Background
George Ortiz was born in Paris May 10, 1927. His father, Jorge Ortiz Linares, was Ambassador of Bolivia to France, and his mother Graziella was the daughter of the Bolivian tin mining magnate Simón I. Patiño.
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George Ortiz
Edit ProfileEducation
George Ortiz studied in France, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Career
In 1949, a trip to Greece revealed a passion for antique objects. He begins collecting and over the ensuing decades forms "one of the world"s greatest private collections of ancient and tribal art". He died in Geneva October 8, 2013.
Is a selection of some 280 masterpieces from the collection that was exhibited in the Hermitage Museum (Saint St. Petersburg), the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), the Royal Academy (London) and the Altes Museum (Berlin).
At the time he was criticized by some for having exported works from their countries of origin. Included in that collection was a Maori carved wood storefront that New Zealand courts claimed violated their laws against export of national treasures.
In 1961 he was accused of having stolen property in his collection. This was resolved 15 years later when he was given a short suspended sentence.
He campaigned against the 1970 Unesco and 1995 Unidroit conventions restricting the export of cultural objects.
