DUE: 01 NOVEMBER 1996
LENGTH: 7 - 10 pages
ASSIGNMENT:
You are the Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Several years ago your museum purchased an Archaic Greek kouros. If authentic, this kouros is one of a rare number of well-preserved examples of Archaic Greek art and a major purchase for your collection. From the very announcement of its acquisition, however, questions have arisen concerning the authenticity of the statue. Recently another kouros of very suspect appearance has appeared on the art market and has been linked stylistically to the Getty kouros. In order to evaluate these charges, your staff has gathered a dossier of material for you to assess. Your task is to review critically the materials in this dossier and then to write a letter to your Board of Trustees in which you give your own assessment of the materials assembled as well as of the kouros' authenticity and your recommendation as to whether or not it should be kept on display.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE GETTY KOUROS FOLLOW THIS TEXT
DOSSIER ON CLOSED RESERVE IN THE ART LIBRARY:
M. True, "A Kouros at the Getty Museum" Burlington Magazine (Jan 87) 3-11
J. Spier, "Blinded with Science: the abuse of science in the detection of false antiquities" Burlington Magazine (Sept 90) 623-631
M. True et al., The Getty Kouros Colloquium (Athens, 25-27 May 1992)
Connoisseur magazine packet (articles from the issues of Sept 86, May 87, Aug 87, Jan 90, and Oct 90; also an editorial from Apollo 1988)
M. Jones, "Why Fakes?", Introduction (pp. 11-27) in M. Jones, ed., Fake? The Art of Deception
Review of Fake? The Art of Deception by M. Rutenberg, "The Charms of Deception" in The New York Review of Books (Jan 31, 1991) 10-13
G. Richter, Kouroi
DOSSIER ATTACHED TO THIS ASSIGNMENT:
M. Kimmelman, "Absolutely Real? Absolutely Fake?" The New York Times (Sunday, August 4, 1991)
Review of The Getty Kouros Colloquium by E. Hall, "If it's a fake, how many others are there?" in The Times Literary Supplement (October 22, 1993) 29
N. Herz, "Authenticating Ancient Marbles" The Journal of Art (March 91) 62
"The ASMOSIA Conference and More on De-dolomitization" Minerva 4.4 (July - Aug 93) 4-5
"Summary of the Scientific Investigation of the Getty Kouros" (prepared by the J. Paul Getty Museum for the participants in the Athens Colloquium)