Laocoon group at the Legion of Honor Museum © Yair Haklai
It's somewhat of a Greek tragedy for the Legion of Honor Museum and local San Franciscans. Following an alleged incident of vandalism last week, two heads and part of one leg of a Greek sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are missing. While the museum consults with its curatorial team and local authorities about what to do next—and whether the missing pieces can be recovered—the marble sculpture, dubbed The Laocoön Group, has been covered up.
Laocoon group beheaded at the Legion d'Honneur Museum @CornellBarnard
The Carrara marble sculpture is a replica of a famous ancient Roman statue at the Vatican Museums from the early twentieth century. It shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus writhing in agony as sea serpents attack them. Since it was donated in the early 1930s, the Legion of Honor's museum version, created by an unknown artist, has stood outside the museum. The sculpture sustained surface damage, as well as the decapitation of the two son figures and the loss of a major part of Laocoön's leg, according to a representative for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which encompasses the de Young and the Legion of Honor.
Laocoon group beheaded at the Legion d'Honneur Museum @CornellBarnard
According to the spokeswoman, the museum is working with the San Francisco Police Department to analyze the issue and recover the sculpture's missing sections. "This is a loss to the museum and the citizens of San Francisco," Martin Chapman, the Legion of Honor's curator of European arts and sculpture, told ABC7. The other sculptures on the grounds, including Rodin's Thinker and an Anna Hyatt Huntington statue of Joan of Arc, were not harmed, according to a museum representative. Although the museum refuses to confirm the facts, local news indicated that the museum does not have security footage of the incident. In addition, citing the current inquiry, the representative declined to say whether any evidence was left behind.
Selena Mattei