July 13, 2001
CONTENTS:
- JEN LISSITZKY COMMENCES ACTION AGAINST BEYELER FOUNDATION TO RECOVER KANDINSKY PAINTING LOOTED BY THE NAZIS
- Painting still on top after robbery damage repaired
- Museum's Artifacts Being Boxed Up
- Egypt's Karnak Threatened by Water
- Court asked to referee fight over stolen Wyeth painting
- Author seeks finder's fee for recovered war loot
- School Tour Guidelines
- recovering stolen art on display in museums (Kanazawa College of Arts Refuses to Return Looted Church Treasure, Prompts Worldwide Appeal for its Return)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2001 Contact after 8:00 a.m. (New York time):
Lawrence M. Kaye 212-592-1410
Howard N. Spiegler 212-592-1444
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
JEN LISSITZKY COMMENCES ACTION AGAINST BEYELER FOUNDATION TO RECOVER KANDINSKY PAINTING LOOTED BY THE NAZIS
Jen Lissitzky announced, through his New York attorneys, Lawrence M. Kaye and Howard N. Spiegler of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, that a Complaint is being filed today on his behalf in the Civil Court of the City of Basel against the Beyeler Foundation. Mr. Lissitzky is seeking to recover the painting, Improvisation No. 10 by Wassily Kandinsky, that had been looted by the Nazis in 1937. The colorful oil painting, executed in 1910, is considered to be a key work of 20th century art and is currently on display at the Beyeler Foundation, a private museum in Basel, Switzerland.
The Kandinsky painting was part of Sophie Küppers-Lissitzky's collection of some 13 works that she loaned to the Provinzial Museum in Hannover in 1926, before she left Germany for Russia to marry the Russian avant-garde artist, El Lissitzky. In 1937, the Nazis confiscated Mrs. Küppers-Lissitzky's collection, including the Kandinsky painting, from the museum as part of the Nazi A degenerate art@ campaign. After the death of her husband in 1941 and under pressure from the Stalin regime, Mrs. Küppers-Lissitzky was exiled to Siberia, where she died in 1978.
Jen Lissitzky, the son of El Lissitzky and Sophie Küppers-Lissitzky, who inherited his mother's collection, has been attempting to recover it for several years. Shortly after he was able to emigrate from Russia in 1989, Mr. Lissitzky discovered that the Kandinsky work was in the possession of Ernst Beyeler, the noted Basel dealer and collector. He immediately asked Mr. Beyeler to return the painting. Mr. Beyeler says that he purchased it in 1951 in Cologne from Ferdinand Möller, one of the four notorious art dealers to whom Hitler had delegated the sale of Adegenerate art.@ As the Complaint notes, the reverse side of the painting still bears the Nazi inventory number.
Mr. Lissitzky said that he has been attempting for many years to reach an out of court settlement with Mr. Beyeler. But last week Mr. Beyeler announced that, so far as he is concerned, the painting will not be returned. According to Mr. Beyeler, he transferred the painting to the Foundation sometime in or after 1982. Mr. Lissitzky has been advised that Mr. Beyeler, who is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation, has asked the Board to support his decision not to return the painting.
The filing of the Complaint is the first step in a proceeding that Mr. Lissitzky expects will result in the return of this important painting. If a settlement is not reached under the direction of the judge, then the court will have to determine the ownership of the painting. Mr. Lissitzky is being represented in the proceeding by Dr. Peter Mosimann of Wenger Plattner in Basel and is also being advised by Dr. Marc-André Renold, Co-Director of the Geneva Art-Law Centre. Mr. Lissitzky is highly confident that the Swiss courts will finally restore his mother's legacy and order the return of the Painting to him.
Mr. Lissitzky stated: AI am disheartened that one of the world's great private museums has not returned this important piece of art looted by the Nazis. It is difficult for me to understand why Mr. Beyeler and the Foundation have failed to correct this gross injustice.
