Dolly Goulandris ΝΤΟΛΛΥ ΓΟΥΛΑΝΔΡΗ
Born 1921 Died 2008
Plaza, Number 59
I thought that the mystery surrounding the origin and function of the enigmatic Cycladic figures would be the central theme of our text on Dolly Goulandris. What I did not anticipate were the ethical controversies raised by private collections, certain feelings about the immense wealth needed to acquire them, and the collaboration between archaeologists, collectors and the government necessary to bring them all ‘home’ to the fabulous Cycladic Museum of Art in Kolonaki.
Any ‘outsider’ biography of the Goulandris shipping family would be a tough one to write. Even photographs are thin on the ground. The family have guarded their privacy jealously and have the money and the political clout to make sure no one gets too close. One writer aptly called Dolly Goulandris the “famous but reclusive queen of Greek society”. (1) Were she a mere socialite, we could leave her story to the gossip columns, but she did something amazing when she used her husband’s wealth to collect and then display an entire era of Aegean history.
Early Life
She was born Aikaterini Koumandaros in 1921 in London. Her father Ioannis (1894 –1981) was born into a family of millers from Voutianoi a small town north west of Sparta in the Peloponnese. In 1904, the family founded the Evrotas Flour Mills in Piraeus. Ioannis then turned his hand to the lucrative business of shipping. Dolly’s mother, Flora Nomikos, was born in 1899 and was the daughter of another ship-owning family from Santorini.
Shipping families, once established, tend to intermarry with startling regularity.(2)
Dolly spent her early years in England and the United States and, according to her official biography was from an early age fascinated by archaeology. It was certainly a childhood of privilege. She interrupted her studies at Columbia University in New York in 1948 to marry 35 year old Nikolaos Goulandris. She was 27. (3)
Nikolaos Goulandris was born on the Cycladic island of Andros in 1913 and had a twin brother Basil (Βασίλης). Together they built up their family shipping business until it was second only to that of Onassis. They became very wealthy indeed. Basil and his wife Elise would amass a fabulous art collection which is now on display in the Museum of Vasili and Elisa Goulandris near the Kalimarmaro Stadium.
Vasili and Elise See: http://athensfirstcemeteryinenglish.blogspot.com/2019/12/basil-and-elise-goulandris.html
While Nikolaos attended to business and his own brand of philanthropy (he would become president of the Olympiakos football team in 1972 and lead it to football glory) (4) Dolly would spend a good part of the nineteen fifties and sixties immersing herself in Greek and Cycladic history. Together they would have one son, Petros.
With funds only you or I could dream of, she began to acquire a significant collection of antiquities from every era of ancient and Byzantine Greece. As time passed, her collection would focus more and more on the prehistoric Cycladic culture which produced those mysterious Neolithic and Bronze age marble figurines (2700 – 2400/2300 BC) so seemingly ‘modern’ in form, and so elegant in their simplicity.
Cycladic figures (almost exclusively female) had been being dug up from grave sites since the late nineteenth century but something very unsettling occurred during the 1950s and 60s that the Greek government could not ignore.
The Keros Hoard
Referred to now as the ‘Keros Hoard’, these illicitly traded figurines, (350 all fragmentary except for twelve) had appeared on the scene and been bought by private collectors or institutions abroad. Of course, they had no proper provenance so, for the purpose of archaeological study, these pieces were compromised.
Even today, no one knows quite what to make of these figurines. Were they goddesses, priestesses, fertility figures, grave goods, or just dollies? There are numerous theories about this culture which predated the Minoans by a thousand years. That they had some sort of inter-island trade relationship is now known and that the barren Cycladic island of Keros and its tiny sidekick Daskalio was some sort of gathering point has become clear from recent excavations by Christos Doumas and Colin Renfrew in 2003. Their excavations have shed a great deal of light on this era. They were lucky enough to have found an untouched trove of figurines during their explorations of Keros as well as signs of a significant Cycladic cultural centre on the islet of Daskalio.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdQpvPnnFqo for their fascinating documentary on their excavations.
Keros is south east of Naxos
Regardless of their meaning, these figurines took the world by storm. Unfortunately, their new popularity whetted the appetites of collectors and museums for more, a fact which created incentives for even more looting. Greek archaeological sites are so numerous and many are so remote that guarding them all properly is simply impossible. They have attempted to protect the Keros site by making any unauthorised visits illegal.
Once smuggled abroad and in foreign hands, Greek antiquities have proven very hard to retrieve. Therefore the Greek government, welcomed the initiative of wealthy private collectors who were willing to obtain artifacts that might otherwise have remained abroad and in less safe hands. That is why, in 1962, Dolly Goulandris was granted a “License for Private Collection”.
Such licenses are the culmination of the long collaboration between private citizens and the Greek government – a collaboration that is worth a small digression.
