Art dealer returns Hopi sacred artifacts

In our recent issue of Museum Anthropology journal, a number of people commented on the April 2013 auction of Zuni and Hopi items in Paris.  Below is a new development regarding one of the art dealers who purchased items at that sale.

Arizona Daily Sun, October 06, 2013, By Larry Hendricks
 
New York art dealer Monroe Warshaw was in Paris in April in search of drawings on paper. He regularly visits London, or Paris, in search of art.

While there, he attended an auction and purchased two ceremonial artifacts of the Hopi Tribe. After doing so, he was immediately vilified in the press. He had no idea of the controversy he stumbled into.

“I spoke with my normal lack of tact,” he said during an August visit to Flagstaff, remembering the interviews by the press after the auction.

From far and wide, he was accused of having no morals, of exploiting the Hopi culture. He insists his intentions were honorable.

Regardless, Warshaw made good on a promise he made in August to the Hopi Tribe. On Monday, the two sacred objects he purchased for nearly $40,000 at the auction were repatriated without cost to the tribe.

“Just happy I did the right thing,” Warshaw said via email this week...


More here.