February 26, 2001

THIS WASHINGTON A $20 MILLION MAN

By Michael Kilian
The National Portrait Gallery is looking for someone to give $20 million to save George Washington from the British. Unless a donor rushes to the rescue, the United States is in danger of losing one of its greatest historical and artistic treasures--a full-length painting of Washington by artist Gilbert Stuart--to the auction block. The 96-by-60-inch oil painting, which depicts a life-size, somberly clad Washington standing before the U.S. Congress, has been hanging in the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery since the museum opened in 1968. Reprinted in countless schoolbooks and history books, this depiction of "The Father of Our Country" has been a major tourist attraction and an icon to Washington scholars and admirers. "It's a very important painting," said National Portrait Gallery Director Marc Pachter. "This became the most important image of Washington to have." Trouble is, the precious portrait has been at the gallery only on indefinite and temporary loan. Instead of belonging to the American people, this revered representation of the first American president has had British owners for most of its existence. Now the current English owner wants to sell it at auction unless the Portrait Gallery can come up with $20 million by April 1. Because the museum has an annual operating budget of only about $5 million, Pachter and Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small have embarked on a search for a donor to rescue the painting in the nick of time--much as Dolley Madison saved another Stuart portrait of Washington when the British were rampaging through the capital in 1814.

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"Twenty million dollars is a lot of money," Pachter said. "It's not unexpected that it's taking some time. I feel that the individual who will come forward won't necessarily be a traditional donor, but somebody principally moved by patriotism. Great donations have come from surprising sources."
http://chicagotribune.com/

Vandals rush in where art critics fear to tread

By Oliver Poole
WORKS of art on display at Tate Modern have been vandalised by members of the public with graffiti scrawled on one piece and other items being knocked over, the Telegraph has learnt. The most serious damage has occurred to a piece by the Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss which took seven years to make and has been lent to the gallery by the artists. It is one of its most controversial pieces as it resembles a building site scattered with carelessly-stacked pallets, a packet of cigarettes and milk cartons - all made from polyurethane. A vandal has written a name on one of the surfaces in black biro in a spot clearly visible to the public and a number of the "pallets" have been so badly damaged by people touching and kicking them that the paint has worn away exposing the yellow polyurethane beneath. A piece by the designer Tom Dixon, consisting of a structure of multi-coloured plastic lights piled on top of each other and placed on the overhead concourse, was destroyed when two men ran up and pushed it over. It has been left in a heap as gallery staff have decided it is too inviting for vandals to strike again if they rebuild it. Another installation to be vandalised is Costermonger's Stall by Michael Landy, who a fortnight ago destroyed all his belongings in the name of art. A visitor started pulling flowers out of the work and threw them onto members of the public walking below. Brian Sewell, the art critic, said he was not surprised about the incidents of damage as he had once seen a member of the public place parts of Fischli and Weiss's sculpture into their bag to take home. He said: "The one thing that surprises me is the Tate did not expect it and guard against it. However, some of the cases may be an aspect of criticism as people react against the pieces. If people are affronted by what to them is pretending to be a work of art they will have no sympathy with it." The Tate admitted there had been problems but said efforts were being taken to restore the pieces. Sandy Nairne, the director of national programmes, said: "In every gallery and museum there are occasional accidents. The incident reports for the occasions you mention record no irreparable damage. Tate Modern has a team of highly specialist conservators and health and safety officers to assist should one of these rare incidents occur."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Antiquities-smuggling in Crete

Police in Crete were questioning a 40-year-old archaeologist yesterday in connection with a hoard of about 7,000 ancient coins and thousands of other ancient pottery, glass and bronze artifacts found in his home in Fortetsa, Iraklion, in Crete. Police suspect Nikolaos Panayiotakis could be a member of a antiquities- smuggling racket.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/

