November 26, 2000
CONTENTS:
- U.S. National Gallery of Art Gives Up Nazi-Confiscated Painting
(STATEMENT BY TREASURY DEPUTY SECRETARY STUART E. EIZENSTAT)
- Makonde Sculptures Stolen in Dubai
- Cat burglar: I've been robbed
- Afghanistan Joins Tug-Of-War Over Ancient Mummy
- Money Woes May Close Russian Museum
- Artists campaign for EU to drop royalties plan
U.S. National Gallery of Art Gives Up Nazi-Confiscated Painting
(Paintings of doubtful provenance being posted on Web sites) (380)
Stuart Eizenstant, special representative of the President and the Secretary of State for Holocaust issues, welcomed a decision by the National Gallery of Art in Washington "to relinquish a painting after determining that in all probability the Nazis confiscated the painting during the occupation of France."
This decision "sets a standard for the return of Nazi-confiscated art that we hope other U.S. museums and museums around the world will follow," he added.
Following is the text of his statement:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
November 22, 2000
STATEMENT BY TREASURY DEPUTY SECRETARY STUART E. EIZENSTAT
In my capacity as the Special Representative of the President and the Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, I welcome the decision of the National Gallery of Art to relinquish a painting after determining that in all probability the Nazis confiscated the painting during the occupation of France. I was particularly pleased to note that this decision was taken after examining the provenance of the painting and publicizing the provenance information on its web site in accordance with the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi- Confiscated Art, as well as the Guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors. In December 1998, the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets adopted non-binding principles to assist in resolving issues relating to Nazi-confiscated art. One of the principles calls for an examination of "gaps or ambiguities in the provenance in light of the passage of time and the circumstances of the Holocaust era."
I am also pleased that other American museums are taking an interest in posting on web sites works of doubtful provenance from the Holocaust era. The eight largest museums in the United States have identified hundreds of paintings in this category. Likewise, major museums around the world are taking similar action. The decision by the National Gallery sets a standard for the return of Nazi-confiscated art that we hope other U.S. museums and museums around the world will follow.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov )
Makonde Sculptures Stolen in Dubai
Panafrican News Agency
Visitors to the Dubai International Autumn Trade Fair (IATF) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) showed such great interest in Mozambican products that one of them defied the Sharia (Islamic law) and spirited away four pieces of Makonde art. The Makonde people live in northern Mozambique, near the border with Tanzania, and are famed for the quality of their sculptures, usually carved in precious hardwoods. Under the Sharia, a thief, depending on the magnitude of the offence, runs the risk of having his hand amputated. And because this sentence is carried out rigidly, people in the UAE think twice before stealing anything. But the beauty of the Makonde art, which was on display, proved such a great temptation that one of the visitors threw caution to the wind and stole the artefacts. Victoria Daniel, trade attaché at the Mozambican consulate in Dubai, told AIM on Thursday evening that she had just nipped out to find some space close to the fair where she could park her car. In other places she would not have dared leaving the objects unattended, but in Dubai you can leave your car doors unlocked, with the keys on the ignition, and no one would steal it - hence her trust that no one would make off with any of the sculptures. Her confidence was misplaced. When she returned four of the sculptures were gone. She thought that the thief could have been a foreigner, because so many of them flocked to the fair. However, AIM had gone past the Mozambican pavilion earlier and had found it deserted but for an Arab, who looked and spoke like a Lebanese, fondling the pieces. He said that he wanted to buy them, and so he would wait until the Mozambican exhibitor returned. But the circumstances indicate that he did not wait for her. Meanwhile, other visitors had bona-fide intentions, and bought most of the goods on exhibition, chiefly paintings and cashew nuts. Others wanted to find out how they could import Mozambican marble, maize and potatoes, which were also on display. "Most of the businessmen sought information regarding the products, and they showed interest in establishing contacts with Mozambican businesses", said Daniel. The consulate would continue helping Mozambican businessmen find partners in the UAE, she said. The IATF, which ended on Thursday, attracted 750 exhibitors from 30 countries - a 10 percent growth when compared to 1999. The Foreign Ministry sponsored the Mozambican pavilion, which sought to promote tourism and investment opportunities. It was in this light that the Mozambican pavilion showed videos depicting tourism in the country. Daniel said that people had been impressed by what they saw - the pristine beaches, the lush green scenery of northern Mozambique, and the country's wildlife.
