2023-08-26 17:09:38
Opinion theft from the British Museum
The Hartwig Fischer era is not over yet
Status: 5:09 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
Hartwig Fischer
Source: dpa/British Museum/Benedict Johnson
Hartwig Fischer went to London in 2016 and was the first foreigner to take over the British Museum in around 200 years. He avoided the hype, preferring to work diligently on his billion-pound master plan. What it says about the institution that he of all people is now plunging over a criminal associate.
Hartwig Fischer resigned as director of the British Museum in London on August 25. The Hamburg art historian announced a few weeks ago that he would be stepping down from his post at the end of the year. Even at that time, there was speculation as to what had contributed to the decision. There were a few reasons.
In 2016, after positions at the Folkwang Museum in Essen and the art collections in Dresden, Fischer moved to the head of one of the most renowned houses in the world. For the first time since 1827, a foreigner led the institution. He was also guaranteed attention as the successor to Neil MacGregor. But he only had a few words left to say goodbye and the wish that his resignation would avert the “greatest damage to the institution”.
First hint as early as 2021
What happened? Over the past week it became known that the museum’s management had been informed since 2021 that around 2,000 artifacts from the museum’s 8 million pieces had been sold illegally on Ebay, often far below their value. But nothing was done about it. On the contrary. Although antiquities dealer Ittai Gradel drew the attention of Fischer’s deputy, Jonathan Williams, to the theft, no action was taken. What’s more, Williams simply didn’t believe Gradel and couldn’t imagine that his own employees were capable of it.
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In 2022 the unbelievable was confirmed. And yet: Just a few days ago, Hartwig Fischer tried to blame Ittai Gradel for the delayed clarification, only apologizing when the dealer threatened to report him for character assassination and made e-mails public. Fischer’s loyalty to his deputy was not rewarded.
Fischer’s deputy Williams replied to one of the art dealer’s fire emails from 2021 with the succinct words: The objects in question are all available and there are no signs of misconduct by museum employees. How wrong he was is now becoming clearer day by day, disclosure by disclosure.
Second resignation expected
Williams has now also agreed to resign from his duties with immediate effect. However, only until the independent investigation into the thefts has been completed. How long this attitude can be maintained depends not only on the size of the scandal, but especially on the museum’s questionable reaction to the warnings. It’s hard to imagine that he would keep his job but Hartwig Fischer would have to go.
Theft has always been at the British Museum, stolen a Roman coin and jewelery worth £250,000 in 1993, a 2500-year-old Greek statue worth around £25,000 in 2002, 15 Chinese artefacts in 2004, a Cartier diamond worth £750,000 in 2017 Lb. Such sloppiness and hubris as it has now come to be known is astounding even for the British Museum.
Hartwig Fischer’s master plan
Regardless of the recent scandal, the pressure on Fischer was enormous. One who has come up time and time again in this context when it comes to questioning Fischer’s leadership is Board of Trustees Chairman George Osborne. He recently led negotiations with Greece to return the Elgin Marbles, bypassing the director. Actually an affront, but Fischer never managed to defend himself against these escapades. His style always worked inwards, not outwards. But that is probably not enough for an international institution with the importance of the British Museum.
And so it was not surprising that the museum’s reaction to its announcement that it would leave London in 2024 was sober, even without a theft scandal. The Fischer era is not quite over yet. His master plan, costing around one billion euros, will be presented in the autumn. It was Fischer’s job to initiate the “general overhaul of the building and the presentation of the collection”. And that in times of post-colonialism and the restitution agenda of many other states. Only then will the public really be able to make a judgment and the summary of his time in London will be complete. Theft scandal or not.
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