The State, the Individual and the Law about Archaeological Treasures
Looting Greek treasures has been a popular pastime for visiting dilettantes, armies of occupation, and foreign diplomats, not to mention grave robbers and thieves. The first government, acutely aware of the value of its cultural ties to ancient Greece, established the Greek Archaeological Service in 1834. It stated that all Greek antiquities, as cultural products of Greek forefathers must be owned by all citizens of the state. But, from the get go, the cash-strapped government needed help from wealthy citizens and interested foreigners alike. The 1834 law allowed private excavations and the free sale of antiquities within Greek territory.
As if to emphasize the importance of private participation in archaeology, prominent Greeks like Phanariot Alexandros Rangavis created the Greek Archaeological Society in 1837, a body of merchants and scholars whose aim was to work closely with the Greek Archaeological Service, support excavations and provide for the maintenance and care of antiquities in Greece. It still exists and has done a great deal for the state during its lifetime.
Much Depended on good will and High Ethical Standards
With government appointed archaeologists, museum curators, and private citizens with fingers in the archaeological pie, much depended on the good will and the high ethical standards of all concerned. When foreign Archaeological Institutes (France in 1845, Germany in 1874, and the American School in 1881 were formed and funded from abroad, there were even more players in the mix and an even greater incentive for collections to be put together. (5) The potential for a little skulduggery is obvious, and the 1834 law had left a fair amount of wiggle room for anyone who wanted to wiggle.
Demeter and Persephone, one of the pieces sold to the British Museum by British vice consul Charles Merlin in 1884 for 150 pounds. He sent it through the diplomatic pouch! The practice of diplomats dealing in antiquities was widespread and at the time a perfectly acceptable pastime among ‘gentlemen’. Merlin considered it a patriotic duty.
By 1899, the government decided to declare privately initiated excavations and the trafficking in antiquities a criminal offense. The export of antiquities would only be allowed for scholarly reasons and that was meant to apply only to those finds that were either ‘abundant’ or ‘superfluous’… words that could and did lend themselves to different interpretations. A 1903 addition to the Law (481) allowed foreign archaeologists to export useless or duplicate items back to their home institutions, a potential loophole that allowed men like Sir Arthur Evans to acquire quite a collection of Minoan artifacts now in the Ashmolean Museum.
When Crete became part of Greece in 1913, Evans lobbied for new laws allowing him both to excavate at Knossos and export finds that were considered ‘superfluous’ by Cretan museums. Like so many private excavators, he was himself an avid collector, a fact that could be considered by some a conflict of interest.
A new law in 1932 created a more rigid legal context for private collectors and tried to define more clearly what was meant by ‘abundant’ or ‘superfluous”. Also, if a collector or owner wanted any state compensation for their finds, objects had to have been first officially declared and registered and private collectors were now obliged to keep detailed records of their acquisitions.
Back to Dolly…
Dolly’s 1962 License to Collect was granted by Ioannis Papadimitriou an esteemed archaeologist and the General Director of Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. It was vital to her success in acquiring the Cycladic collection both inside and outside the country, that and her own dynamism. What a brief! And one that perhaps only someone as wealthy as she could hope to fulfil!
Collecting: the Perogative of the Rich?
Dolly and Nikolaos Goulandris had an extravagant lifestyle with many connections to others in ‘high society’; that is part of her story too. It was, after all, Goulandris money that brought this collection to Greece. They had a home in the Bahamas, in New York, their own Greek island, a home on Skyros, in Athens, an estate in Porto Rafti, - and more…
Dolly in 1968 at ‘Olympiakos’ her Bahamas home. It was taken by fashion photographer Horst P Horst for a series on society women. In the same year, Vogue did a story on her lavish life style. (6)
Stephane Groueff, the Bureau Chief for Paris Match between 1957 and 1977, was a New York neighbour of Nikolaos and Dolly. He describes Dolly as amiable and knowledgeable, and always ready to educate interested guests in Aegean history. He mentions the wonderful Cycladic art collection in her Athens apartment and describes the entire Goulandris clan as part of a ‘warm patriarchal world’. In his memoir My Odyssey he describes a two week ‘carefree’ voyage on their yacht, The Vagrant.
The Vagrant, one of the world’s ten most luxurious yachts at the time, was 117 feet long and boasted two masts, a captain, a chef, three sailors, and three stewards. The Beatles owned it for a while. It then became a restaurant in a Portugese port.
A darker side of rich collectors in the antiquities trade is described in great detail in Chasing Aphrodite, a fascinating read. The underside of dealing in art and antiquities has never been pretty: it involves a lot of money, underworld connections, bribed curators, forgeries being given provenance, and untold treasures being secretly hoarded in duty free warehouses.
The authors have some unkind words about the Goulandris collection and how it was obtained. According to their sources, almost all of it came from undocumented excavations and claimed ‘they bought freely from looters, dealers, and auction houses alike’. (7)
That sounds pretty damning until you remember that the Goulandris’ brief was to reclaim and collect artifacts many of which had been traded in the underworld of the antiquities trade. Dolly and her husband would have seen themselves on a rescue mission, performing a public service for the nation.
