SETTLEMENT REACHED ON MONET'S GARDEN AT ARGENTEUIL
(New York, August 22, 2001) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Mr. Henry H. Newman announced today that they have reached a settlement in a recent dispute over a painting in the Museum's collection, The Garden of Monet's House in Argenteuil (1874), by Claude Monet.
In 1997 Mr. Newman, who resides in France, initiated a claim for the painting. The painting had been purchased in Berlin by Mr. Newman's grandfather, Henry Percy Newman, of Hamburg, Germany, in 1916 and placed in a bank vault in Berlin by Mr. Newman's grandmother, in 1940, for safekeeping. During World War II, Carl Henry Newman (the claimant's father), who was then serving in the German army, inherited the work. Mr. Newman claimed that the painting was stolen from the bank vault during the Soviet occupation of Berlin in 1945. Several issues remained in dispute between the parties, including how and when the painting was removed from the vault.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman purchased the painting in good faith from A. & R. Ball Gallery in New York in 1952, and Mrs. Wrightsman gave the painting to the Museum in 1994. In 1997 Mr. Newman initiated the claim after he located a long lost family photograph that enabled him to identify the painting as the one owned by his family.
Pursuant to the settlement, Mr. Newman will receive a payment, which he and the Museum consider to be fair and reasonable, and Mr. Newman will give up all claims he may have to the painting. All other terms of the settlement will remain confidential.
The Museum's provenance information on the painting is available on its website: http://www.metmuseum.org
HERRICK, FEINSTEIN LLP 2 PARK AVENUENEW YORK, NY 10016-9301 TELEPHONE: (212) 592-1400 FACSIMILE: (212) 592-1500 http://www.herrick.com
LAWRENCE M. KAYE PARTNER (212) 592-1410 EMAIL: lkaye@herrick.com From: "Constance Lowenthal" clowenthal@nyc.rr.com Subject:
RE: Reward offered for 'Middle East' painting
On the subject of art theft for political ransom, Constance Lowenthal, who was Executive Director of the International Foundation for Art Research from 1985 to January 1998, writes:
How quickly we forget. While art theft with political ransom demands is rare, several incidents come to my mind. The first that I can recall was the 1960s theft from London's National Gallery of Goya's "Portrait of the Duke of Wellington." As I recall, it was stolen by a man, later arrested, convicted and sent to jail, who was trying to call attention to the plight of old-age pensioners who were being required to pay a television tax. The theft was so notorious that a replica of the painting appears in the film of Ian Fleming's "Dr. No." There is no dialogue referring to it, but as Ursula Andres and Sean Connery are ushered up a few steps to have dinner with Dr. No, they pass an easel on which the Goya (prop) is displayed. Cannery raises one eyebrow, but says nothing. I believe the painting was safely back in the National Gallery when the film was made, but that is why I started referring to reclusive, maniacal persons who commission high profile thefts of masterpieces as "Dr. No." I believe they exist mostly in Hollywood.
In the mid-seventies, old master paintings were stolen from Sir Alfred Beit's collection at Russborough House, immediately followed by a demand for the release of IRA prisoners. The paintings were soon recovered in the vicinity, and the thieves arrested, convicted and sent to jail.
In the late 1980s, an Australian arts group stole a Picasso to draw attention to what the group believed to be inadequate funding for the arts. I know the Picasso was recovered, but I'd appreciate it if any MSN reader could provide details.
The Chagall theft at The Jewish Museum in New York, and the reported letter demanding peace in the Middle East in exchange for the return of the painting, is one of a tiny number of thefts for political ransom.
After leaving IFAR, I worked for three years as the director of the Commission for Art Recovery of the World Jewish Congress. www.comartrecovery.org . In January 2001, I began consulting for that organization and for other clients. I can be contacted at cl@lowenthal-inc.com
Connie Lowenthal 185 East 85th Street Apt. 21-B New York, NY 10028 Tel/Fax 212.876.3140
'Peace ransom' claim over missing Chagall is a hoax
(Also see New York Times report below! TC)
Police say a letter claiming a famous painting has been stolen and held for ransom in return for Middle East peace is a hoax. The Marc Chagall painting was taken from New York's Jewish Museum on June 7, during or after a cocktail party. The museum has offered a $25,000 reward for its return and police say they have since received three fake letters related to the theft. One claimed the painting was being held for ransom and would not be returned until peace had been achieved in the Middle East. Another sent FBI agents on a wild goose chase to Switzerland, reports the New York Post.
