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Hyperallergic

Hyperallergic

Sensitive to Art & its Discontents

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Erin L. Thompson

Erin L. Thompson, a professor of art crime at John Jay College, is the author of the forthcoming book Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of American Monuments.

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Posted inArt

The Surprising Mix of Tradition and Innovation in Nepal’s Contemporary Art Scene

by Erin L. Thompson April 2, 2022April 4, 2022

The work of many of Nepal’s contemporary artists suggests that the distinctions between labels like ancient and modern, or foreign and Nepali, will blur if you shift your point of view.

Posted inArt

Surrounded by Wealth, an Artist’s Comment on Education Loses Its Edge

by Erin L. Thompson March 20, 2022March 21, 2022

Within the well-patrolled boundaries of Madison Square Park, it’s hard not to see Hugh Hayden’s Brier Patch as just another amenity, offering a pleasant opportunity for virtue signaling.

Posted inOpinion

How the Met Museum Justifies Looting

by Erin L. Thompson December 22, 2021December 23, 2021

The African Origins exhibition ignores the fact that approximately 160 objects from Benin are held by the museum under ongoing demands for their repatriation.

Posted inArt

Returned to Nepal by the FBI, a Sculpture Becomes a God Again

by Erin L. Thompson December 17, 2021December 17, 2021

Last week, I flew to Nepal and witnessed a ceremony to replace a looted Lakshmi-Narayan sculpture to its original location.

Posted inOpinion

What Do We Do with the Work of Immoral Artists?

by Erin L. Thompson November 15, 2021November 17, 2021

Where should we “draw the line” between sacrificing great art and supporting artists who are predators and bigots?

Posted inFilm

Decolonizing the (Sitcom) Museum

by Erin L. Thompson September 19, 2021September 17, 2021

What does Rutherford Falls, a new TV series that prominently features two small town museums, tell us about the way people see the contentious stories on display in history and art institutions?

Posted inOpinion

The Lax Compliance of Museums with AAM Guidelines for Ancient Art

by Erin L. Thompson and Mackenzie Priest March 28, 2021March 26, 2021

The most astounding result of our research was discovering how few museums had complied with the American Alliance of Museums’ simplest requirement: having a public collections policy.

Posted inOpinion

Stumbling Towards Repatriation

by Erin L. Thompson and Emiline Smith March 11, 2021March 11, 2021

We need to make it clear to our museums that we do not want to walk around in galleries of stolen artworks.

Posted inArt

Sorry/Not Sorry: How Viewers Express Judgment by Touching the Art

by Erin L. Thompson August 30, 2020March 9, 2021

Anyone who deliberately damages art in a museum is regarded as under a delusion, either due to mental illness or a failure to perceive the nature of what they’re doing. But in reality, people touch art all of the time.

Posted inOpinion

A Benin Bronze With Fishy Provenance Goes to Auction

by Erin L. Thompson June 26, 2020March 9, 2021

While conversations about historic monuments ignite public debate, a small sculpture which was likely looted heads to auction at Christie’s Paris.

Posted inOpinion

The True Cost of Museum Fakes

by Erin L. Thompson March 26, 2020March 9, 2021

The Museum of the Bible recently admitted all of its Dead Sea Scroll fragments are forgeries. But when fake antiquities are donated to museums, taxpayers lose.

Posted inArt

Stolen Deities Resurface in a Dallas Museum

by Erin L. Thompson January 24, 2020March 9, 2021

A blogger’s shaky snapshots from an exhibition opening reveal where a Lakshmi-Narayana statue stolen from a temple in Kathmandu in 1984 had ended up: the Dallas Museum of Art.

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