Major art museum group bolsters rules for acquiring ancient art

The ethics for adding ancient works to American art museum collections became substantially more stringent five years ago when the Assn. of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) decided to set the bar higher -- prompted by complaints from Italy, Greece and other ancient lands that museums had long turned a blind eye to evidence that pieces they owned had been looted from archaeological sites.

On Wednesday, the AAMD, which has 217 member museums in North America, announced a few more subtle tweaks to those guidelines, including requiring a public explanation on the AAMD's website if a museum decides to acquire a piece despite gaps in its ownership record going back to the fall of 1970.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been hit hard by the movement to repatriate looted antiquities, with nearly 50 objects returned to Italy and Greece since 2007.

Last summer the Getty, which exhibits its ancient art at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, began an internal effort to determine the ownership history of everything in its 45,000-piece antiquities collection and publish the results.

The AAMD and another prominent organization, the American Alliance of Museums, say it's OK to sell collection pieces only if the money is funneled directly back into the collection, typically through other acquisitions. The AAMD did make at least one prominent exception for L.A.'s Hammer Museum.