FL Art Museum Curator Fired Over Greek Antiquities Exhibit: Report

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A senior curator was fired by St. Petersburg’s Museum of Fine Arts over provenance concerns surrounding a Greek antiquities exhibit, according to a report from the New York Times.

Michael Bennett organized the MFA’s first major traveling show in years, “From Chaos to Order,” which features works from the Geometric period, about 900 to 700 B.C.

When the show was scheduled to make its way to the Denver Art Museum, staff there became concerned when they realized many of the 57 artifacts, on loan to the MFA from collector Sol Rabin, didn’t include detailed records of their origins, the Times said.

While none of the works are known to have been looted, Rabin bought some pieces from sellers previously accused of dealing in stolen antiquities. The Denver museum’s director, Christoph Heinrich, canceled the show, deeming it a risk.

In a letter obtained by the Times, he wrote to the MFA, “I am sure you are familiar with how the changing legal and ethical standards and perceptions of collecting and displaying antiquities are front and center for many world culture museums today, including ours.”

Bennett was later put on leave and fired.

One of the foremost experts in ancient art in the country, he came to the MFA from the Cleveland Museum of Art in early 2018, Patch previously reported.

There, Bennett also faced controversy related to the provenance of a piece, according to Cleveland.com.

When the museum purchased what is now called “Apollo the Python-Slayer” in 2004, he attributed the work to the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. Archaeologists and art historians spoke out against the purchase over concerns that it might have been looted because there was no evidence to back up its provenance, reports said.