Critics welcome new rules for art collections after Shiva scandal

AN outspoken critic of collecting standards has welcomed new due diligence guidelines adopted by culture ministers yesterday.

AN outspoken critic of collecting standards at Australian museums, Kylie Winkworth, has welcomed the federal government’s new due diligence guidelines as “an important response to what have been scandalously lax collecting practices in some Australian museums”.

The revised best-practice document was unanimously adopted by the state and federal cultural ministers meeting in Alice Springs yesterday.

The guidelines were developed in response to the Subhash Kapoor Indian antiquity scandal at the National Gallery of Australia and Art Gallery of NSW, which resulted in Tony Abbott last month returning to India two 900-year old Shivas bought for $5.9 million. They require art galleries, libraries, archives and museums to scrutinise the title of all items they seek to borrow and those already in their collection.