Asian Artifacts Donated by Prominent Patrons to Art Institute of Chicago Were Subject of Repatriation Efforts, Report Finds

A joint report published by ProPublica and the Chicago-based outlet Crains has revealed that several Asian artifacts donated as part of a collection by prominent Chicago philanthropists to the Art Institute of Chicago have been the subject of repatriation efforts.

According to the investigation, at least nine objects that once passed through the hands of Chicago collectors James and Marilynn Alsdorf, who died in 1990 and in 2019, respectively, have been returned to their origin countries after research efforts involving the Chicago museum.

The returns date back to the late 1980s at a time before calls for returns of artifacts with disputed ownership records were coming into the public discourse.

The museum’s display of high-profile objects with links to the Alsdorfs remains under scrutiny. Repatriation advocates and officials of the Nepalese government have been in talks with the museum about the return of a 17^th century gilt-copper necklace commissioned by a Nepalese king. The discussions began in August 2021 and are ongoing.

“The Art Institute has been deeply engaged in intensive research related to the referenced objects. We take repatriation requests extremely seriously, and we work directly with government or other officials when we receive them,” said Katie Rahn, a spokesperson for the museum.

The negotiations are part of an ongoing effort by the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign to reclaim relics believed to have been looted from the country during times of conflict. The group has pushed for recent returns of Nepalese artifacts from other major U.S. museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Denver Art Museum.

Repatriation agreements between U.S. museums and foreign officials often take years to be realized.

According to the investigation, a trust established in Marilyn Alsdorf’s name that is overseen by the collector’s legal executors forged a confidentiality agreement with the Nepalese government during the negotiations. The deal allowed for the Alsdorf’s ownership not to be disclosed in public announcements around the returns, the report found.

The Alsdorfs were major patrons of the Chicago museum, donating $20 million to the Art Institute over the course of their collecting careers. James Alsdorf, heir to a manufacturing business, served as the museum’s chairman in the 1970s; Marilynn served as a trustee on multiple committees, including the Women’s Board. In 2006, the couple endowed a curatorial position focused on Indian and Southeast Asian art at the museum.

A family foundation overseeing $7.6 million in assets in 2020 that is headed by Alsdorfs’ heirs, Jeffrey and Bridget Alsdorf, has continued to fund the AIC. (Representatives for the foundation could not immediately be reached for comment by ARTnews.)

It is not the first time antiquities from the Alsdorf collection have faced provenance issues. In 1988 and 1997, two artifacts with origins in Thailand and India owned by Alsdorf and displayed at the AIC were officially repatriated after research into their suspect history of ownership. In 2020, Christie’s returned two artifacts slated to be sold in an estate sale of the Alsdorfs’ collection to Italy.

In 2005, Marilynn Alsdorf paid out a $6.5 million settlement over a claim from the heirs of the former owner of Pablo Picassos’ Femme en Blanc (1922) that was confiscated by Nazis.