Two other paintings from the Küppers-Lissitzky collection have already been returned to Mr. Lissitzky. In January 2000, a museum in Cologne, Germany returned a painting by Louis Marcoussis. Most recently, in February of this year, the Kiyomizu Sannenzka Museum in Kyoto, Japan returned a watercolor entitled ADeserted Square of an Exotic Town@ (1921) by Paul Klee that had also been part of the collection. That return marked the first time that a Japanese museum had recognized the rights of a true owner of a work of art that had been confiscated by the Nazis.
Switzerland was one of the 44 nations that, in 1998, adopted the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, which urged that steps be taken to assist victims of the Third Reich to recover stolen cultural property. Likewise, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) has issued recommendations to all museum professionals around the world to actively address the return of looted art, especially art acquired right after World War II. A ruling by the Swiss courts in this case should prove to be one of the most important decisions dealing with the issue of Nazi-looted art.
Painting still on top after robbery damage repaired
13.07.2001 - By BERNARD ORSMAN
The French masterpiece Still on Top by James Tissot is back on public show at the Auckland Art Gallery, having being restored following the daring shotgun raid that saw it stolen three years ago.
The 1874 oil painting was valued at $8 million before being badly torn when Anthony Sannd jemmied it from its frame, rolled it up and fled on a motorcycle on a quiet Sunday morning in August 1998.
He later demanded a $500,000 ransom for the return of the Tissot, which police found eight days after the robbery hidden under a bed at the home he rented in Waikaretu, south of Port Waikato. He was sentenced to nearly 17 years' jail for that robbery and others involving a security van and a bank.
A sophisticated restoration project involving meticulous physical repair and retouching by the gallery's principal conservator, Sarah Hillary, has followed the robbery. This, and a glistening new gilt frame made of red cedar and 23-carat gold leaf, has brought the painting back to life. The two-year restoration project cost $140,000 and the research and analysis associated with it has revealed an intimate knowledge of the techniques and materials used by the original artist.
Experts from the major international auction house of Sotheby's and a leading Tissot scholar from the United States, Michael Wentworth, have estimated damage to the painting had resulted in a $4 million loss in its value.
The 88cm by 54cm painting is a famous work by Tissot.
It shows two women helped by an elderly man in the artist's garden in London.
Tissot spent 11 years in England as a political exile.
The restored work will be on show until October 14.
The exhibition includes photographs of the restoration process, including one of the painting under ultraviolet light which shows where the work has been repaired.
Other works by Tissot are also on display.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Museum's Artifacts Being Boxed Up
The Greenville Cultural Exchange Center is looking for ways to save the history inside the condemned building. The city's fire marshal condemned the building on May 25. "It was awful that it happened," South Carolina state museum field services director Robbie Davis said. But the center's owners are now working on preserving the artifacts that are no longer on display.
They're getting some help from the state museum in moving the artifacts. "We do this whenever it's needed to save this information," Davis said. The artifacts at the center have rich history and a past unique to anywhere else. The condemned museum housed Greenville's African-American history. "The worst part is that people will not have access to this history. It will be boxed up," Greenville Cultural Exchange Center director Ruth Ann Butler said. The 15-year collection is being packed away in cardboard boxes. Included in the collection are pictures and campaign buttons that tell the story of Jesse Jackson, a Greenville native who ran for president, and memories of the city's first black judge.
There are also rooms of furniture that date back to the early 1940s. But those are no longer available for people to learn about. The artifacts, like Peg Leg Bates' wooden leg, are headed for various places throughout the state. There's no definite time or place for them to return to Greenville. Greenville Cultural Exchange Center officials said that they desperately need money to renovate the old building or find a new one.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
Egypt's Karnak Threatened by Water
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
LUXOR, Egypt (AP) - Nothing seems out of the ordinary as tourists walk lazily around the labyrinthian, desert-dry complex of ancient Egyptian columns, statues and festival halls. But underneath the rubble and dry sand at Karnak lurks a threat to the site, which ranks with the pyramids as among the most impressive of Egypt's antiquity treasures. Ground water, say experts, has risen alarmingly close to the foundations of Karnak. It could eventually result in the crumbling or sinking of the temple complex built over 2,500 years, ending around the start of Roman rule in Egypt in 30 B.C.
more:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010712/wl/egypt_danger_at_luxor_1.html
Court asked to referee fight over stolen Wyeth painting
BY MIKE ROBINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
A court was asked Monday to referee a fight between a former sheriff's deputy and Sears, Roebuck & Co. over who owns a painting by renowned landscape artist Andrew Wyeth stolen 34 years ago. The 1966 painting titled "The Studio," with a value estimated at perhaps $500,000, was taken in broad daylight from the Sears Vincent Price Gallery in downtown Chicago on Aug. 6, 1967. The whereabouts of the 36-by-40 inch watercolor remained a mystery until December 2000 when a former Cook County sheriff's deputy, Leo Wenger, delivered it to Christie's Inc., the auction house, in New York.
His instructions were to sell it on consignment.
But Christie's became suspicious and contacted the FBI, which confirmed that the painting had been stolen. It remains in FBI custody and is being stored at the Art Institute of Chicago, officials said. The painting shows a shuttered window on an old farmhouse. Wyeth produced many paintings at a farm about 25 miles west of Philadelphia. Soon after its creation, Sears purchased "The Studio" for its Vincent Price Collection. The late actor Vincent Price served as curator of the collection which was displayed at Sears stores from 1962 to 1971. No criminal charges have been filed against anyone in the case.
Wenger could not reached for comment Monday. His attorney, Jess E. Forrest, said Wenger was a onetime Cook County sheriff's deputy. Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said a Leo Wenger worked as a sheriff's deputy serving papers in civil cases from 1978 until his retirement in 1993. Forrest also said that Wenger had at one time owned a store and purchased antiques at garage sales throughout the Chicago area. He said Wenger attended "hundreds and hundreds of sales over 10 years and can't recall the specific house or the specific lady" he said sold Wenger the painting about 30 years ago. Sears spokeswoman Jan Drummond, asked about the lawsuit, said that "we are the owner of record and our position is that it belongs to us."
"We expect to recover the painting at some point," she said.
The federal government's civil lawsuit asks the court to determine who the real owner of "The Studio" is and discharge the government of any liability in connection with the case. The lawsuit was assigned to Chief Judge Marvin Aspen of U.S. District Court. No hearing was scheduled immediately.
http://www.suntimes.com/
Author seeks finder's fee for recovered war loot
NEW YORK. Hector Feliciano, author of a well-known book about Nazi art theft in World War II, is suing the estate of art dealer Paul Rosenberg and his heirs for a 17.5% finder's fee for aiding the recovery of various artworks stolen by the Nazis from the famous collection, which Rosenberg left behind when he fled France in 1940
more:
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=6773
From: Jim Holley jim.holley@wadsworthatheneum.org
To: "'securma@xs4all.nl'" securma@xs4all.nl
Subject: School Tour Guidelines
Hello Ton and to the rest of the network.
Hope all are having a fine summer or winter. I have a question regarding school group visits to museums. I want to measure our current policies against what other folks are doing. I am particularly interested in scheduled groups versus unscheduled groups as well as policies addressing chaperones of groups pre kindergarten to grade 12. All thoughts and opinions are welcome.
Thank you,
James Holley
jim.holley@wadsworthatheneum.org
To: securma@xs4all.nl
From: "T. Karygiannis" karygiannis@nist.gov
Subject: recovering stolen art on display in museums
What can be done about recovering stolen art/cultural heritage that is on display in museums?
Please see: http://www.diaspora-net.org/kanazawa/index.html
(Kanazawa College of Arts Refuses to Return Looted Church Treasure, Prompts Worldwide Appeal for its Return)
Stolen from the Turkish Occupied Cyprus and in the possesion of the Kanazawa College of Arts, in Japan.
Tom