Cat burglar: I've been robbed
BY JENNIFER BABSON
jbabson@herald.com
THREE-LEGGED CAT: A man who says he has the 'Picasso' cat sent this photo to The Herald. You swipe a reputed art masterpiece. A hefty reward is offered. You demand a Thanksgiving payoff. But they tell you they won't talk turkey. What's a thief to do? You complain to the media you've been cheated. A week after he says he stole an alleged Picasso ceramic cat from Key West's Hemingway House and Museum, a man calling himself alternately ``Mr. Green'' and ``Donovan Hughes'' phoned The Herald on Tuesday to complain that the manager of the historic museum wouldn't pony up a $10,000 reward he says he's entitled to because he has the multicolored cat. Within an hour of the call, photos of the feline captive were anonymously dropped off at The Herald.
http://www.herald.com/content/thu/docs/102733.htm
Afghanistan Joins Tug-Of-War Over Ancient Mummy
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Some 2,500 years after she died, a member of ancient Iran's aristocracy is at the center of a three-nation tug-of- war. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement on Saturday added its claim to a mummy seized by Pakistani authorities during a police raid on a house in the southwestern Pakistani town of Quetta, near the Afghanistan border last month. Iran has already asked Pakistan to return the crowned mummy, which might have been an ancient Iranian queen. Taliban Information and Culture Minister Qudratullah Jamal said smugglers had confessed to finding the mummy in the southwestern Afghan province of Nimroz, bordering Iran, before taking it to Pakistan. ``The confession of the smugglers is a good document and evidence. This property of Afghanistan should be returned to its people,'' Jamal told a press conference. He said the Taliban would raise the issue with Islamabad. The mummy, estimated to be 2,500 years old, was in a sealed box and was laden with jewelry, including a crown and a golden plate on her chest, the police said. There was no initial information on where the mummy came from or whether it had been found during a mad rush of local people in the late 1960s and early 70s to dig up old graves in the Kharan border district of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. Once part of Iran, Baluchistan now borders Iran and Afghanistan and it was believed the jewelry of the old Iranian families was buried there. The Taliban's interest in getting the mummy was part of a new interest Jamal has shown in protecting Afghanistan's rich archaeological heritage. Jamal said the Taliban was thinking of relocating artifacts from Kabul's war-damaged museum to prevent damage from rain and snow. The museum was pillaged and largely destroyed in factional fighting in Kabul between 1992 and 1995 before the Taliban took power. ``We want to move those items which are at risk in the museum,'' he said.
Money Woes May Close Russian Museum
By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - The artifacts of Soviet repression and post-Soviet human rights abuses displayed in Moscow's Sakharov Museum may soon have nowhere to hang. The museum, dedicated to dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, will close its doors next month unless it finds new funding, its director warns. And its painful, powerful exhibits - letters Sakharov wrote from internal exile, barbed wire from gulag labor camps, sketches by children made homeless by Russia's current war in Chechnya - will be packed away. Although its content is highly political, the museum's woes don't stem from government pressure. The problem, director Yuri Samodurov says, is that Russia lacks a culture of corporate giving, wealthy private donors and experience managing private, nonprofit organizations.
More:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001124/wl/russia_sakharov_museum_1.html
Artists campaign for EU to drop royalties plan
By Catherine Milner, Arts Correspondent
DOZENS of artists have launched a campaign against European Union plans to introduce a new royalties system, saying it will destroy the London art market. The system, being voted on by the European Parliament next month, is supposed to benefit artists by ensuring that they or their families receive up to five per cent of the price of their works whenever they are sold. The artists, however, say that the system, which operates in most European Union countries, will drive up the price of their works, allowing the American art market to undercut them. The proposed system, called Droit de Suite, was introduced in 1920 in France after the wife of the Impressionist painter Jean Francois Millet was left in penury while his paintings sold for millions. It now operates in Germany and nine other EU countries and entitles the artist, or the artist's family within 70 years of his or her death, a payment of up to five per cent of the artwork's value.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003873700234055&rtmo=lvFbFkot&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/00/11/26/nart26.html