On Friday, March 11 co-author Jason Felch spoke about Chasing Aphrodite and Italy’s efforts to reclaim looted art from the Getty Museum at Loyola Law School in downtown Los Angeles. The panel was part of a day long event, “Remnants of Genocide: Reclaiming Art and other Heirlooms Lost in Atrocities.” Details can be found here: http://events.lls.edu/genocide/
If you are interested booking the authors for a similar event, contact them at chasingpaphrodite@gmail.com
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Ralph Frammolino’s Feb 20th op-ed on J. Paul Getty in the LA Times:
“In the fall of 1973, a package arrived in a Rome newsroom. Delayed by an Italian postal strike, its contents had begun to spoil. Inside were a lock of red hair and a piece of rotting flesh. It bore a telltale freckle. The flesh was an ear belonging to the grandson of J. Paul Getty.
One of the richest men in the world, Getty had publicly refused to negotiate with the men who had kidnapped the younger Getty in Rome three months before. Now the oilman agreed to pay $2.2 million, the most he claimed could be deducted from his taxes as a theft loss. Getty lent the rest of the nearly $3 million ransom to his son, the teenager’s father — at 4% interest. Released, the grandson called to say thanks. The oilman refused to come to the phone.
The story of the severed ear made the rounds again last week in the obituaries for J. Paul Getty III, the grandson, who died Feb. 5 at age 54 after spending the last half of his life paralyzed and nearly blind from a 1981 drug- and alcohol-induced stroke. Even in death, the grandson’s travails were overshadowed by his infamous grandfather’s reputation as a hard-hearted patriarch.”
Read the rest here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-frammolino-getty-20110220,0,6608952.story
“Chasing Aphrodite is an epic story that, from the first page, grabs you by the lapels and won’t let go. Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino have penetrated the inner sanctum of one of the world’s most powerful museums, exposing how its caretakers – blinded by greed, arrogance and self-deception – eagerly tapped international networks of criminals in pursuit of the next great masterpiece. It is a breathtaking tale that I guarantee will keep you reading late into the night.”
Kurt Eichenwald
Author of Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story
Chasing Aphrodite will not officially be released until May 24th, but we’ll have early copies for sale on April 30th at this year’s Festival of Books, where the authors will be among the featured speakers. Join us!
More info here: http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/
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David Gill’s Looting Matters Paul Barford’s Portable Antiquities and Heritage Issues Derek Fincham’s Illicit Cultural Property Conflict Antiquities The Association for Research into Crimes against Art
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CHASING APHRODITE 