The Metropolitan Museum of Art by no_typographic_man. Used under Creative Commons
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has made an addition to its acquisitions policy.
The Museum normally shall not acquire a work unless provenance research substantiates that the work was outside its country of probable modern discovery before 1970 or was legally exported from its probable country of modern discovery after 1970.
This change comes from pressure from Lord Renfrew, a long standing advocate for stricter museum guidelines, who seems to achieve that by playing the Met and the Getty off each other.
“I shall be pointing out in my lecture that [Met leaders] still have a way to go before they have the clear and transparent guidance which the Getty now follows. The Getty has taken the lead and retains the lead!”
Expect “The 1970 Rule” to be a museum buzzword of 2009.
