via Denver Post, 01 December 2022: Perhaps and probably as a result of the Denver Post’s reporting (see here, here and here), the Denver Art Museum’s acquisition fund named after Emma Bunker has been quietly closed down.
The Denver Art Museum has removed from its website an Asian art acquisition fund named in honor of Emma Bunker following a Denver Post investigation into the longtime museum consultant and board member.
The art museum last year launched the “Emma Cadwalader Bunker Asian Art Acquisition Fund” to honor the Colorado woman who spent decades helping the museum boost its collections.
But The Post’s investigation, published online Thursday, found that Bunker used her scholarship and writings to help an accused art smuggler, Douglas Latchford, sell and loan artwork that had been looted from Cambodia’s ancient temples. Over the past decade, Bunker — who died last year — was referred to or mentioned mentioned in five civil and criminal cases surrounding the sale of illicit antiquities— though she was never charged or sued herself.
Source: Denver Art Museum ends Emma Bunker art acquisition fund
