Putting Right Previous Wrongs:
The triangular relationship between Emma Bunker, Douglas Latchford and the Denver Art Museum in the western state of Colorado, USA has been unraveling to benefit Cambodia’s worldwide efforts to repatriate important antiquities looted from its ancient temples, in the past few years. Both Latchford and Bunker are no longer with us, though Bunker was affiliated with this particular museum for more than 40 years as a donor, board member and go-to expert. As for Latchford, the disgraced British collector-dealer, he loaned, gifted or sold 14 pieces to them between 1999 and 2011. In their concerted efforts to put right previous wrongs, a steady stream of artifacts have been handed-over by the museum to American federal authorities pending their return to Cambodia. This included four items repossessed by the Southern District of New York and sent to Cambodia towards the end of 2021 - these were stone statues of Prajnaparamita, Surya, a Reclining Vishnu lintel and a bronze bell, now on display at the National Museum in Phnom Penh. They had been preceded by the return of a statue of Rama in 2016, which had been looted from Koh Ker forty years earlier.
Then in September 2023, Denver announced a further five artifacts in their collection, which were sold or gifted to the museum by the mother and daughter duo of Doris and Nancy Wiener, art dealers in New York, had been deaccessioned - or formally removed from its collection - and would be returned to Cambodia (three items) and two other countries. Three bronzes - a Bayon art style Vishvakarma and a Shiva Triad, as well as an 11th century Seated Buddha, were surrendered to Cambodia’s representatives by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in April 2024, as part of a bigger repatriation of artworks. Meanwhile, provenance research into Denver’s collection continued behind-the-scenes and in September 2024 an additional 11 antiquities, tied to Emma Bunker, some with secondary connections to Douglas Latchford, were rendered to federal officials, half of which will likely be heading to Cambodia. When I first reported on the Khmer artifacts at the Denver museum in April 2021, there were just two items listed online under Cambodia artworks. The subsequent repatriations and ongoing collaboration with US authorities and Cambodian representatives have seen a seismic shift in the museum’s commitment to ethical collecting practices and detailed provenance research, since they set up a dedicated research team in 2022, and their online inventory is now updated and publicly displayed. Other international museums would do well to follow in Denver’s footsteps.Credit By :Andy Brouwer