Museum buyer · Museum director
Walter Hopps
fl. 1983–1989
Museum curator, active 1983–1989. Worked for Dominique de Menil; worked with Carol Mancusi-Ungaro and Yanni Petsopoulos.
Life and work
- June 1983Told by Yanni Petsopoulos of two Byzantine frescoes in segments held by a Turkish businessman in a Munich apartment; went there with Dominique de Menil. The Menil side soon identified the frescoes as from St Themonianos near Lysi in Cyprus and contacted Vassos Karageorghis.
- November 1983Menil Foundation adopted resolutions authorising Dominique de Menil to proceed after her meeting in Nicosia with Karageorghis (late Oct 1983); the Church of Cyprus agreed that the Menil Collection buy, restore and exhibit the frescoes in Houston for fifteen years, then return them.
- 1985–1986Visited Cyprus and saw the two Kanakaria mosaic roundels returned in 1984; testified that neither was the one he and Petsopoulos had seen hanging over a sofa in the Munich apartment.
CyprusHofstadter 1994
- 1989Deposed in Cyprus v. Goldberg (Indianapolis) after Peg Goldberg's lawyer subpoenaed him; testified that Petsopoulos had warned that the possessor of the Lysi frescoes might destroy them or take vengeance if named, so he refused to tell Karageorghis the owner's name; testified that Petsopoulos got the possessor to return two Kanakaria roundels free of charge in 1984. Hofstadter says he resigned from the Menil Collection within hours of testifying.
HoustonHofstadter 1994
Connections
6 peopleFieldwork & employment
- Employed by Dominique de Menil1983–1989
Disputes & the law
- Subject of testimony by Peg Goldberg1989
- Testified about Peg Goldberg1989
Scholarship
- Corresponded with Vassos Karageorghis1983–1984
Colleagues & contacts
- Met Aydın Dikmen1983
- Worked with Dominique de Menil1983–1989
- Worked with Yanni Petsopoulos1983–1984
- Connected with Yanni Petsopoulos1983–1984
- Worked with Carol Mancusi-Ungaro1984–1988
Sources
- 1.Dan Hofstadter (1994). Goldberg's Angel: An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade.
- 2.Annemarie Weyl Carr, Laurence J. Morrocco (1991). A Byzantine Masterpiece Recovered: The Thirteenth-Century Murals of Lysi, Cyprus. Austin, University of Texas Press, with the Menil Foundation.