Editor's choice: "Chasing Aphrodite" by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino
Is this a growing new genre 鈥� or am I just a latecomer to the party?
Either way, I find myself becoming ever fonder of an intriguing niche in the world of nonfiction: books about what happens behind the scenes in the world of great art.
First (for me, anyway) there was Jonathan Harr鈥檚 2006 book 鈥淭he Lost Painting,鈥� which describes the life of a long-lost masterpiece by Caravaggio and reads like a fabulous detective story. Then there was 鈥淭he Gardner Heist鈥� by Ulrich Boser (2009), a terrific read about the infamous 1990 theft of 13 masterpieces off the walls of Boston鈥檚 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. And 鈥淧rovenance鈥� by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (2009) is an amazing story about one of the most audacious scams in the history of art.
Now the latest art-world expos茅 that I鈥檓 adding to my library shelf is Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World鈥檚 Richest Museum by Los Angeles Times reporters Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino.
Felch and Frammolino team up to tell the story of how one of America鈥檚 most prestigious and powerful museums 鈥� the Getty Museum of Los Angeles 鈥� found itself at the center of a storm over looted antiquities. In truth the Getty 鈥� and its curator, Marion True, who became the scandal鈥檚 poster child for misdoing 鈥� for the most part did nothing that other leading US museums hadn鈥檛 been doing for years. Behind their pristine facades, virtually every major US museum dealt with looters and crooks to procure black-market masterpieces 鈥� taking a 鈥渄on鈥檛 ask, don鈥檛 tell鈥� stance toward questions of both ethics and legalities.
鈥淐丑补蝉颈苍驳 Aphrodite鈥� tells what happened when some of the world鈥檚 most victimized countries finally rose up and said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 do this anymore 鈥� or we鈥檒l see you in court.鈥�
Don鈥檛 mistake this title for a beach book. Felch and Frammolino are serious men, investigative reporters at the top of their games, who very intelligently lay out all the issues at stake here, and you鈥檇 probably do best to read this one sitting up straight.
But like all of the titles above, 鈥淐丑补蝉颈苍驳 Aphrodite鈥� is blessed with the odd allure that marks the world of art itself 鈥� a world that Felch and Frammolino describe as 鈥済lamorous but not pretty.鈥�
Low-down thugs rub elbows with terrifyingly erudite curators and ridiculously wealthy collectors, all of them almost helplessly attracted to a handful of the most beautiful objects in the world. Museum staffs with more PhDs per capita than you鈥檒l find at MIT create 鈥渟piteful environment[s]鈥� in which a sense of entitlement runs wild and trips to Paris on the Concorde are viewed as a basic right. And then there are the earnest investigators 鈥� Italian, in this case 鈥� driven by a deep-seated conviction that what鈥檚 theirs is theirs and that when it comes to the finest of antiquities 鈥渟uch loveliness belongs at home.鈥�
鈥淐丑补蝉颈苍驳 Aphrodite鈥� is perhaps not the sexiest of the behind-the-scenes art books but it may be the most thorough. Felch and Frammolino researched their topic for five years, doing countless interviews and enjoying access to confidential Getty files. The result is a book so tightly nailed down that when they describe a meeting you sometimes learn who sat where and what the weather was like that day.
That鈥檚 not to say that it鈥檚 not a page turner. As a reader it鈥檚 impossible not to become engaged with characters like True, who started life in blue-collar Massachusetts but eventually landed 鈥� thanks to morally questionable intervention on the part of some wealthy friends of the Getty 鈥� a Greek villa of her own.
It鈥檚 a world that鈥檚 as distant from most of us as the Peloponnesian War 鈥� and yet as close as the museum that you visited last week.
Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor鈥檚 books editor.
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