via Denver Post, 09 March 2023: The fallout from Douglas Latchford and his close associate Emma Bunker continues, with the Denver Art Museum disassociating itself from its longtime donor and board member. More information about how Bunker and Latchford facilitated the looting and laundering of Cambodian antiquities can be heard on the ongoing podcast, Dynamite Doug.
In January 2018, Emma C. Bunker and the Denver Art Museum reached an agreement — one that would etch the longtime donor and board member’s name on the institution’s walls for half a century to come.
The esteemed scholar, who helped the Denver museum build its Asian art collection over six decades, would donate $125,000 to the museum’s Vision 2021 Capital Campaign, a project to renovate the north building and expand the museum campus. Two of her children would chip in another $60,000 combined.
In return, the Denver Art Museum agreed to put the Bunker name in three-dimensional lettering on a gallery wall, displayed in a prominent location until 2071.
But five years to the day after Bunker put pen to paper on a deal that would cement her legacy in the Mile High City for decades to come, the museum notified the Colorado attorney general that it planned to remove her name from the wall in the Martin Building and give back all the money.
The museum’s attorney, in a Jan. 25 letter obtained this week by The Denver Post, wrote that the institution could no longer abide by the naming agreement due to mounting evidence that its respected donor — who died in 2021 — aided a criminal enterprise.
The letter was sent nearly two months after the publication of a yearlong investigation by The Post that found Bunker helped her close friend and collaborator, Douglas Latchford, sell and loan looted Cambodian relics across the globe.
“In light of Bunker’s long involvement with Latchford, connection to pieces with false provenance, documents indicating that she intentionally provided false provenance, and related issues, the museum has determined that it is no longer willing to abide by the (naming agreement),” the museum’s lawyer, Heidi S. Glance, wrote in the letter.
Source: Denver Art Museum removes Emma Bunker’s name, returns $185,000
See also:
- Denver Art Museum cuts ties with longtime volunteer linked to indicted arts dealer | 9 News, 09 Mar 2023
- Denver Art Museum Removes Donor’s Name After Investigation Reveals Ties to Douglas Latchford | ARTNews, 10 Mar 2023
- Denver Art Museum returns donations from associate of antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford | The art Newspaper, 16 Mar 2023
