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Oral history of fmr Getty associate antiquities curator Ken Hamma, who helped grow the Getty’s antiquities collection from ‘87 to ‘97.
Later Hamma fought for open access to information about its collections. https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2020/12/07/kenneth-hamma-antiquities-and-technology-at-the-getty
Later Hamma fought for open access to information about its collections. https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2020/12/07/kenneth-hamma-antiquities-and-technology-at-the-getty
Here are more Getty oral histories from the UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library.
(Pro tip: Be sure to read with Chasing Aphrodite on hand for reference and omissions.)
Particularly interested in Sally Hibbard and several former trustees
https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/oral-history-center/projects/getty
(Pro tip: Be sure to read with Chasing Aphrodite on hand for reference and omissions.)
Particularly interested in Sally Hibbard and several former trustees
https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/oral-history-center/projects/getty
Hamma covers some fascinating history here:
On the blurry distinction between dealers, collectors, curators and academics
Hamma on his decision to leave the antiquities department in 1997: tired of dealing with “bottom feeders and real thugs”
Hamma on the Italian raids that changed everything and led to the criminal case against the Getty and Marion True.
(He means Medici and Geneva, I believe, not Hecht and Zurich. And the raid took place in ‘95, two years before he left Antiquities.)
(He means Medici and Geneva, I believe, not Hecht and Zurich. And the raid took place in ‘95, two years before he left Antiquities.)
Hamma on Marion True still going after shady antiquities while under investigation by Italy (ouch!)
Hamma on the Italian investigation: “And it became clear at a certain point—because it was complicated, and there were secrets that no one was ever going to find out—if you weren't there in 1990, you're never going to know...”
Tell me more Ken!
Tell me more Ken!
Hamma throws shade at current Getty antiquities curator Jeff Speir, who, as he notes, used to be a dealer. Not exactly a sign of institutional reform on antiquities.
Hamma on Marion True’s efforts at reforming the antiquities trade before her (and his!) past caught up with her