A Museum is Born
Because of the ubiquity of Cycladic figures in tourist shops today, it is easy for us to forget how recently these Cycladic figures have entered our cultural consciousness. The first catalogue of the Goulandris collection was published in 1968 and selected pieces were first put on display at the Benaki Museum only in 1978. The Cycladic museum itself was completed and opened in 1986, a generous gift to the nation that has placed Dolly and Nikolaos Goulandris firmly in the magic circle of benefactors of the Greek State.
Melina Mercouri, then Minister of Culture, cuts the ribbon with Dolly at the opening of the museum. Dolly dedicated the museum to her husband who died in 1983. She served as President and the guiding light of the N and N Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art until her death.
It is a fabulous collection, beautifully curated, with an excellent website for anyone interested in visiting it virtually. A visit in person would be even better. It is just an excellent museum.
The entrance at NEOFITOU DOUKA 4, ATHENS,
Public, but Private
On its web page the museum states that it is ‘a non profit legal entity under private law, supervised by the Ministry of Culture’ using ‘no state funds’ for the collection which, nonetheless ‘belongs to the state’. All that careful legalese assures us that the collection is ours, even if the museum can pretty much decide what to do with it, what to display, and what to charge us to view it.
Controversies Do Arise…
There will always be a certain tension concerning private entities like the Cycladic Museum of Art whose advantage lies in their superior ability to fund research, to buy, and to display antiquities.
A recent acquisition by the Cycladic Museum illustrates this and involves the Stern Collection which the museum acquired by opening a non-profit entity in the US tax haven of Delaware called the Hellenic Ancient Culture Institute (HACI), - all in order to have 161 Cycladic artifacts turned over HACI by the American private collector Leonard Stern, with the proviso that they be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York for 25 years, and maybe 25 more if Greece agrees. The Greek government altered the antiquities law in 2020 to allow for such long term loans. Lina Mendoni the current Minister of Culture and Sport was all for it and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was at the New York opening of the exhibition. It was quite an acquisition.
Leonard Stern at the Metropolitan Museum
The Stern collection now belongs to the Greek state - even if we do have to go to New York to view it.
I suspect Dolly would have approved.
Her Death
Dolly Goulandris passed away in February 2008 at the age of 87. She had been awarded so many accolades including a lifetime membership in the Athens Archaeological Society, an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens, and the Medal of the Commander of the Order of the Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic. A complete list can be seen on the museum website. The museum is now run by an excellent Board of Directors, many of whom come from the world of wealthy ship owners.
Afterword - Does it Matter How Antiquities are Acquired?
In the best of all possible worlds all Greek antiquities would be found in situ and would be immediately turned over to the authorities for proper study and classification. In the real world, things are messier. The fabulous collection of over a thousand Minoan Artifacts of former Prime Minister Constantinos Mitsotakis and his wife is an example of that. Although he had a collector’s licence, many of pieces in the collection were suspected of having been obtained illegally. Were the permits issued to people like Mitsotakis and Dolly Goulandris encouraging looting, the very thing that they were designed to prevent?
The problem for most people, including the government, was solved when their private collection (with the exception of 17 items) was turned over to the state with the approval of The Central Archaeological Council (KAS). They can now be seen in a new museum in Chania.
Historian Michael Wood has written that history is about what we focus on.(8) If we focus on bringing Greek antiquities ‘home’ there is no issue to be solved. If, however, we shift that focus to how the vast wealth of benefactors like Goulandris and other collectors may have affected government decisions over time, the issue becomes more complicated…
The Grave
Plaza, Number 59
The statue is by Giannis Parmakelis from his 1974 collection entitled ‘Martyrs and Victims’. It seems a little intimidating at first but I like to think of it as embracing the couple.
The Map
Footnotes
(1) Chasing Aphrodite p.136.
(2) Stavros Niarchos was Nikolaos and Dolly’s nephew – and so on.
(3) San Simera ( Σαν Σήμερα) says she had a degree in nursing.
(4). His attachment to Olympiakos was real and visceral. Shortly before he died he said, I am not sorry that soon I will depart. What I am sorry about is that I will not see Olympiakos again. See https://youtu.be/KaU61K4sOnw
(5) There are currently 19.
(6) See the January 15, 1968 edition of Vogue on line.
(7) (p.136)
(8) The Guardian Jan, 14, 2024.
Sources
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-5-000-year-old-sculptures-shockingly-modern-art
https://balkaninsight.com/2023/04/11/delaware-the-met-and-a-homecoming-of-sorts-for-161-greek-antiquities/ long article on the controversy over the Stern pieces lent to the Met.
https://www.transnationalgiving.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Greece_2020LegalEnvironmentPhilanthropy.pdf Good on legal side of entities like the museum
See: On Her Majesty’s Service: C.L.W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum by Yannis Galanakis
http://athensfirstcemeteryinenglish.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-charles-merlin-family.html
https://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2008/03/collecting-antiquities-from-crete.html
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