Theft of Gem Artist's Statue in Tucson

Gem cutter and artist Arthur Lee Anderson posted a $5,000 reward for the return of pieces of a statue stolen from his booth at the GJX Show in Tucson, AZ. John Brady, an attorney in Tucson, is serving as a "go between" for anyone who wants to return the pieces. The missing pieces are components of a full statue called "Leigha," which took Anderson two years to complete. "Leigha is the fourth in a series of nine statues, all based on an ancient Minoan theme from the island of Crete, circa 1700 BC," Anderson explains. "They took, among other things, the legs, base, skirt and arms of my large statue. I had taken the central torso with me the night before, thinking that should anyone even look in the booth, the individual pieces of the statue would be meaningless to them. They were individually packed in sealed boxes," he says. The theft occurred after show closing on the last day of the show, Feb. 6. Detectives in Tucson are working on the case. Anyone with information can contact Anderson at (540) 834-4195 or Brady at (520) 623-4353.
photo: http://www.professionaljeweler.com/pjicons/aastatue_medium.gif

Terra founder's deeds may not reflect desires

By Alan G. Artner, Tribune Art Critic
Even as a new lawsuit was filed Friday by the son of founder Daniel J. Terra seeking to keep the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago, documents and architectural plans obtained by the Tribune show that as early as 1990, Daniel Terra considered closing the North Michigan Avenue museum, and shortly before his death in 1996, he ordered a design for a new foundation headquarters and gallery space in Washington, D.C. The suit by James D. Terra, executor of his father's estate, adds another layer of drama to the complicated clash of high art, politics and domestic infighting that is playing out in prior legal action against the foundation. At the heart of the first lawsuit, which entered non-binding mediation earlier this month, are the ultimate intentions of Daniel Terra for the museum and foundation. His widow, Judith, has been charged, in near soap-opera style, with trying to seize millions of dollars in foundation assets and spirit the museum to Washington (where she lives) to increase her social status. Politically prominent plaintiff Ronald Gidwitz, a board member, has strenuously argued that Terra intended to keep the museum in Chicago and that it was Judith Terra, who was in Chicago on Friday for the latest mediation session, and renegade "outsiders" who suggested the museum be closed or moved.
http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/1,,ART-50126,00.html

Gallery haunted by spectre of Nazi looted artworks

They include two highlights of its European collection, Georges Braque's Landscape with Houses and Ernst Kirchner's Three Bathers.
Questions about their past have arisen as major galleries in Australia and overseas comb their collections in an effort to establish that their priceless collections are not linked with the plunder of artworks during the Nazi era. A Herald investigation has found that close to 100 European works in Australian public galleries have gaps in their ownership history, or provenance, during the Nazi years between 1933 and 1945. The NSW gallery's director, Mr Edmund Capon, believed it was unlikely the works had been looted. But the gallery was giving priority to establishing their history as part of its research aimed at putting its collection on line. "We are writing to various people around the world who are part of their history," he said. The other works under question are by Raoul Dufy, Alexander Rodchenko, Henri Hayden, Jules Pascin, and three by Marie Laurencin. The Braque, bought for almost $300,000 in 1980, and Kirchner, bought by the gallery's Foundation for almost $1million in 1984, were such well known works and had been so widely exhibited that any doubts about their past would probably have emerged before now, Mr Capon said. The gallery had been assured the Rodchenko had not been out of Russia before its 1997 purchase, Mr Capon said. Less was known about the minor works, most of which been bequests or a gift from a donor who has since died. "Probably in all likelihood you won't find an answer. If you don't find an answer you could say well there's still a question. But a gap in provenance is pretty usual and proof of nothing." Gaps in provenance can ring alarm bells about a work's past. Internationally, art galleries have looked to the wartime provenance of their art works to clear them of the long shadow cast by the Nazi era. Galleries in the United States have recently agreed to disclose works with questionable histories on the Internet, a procedure adopted in Australia so far only by the National Gallery of Victoria. Mr Capon said gaps could also emerge in the wartime provenance of some of the gallery's Old Master works when research in this area progressed. The National Gallery of Australia is seeking further information about four works, but has declined to name them. Its director, Dr Brian Kennedy, acknowledged the issue of Nazi looted art was a significant one for all galleries. "It is unlikely that there is any major collection that has been active in acquiring in the last 50 years that doesn't have something that came from a [Nazi] source ... such was the scale of the raiding that took place. But to actually locate and find that is extraordinarily difficult."