Stolen Art at Denver Art Museum?

 

The limestone deity at the Denver Art Museum. Figure (Uma-Maheshvara). 10th Century, stone. Nepal. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin F. Ullman from the collection of Jane F. and Harold P. Ullman. Photo courtesy of the Denver Art Museum

    This article is about the piece above, a piece located in the Denver Art Museum. This piece has been in the museum's possession for quite some time; however, the piece appears in a book about stolen art from Nepal.
    The author Angela Ufheil, is an assistant editor at Denver's city magazine, 5280. Ufheil has also been working in news her whole career.
    Angela Ufheil's writing in this piece is very analytical and can be seen in quotes such as: 
"A piece in the Denver Art Museum’s (DAM) Asian collection is causing controversy amongst art historians and concerned citizens of Nepal. The object in question is a 30-and-three-quarter-inch-tall tablet depicting Shiva, a revered Hindu deity, and his wife Parvati, along with their children and other attendants. Nepalese Hindus refer to images of the embracing couple as Uma-Mahesvara; the DAM curator calls it “Uma-Maheshvaramurti.” According to the DAM’s website, Dr. and Mrs. Edwin F. Ullman gifted the piece to the museum in 1980. The tablet was part of Ullman’s parents’ collection—according to the DAM, the couple purchased it from Sundaram Works of Art and Handicrafts, a shop in New Delhi, India, in 1968. Kristy Bassuener, director of communications and public affairs for the DAM, told 5280 that the museum does not have any further facts to share about the piece prior to that date."
"The alleged theft was part of a pattern. “Nepal is a fascinating case because you can track how tourist access to the country corresponds with the loss of cultural heritage,” says Erin Thompson, an art historian who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York in New York City and specializes in art crimes. For centuries, Nepal rarely allowed outsiders to visit the country, writes Bangdel in Stolen Images of Nepal. But when the borders opened to visitors in the 1950s, pieces of art previously found in villages, temples, shrines, and more began to disappear."
    Evidences employed and cited are from Lain Singh Bangdel, the author of the book on stolen Nepal art, and the Denver Art Museum's curators. I think both of these sources are reliable because they are the direct reasons for the article being written.
    I think this article is very reliable given the sources used by Angela Ufheil. The sources are the grounds for the article being written in the first place, so she went directly to the Denver Art Museum and Lain Singh Bangdel to write the article on stolen art from Nepal on display at the Denver Art Museum.

Ufheil, Angela, et al. “Was This Statue in the Denver Art Museum's Collection Originally Stolen From Nepal?” 5280, 6 Feb. 2021, www.5280.com/2021/02/was-this-statue-in-the-denver-art-museums-collection-originally-stolen-from-nepal/.

“HOME.” Portfolio, www.angelaufheil.com/.

 

Comments

  1. Nate I think what you did well in this blog is explaining why this piece is analytical by quoting some stuff from the article. After just reading a couple quotes I could tell the author seemed like a detective trying to figure out if the art piece was stolen. One thing is maybe look into the background of the author more, has she ever given any misinformation in her articles?

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  2. Nate I think you did a really good job going over all the points and picking good quotes from the article. I think its very interesting that a higher end piece of art can go through so much, and still no one knows the full truth. MY question is I wonder what the future plans are for everyone and how they gonna deal with what it happening.

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