Works of art acquired from Art of the Past, New York
A number of sculptures in the National Gallery’s Asian art collection have been subject to national and international scrutiny due to the allegations against Subhash Kapoor, owner of specialist commercial gallery Art of the Past in New York. Since his arrest in 2011, the Gallery has been investigating the provenance and reviewing documentation for all works of art purchased from Art of the Past.
A bronze sculpture of Shiva Nataraja from the Gallery’s collection was the subject of a claim by the Indian government and repatriated on 5 September 2014. As more information was uncovered, further works of art were removed from the collection and repatriated.
As of June 2021, all works of art acquired from Art of the Past have been deaccessioned, and are being repatriated to their countries of origin. Images and details of these works of art are available here.
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Please contact the Gallery if you have any information regarding these works of art provenance@nga.gov.au.
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Published 12 April 2023
