Bator Advocates More Art Trade

With a panel from the American Society of International Law, Paul M. Bator, professor of Law, is presently devising methods to prevent the desecration of Pre-Columbian monuments through the illegal exportation of art pieces from Latin America.

According to members of the law panel, legitimate sales, loans, and international exhibitions of Pre-Columbian art would decrease the foreign demand and discourage the prosperous illegal trade. In April the law panel will present its findings to a UNESCO conference on the situation of the international art market.

Bator has suggested that Britain's policy of supervising the export of valuable art and allowing export of all but the rarest works is the most workable one employed today.

"One hopes that more nations would move towards something like the British system," said Bator. "They could encourage satisfaction of the market by legitimate trade, thus destroying the incentive for black market movement."

Bator feels that illegal export from Central American countries is a part of the world-wide problem of regulating international exchange of art works.

Interest in primitive art has greatly increased the demand for Pre-Columbian works by European and American collectors in recent years.

The present policy of Mexico andGuatemala prevents the legitimate export of artifacts and has thereby stimulated black market trade of valuable pieces. In both countries border controls have proven inadequate in keeping the materials-mainly architectural sculptures and pots-within the country.

The panel is also looking into possible ways of guarding Mexican and Guatamalan monument sites.

Professional dealers in the black market break ancient monuments into pieces and sell these to museums and private collectors all over the world.

Tourists also play their part in this illegal trade by removing small sculptures and artifacts.