The painting, Study for Over Vitebsk, is worth about $1 million.
One note, written on a postcard, claimed the 1914 painting was in the basement of a Swiss home once used by Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, who stole foreign art treasures. The FBI dispatched European-based agents to Switzerland but found nothing. The postcard was traced to a woman serving time for murder in a New York prison. The "International Committee for Art and Peace" claimed to have written the letter demanding Middle East peace. The letter was postmarked in The Bronx on June 12. A third letter, claiming the theft may have been committed by freelance journalists using forged identification cards, has also been discounted. http://www.ananova.com/
Ransom for Chagall: Mideast Peace
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:49 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- A group claiming responsibility for the recent theft of a Marc Chagall painting from the Jewish Museum says the work will not be returned until there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The demand was in a letter postmarked June 12 and signed by the International Committee for Art and Peace, an organization not familiar to authorities. Authorities said they weren't sure whether the theft actually was politically motivated, but they were confident the letter was not a hoax. The writers had information about the painting that could only come from someone who had it in their possession, The New York Times reported Monday. Museum officials discovered the painting missing June 8, the morning after a party at the museum. Police found no sign of forced entry. The roughly 8-by-10-inch oil painting, ``Study for 'Over Vitebsk,''' has an estimated value of $1 million. The 1914 work shows an old man carrying a walking stick and beggar's sack, floating in the sky above a village. Anne Scher, a museum spokeswoman, said it was unclear whether the letter writer's sympathies were with the Israelis or the Palestinians. The author apologized for embarrassing the museum and said the painting was ``being taken care of.'' The letter was kept secret while undergoing forensic testing. ``The letter gives us hope for the possibility of recovering the work,'' Scher said. ``It was a relief when we received it.'' Anna Kisluk, director of art services for the Art Loss Register, which maintains a database of more than 100,000 pieces of stolen art, said the motive for art theft is almost always economic. ``This kind of broad-ranging political demand is unrealistic, to say the least,'' she said. Kisluk recalled only two cases in which art was stolen and political demands were made. In 1974, a number of famous paintings including works by Johannes Vermeer and Francisco de Goya were stolen from a private collection in Britain. She said the Irish Republican Army demanded a large sum of money and the release of political prisoners in exchange for the works. The works were later found and most of those involved were apprehended, she said. In the other case, Edvard Munch's ``The Scream'' was stolen from Norway's National Gallery in Oslo on the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Five days later, a Norwegian anti-abortion activist hinted that the painting might be returned if the national television station agreed to broadcast an anti-abortion film. Later that year, the painting was recovered -- and it turned out the abortion opponent was not involved in the theft. The Jewish Museum has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the painting. http://www.nytimes.com/
By Andrew Marton, Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The explanation offered by the Kimbell Art Museum for why it returned a Sumerian antiquity six months after purchasing it for $2.7 million from a New York dealer has sparked varying degrees of skepticism, criticism and support from members of the national art community.
In an op-ed column published in Saturday's Star-Telegram, the Kimbell Art Museum's director, Timothy Potts, responding to the paper's news story about the transaction, confirmed that the museum had purchased and then sent back a "Near Eastern statuette." He said that the emergence on the market of other works of art spurred the Kimbell to send the statue back and seek a full refund.
more: dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krfortworth/20010822/lo/return_of_statue_stirs_art_world_1.html
LAWSUIT CALLS FAMED SCULPTOR A ‘CHISELER'
By DAREH GREGORIAN
August 22, 2001 -- World-renowned sculptor Richard Serra duped two collectors out of a $6 million piece of art, court papers charge. Art aficionados Marvin Friedman and James Corcoran claim in papers filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court that Serra convinced them to return a piece of his in 1989 so he could fix it - and he still hasn't returned it.
more: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/2610.htm