Black Market Art Trading

 

Katelyn Goetten, Verrazzano Class of 2020, completed majors in English Literature and History

I have always been interested in museums and grew up visiting them often.  I was enthralled with the museum's ability to transport visitors to the past, and felt that every time I stepped into a museum, I entered a time machine.  It was amazing to me that I could travel into the past without ever leaving New York City.  I also trusted that every piece I viewed in these institutions were honestly acquired for the public’s benefit.  I never questioned this until I got into college and started to perform intense research in my History and English classes, where I realized that these pieces had lives and stories of their own.

I started my Capstone with the intent to perform research exclusively about the policies in place that controlled the movement and trafficking of art in the United States.  I believed there must be policies not only in the United States, but also across the globe that protected artifacts and art from the black market trade.  However, I realized the current policies in place not only are not followed globally, but also have large loopholes that traffickers use to illegally move goods from an origin country to an art-rich country.

After performing further research in the black market art trade, it changed my perspective about the objects I viewed in museums.  It also changed my view about the museums themselves.  This research opened my eyes to the lack of policy that protects art from being trafficked and taken from their origin countries.  It also left me with ethical questions that do not have an answer that can be found in research, such as, do we all have a right to view and observe art as global citizens, or does that right lie with the origin country?   Regardless of my findings, I still love to go to museums and feel lucky to be transported into the past to be witness to humanity’s accomplishments and struggles through art.