A donation of 500 guitars to the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork this previous Could was perceived as a selected thrilling addition to the gathering—so thrilling, the truth is, that the donation even introduced by way of a long-form profile within the New Yorker. However that donation might embody one object that will have made it into the donation by sick means.
In a New York Publish story printed this weekend, a supervisor for former Rolling Stones musician Mick Taylor claimed that the Met was now in possession of his stolen Les Paul guitar. That guitar was taken from the Rolling Stones’s French villa, in Nellcôte, in 1971, the yr when thieves reportedly absconded with 9 of Keith Richards’ guitars, amongst different devices.
The five hundred guitars got to the Met by collector Dirk Ziff. On the time, Met director Max Hollein mentioned the guitars composed “a trailblazing and transformative present, positioning the Museum to be the epicenter for the appreciation and research of the American guitar.”
In 2027, the museum plans to open a everlasting gallery about American guitars, with some works from the present on view right here.
It isn’t clear how from the Publish story Taylor found that his guitar was held by the Met. The guitars should not presently on view, and an entire guidelines of them has not been launched to the general public. The Met’s launch did point out Keith Richards, one other Rolling Stones member, however the museum mentioned it had a 1959 Les Paul performed by him in 1964. Taylor was not talked about in that announcement.
However Taylor’s supervisor, Marlies Damming, claimed that the Met did have Taylor’s guitar. “There are quite a few images of Mick Taylor enjoying this Les Paul, because it was his fundamental guitar till it disappeared,” Demming informed the Publish. “The attention-grabbing factor about these classic Les Pauls (from the late Nineteen Fifties), is that they’re famend for his or her flaming . . . which is exclusive, like a fingerprint.”
The report additionally cited an unnamed supply, who mentioned, “Taylor says he by no means obtained compensation for the theft and is mystified as to how his property discovered its manner into the Met’s assortment.”
A Met spokesperson didn’t reply to request for remark.
