanding art sellers’ access to digitized police records

.Other recommendations include the creation of training and education programs within the Ministry of Culture on researching the provenance of artworks. The word provenance describes how a work has been acquired by individuals or institutions over the course of years of changing hands.

Giacomotto is a member of the board of directors of the National Museum Administration and chair of the auditory committee of the Association France Museums, which “played an important role in its establishment” Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Labourdette was president of the City of Architecture and Heritage, an agency under the Ministry of Culture dedicated to promoting French architecture in France and abroad.she served President of the Medieval Castle of Fontainebleau since 2021.

Oseredczuk is an auditor specializing in asset management and regulation, who former chief administrator The Musée d’Orsay and the Musée d’Orangerie from 2017 to 2020.

Together, the three experts interviewed more than 60 art professionals, then came up with 42 recommendations to tackle issues such as money laundering in the art world.

“If any acquisition involves risks, the two main issues are the authenticity and provenance of the objects,” the French Ministry of Culture said in a press release.

“The question of authenticity came to the fore in 2017, when the public agency at the Palace of Versailles acquired fake furniture from the 18th century; the question of provenance was compounded, the sensitivity of which increased over time; for some objects It is more poignant for archaeological objects and those from areas of conflict or looting.”

experts say in the report Certain acquisitions by Louvre Abu Dhabi “highlight the risks faced by museums in the acquisition process” and that officials in charge of acquisitions “still lack adequate training” on such risks.

“The capacity for provenance research, a relatively new issue, has not been clearly identified and mobilized in museums’ acquisition chains,” the report reads.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture Tell ArtNet News It has already started to move forward with some of the recommendations made in the report.

The Antiquities Alliance, an international organization fighting “cultural extortion” and the illicit trade in ancient arts and crafts, called on New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to “take strong, concrete and immediate action” in June after commissioning the French report.

“It is critical that the Met take steps to regain public trust. The museum is now setting the standard for what it cannot do in the American art market, which should be the gold standard of due diligence and transparency,” said the Antiquities Alliance in a statement then.

“We urge the Met to follow France’s example and assemble a task force of eminent experts to find out why these ethical and legal lapses occurred and, more importantly, to ensure that they never happen again.”

The Antiquities Alliance statement follows Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s announcement that his office has seized five Egyptian sculptures worth more than $3 million from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.