The Cambodian authorities formally reached out to the household of Emma C. Bunker, an artwork historian who died in 2021 and who sat on the board of the Denver Artwork Museum, for her data and archival supplies, the Denver Put up reported.
The request follows on from the repatriation of 11 Asian artifacts by DAM lately to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. The works had primarily been donated by Bunker, who got here underneath scrutiny a number of years in the past after it was discovered that she sourced acquisitions of a number of works from Douglas Latchford, an artwork and antiquities seller accused of smuggling and dealing in looted Southeast Asian antiquities. Latchford died in 2020 earlier than he may stand trial, whereas Bunker died a 12 months later and was by no means formally charged with any wrongdoing.
The Denver Put up, nevertheless, continued to report on Bunker’s ties to Latchford after her dying, releasing a three-part investigation in 2022 alleging that Bunker helped Latchford use DAM as a “approach station for looted artwork.” Bunker had established an acquisitions fund for DAM to assist arrange its Asian galleries. The Put up alleged that she used her scholarly status to vouch for Latchford and even helped the seller forge provenance data to faciltiate the gross sales by means of the fund.
The museum reduce ties with Bunker in 2023, eradicating her title from its Southeast Asian gallery wall and returning a large donation to her household.
Now the Cambodian authorities, by means of lawyer Bradley Gordon, despatched an e mail to Bunker’s son, Lambert, asking for his mom’s “intensive notebooks regarding Cambodia,” as wellas images of Cambodian statues that Bunker organized for a number of publications co-written with Latchford.
“We’re very desperate to seek the advice of these supplies as we proceed our seek for a number of essential statues originating from the nation,” Gordon wrote within the e mail, which the Put up reviewed.
The Denver Artwork Museum didn’t reply to a request for remark at press time.
