Leave Art Alone!

«In the history of humanity, there are many great and disgraceful pages, the cruelties of war and the joys of peace. One must remember both. And let's leave art alone», D. Norman

Geraldine Norman, a renowned journalist and writer, longtime friend and advisor to the director of the State Hermitage Museum M. B. Piotrovsky, has gathered the courage to write a book on the scandalous, sharp, and delicate topic of cultural restitution. Using the examples of eight largest museums: the British Museum, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum, the Vatican Museums, the Hermitage, and the national museums of Australia, India, and China, the author tells detective-like stories about the fate of various artifacts and world masterpieces of art, obtained long ago due to colonial wars, revolutions, the smuggling of “looters”, and enterprising art dealers… Should the Benin bronzes be returned to Benin, the “Mona Lisa” to the Italians, and other masterpieces to their home countries? How to deal with the modern “culture of cancellation”, “cultural appropriation”, and the struggle with colonial past in the context of museum history and life? Geraldine Norman discusses this and much more with the reader.

About the Author
Geraldine Norman was born in Wales in 1940. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Oxford University. Since 1962, she has worked as a statistician for The Times newspaper. In 1967, in collaboration with Sotheby’s auction house, she created a column that regularly published prices for works of art. In 1969, she became a special correspondent, covering auction sales. In 1971, she married the well-known writer and playwright Frank Norman (who died in 1980). From 1987 to 1995, she worked as an art correspondent for The Independent newspaper.

From 1999 to 2001, she was the director of the Hermitage Development Foundation, and from 2003 to 2005, she served as the editor-in-chief of the “Hermitage” magazine. From 2003 to 2020, she headed the Friends of the Hermitage Foundation in the UK. Since 2014, she has been an advisor to the director of the State Hermitage Museum, M. B. Piotrovsky.