Sale of the century netted nearly £6m for man who put Picassos and Mirós on market
Stuart Jeffries in Paris Sunday September 23, 2001 The Observer
When auctioneer Guy Loudmer sold 54 paintings at auction in Paris in 1990, it was described as 'the sale of the century'. Never before had such a remarkable collection of masterpieces by the likes of Picasso, Modigliani, Dubuffet, Derain and Miró come under the hammer at the same time. The sale realised 509 million francs (£49m) - a sum never before or since equalled in France - and made Loudmer one of the top auctioneers at the respected Drouot house. But 11 years later, the real story of the auction can be told, involving embezzlement, paper companies, and the exploitation of two elderly art lovers who entrusted their collection's disposal to Loudmer. Detectives have unravelled Loudmer's complicated machinations behind the sale and finally revealed a system of dubious auctioneering practices that Loudmer claimed were commonplace in Paris at the time. The story starts at the end of the Eighties when two Paris gallery owners, husband and wife Lucien and Marcelle Bourdon, nearing the end of their lives, decided to sell their remarkable modern art collection. Their aim was to donate the proceeds to charities and give two of the most famous pictures in their collection to French museums. The Bourdons' apartment was filled with a collection of works that they had found impossible to sell on their own, so the pair approached Loudmer, who specialised in primitive and modern French art. Nicknamed the 'Patton' of the French Compagnie des Commissaires-Priseurs (or Auctioneers' Association) and noted for being both charismatic and tyrannical, the sharp-suited, cigar- smoking Loudmer persuaded the couple to set up the Bourdon Foundation. The disposal of the collection was controversial at the time, because the Bourdons were widely rumoured to have acquired many of the pictures during the Second World War, and some of the works were said to have originally been seized by the Nazis from Jewish families. Loudmer set himself up as treasurer of the Bourdon Foundation and received nearly 60m francs in fees. Loudmer claimed that the huge fees were warranted by the complexity of the disposal, but a Paris court last week convicted him of misappropriating the funds by demanding exorbitant fees from the Bourdons. Normally a French auctioneer can expect a 6 per cent commission on a sale, but Loudmer charged 10 per cent. Monsieur Bourdon, aged 93, told the court that he had never suspected that he had been overcharged and added: 'But I don't really understand figures at all.' A Paris court ruled last week that Loudmer was guilty of misappropriating the funds by overcharging the Bourdons and, more seriously, of setting up a network of paper companies and fictitious sales to maximise the profit to himself. Loudmer, 67, was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and fined 500,000 francs for 'grave abuse of confidence'. He has already served five months in jail while awaiting trial. Along with five others, Loudmer was charged with embezzlement and possessing stolen goods. Among his fellow accused was his son Philippe, who in 1997 fled to Israel after withdrawing 400,000 francs from the family firm just before the scandal broke. He was last week convicted in absentia. http://www.observer.co.uk/
Valuable Art Lost in WTC Rubble
By KATHERINE ROTH, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Millions of dollars worth of art, including works by Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, Joan Miro and Roy Lichtenstein, was damaged or destroyed by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
``The terrorist attack not only destroyed human lives but it was an attack on our financial community, on our freedoms, on our very culture and civilization,'' said Sally Webster, professor of art history at City University's graduate center and Lehman College.
With the exception of Miro, the art in the Trade Center was done by Americans, she said.
``That their work should be attached to this important symbol of our city and country was not accidental,'' Webster said. ``This was us at our best.''
The works, reportedly worth about $10 million, include a bright red 25-foot Calder sculpture, the 1971 ``Red Stabile,'' at 7 world Trade Center; a painted wood relief by Nevelson entitled ``Sky Gate, New York,'' which hung in 1 World Trade Center; a painting by Lichtenstein from his ``Enablature'' series that had been in the lobby of 7 World Trade Center; and Miro's ``World Trade Center'' tapestry from 1974 that was on display in 2 World Trade Center.
It is not yet known how many of the works are salvageable.
But Karen Yager, an independent conservator working for various downtown art groups, said that one of Nevelson's works looked good, as did a piece by Dubuffet. Glimpses of Lichtenstein's 30- foot sculpture, ``Modern Head,'' have been seen on television news clips covered in dust and debris.
``Over time, we're worried about acidity and stuff like that eating into the stone work of buildings with carved facades and decorative elements,'' she said.
Great works of art, sometimes linked to a nation's spirit or history, often have been threatened or destroyed by acts of terrorism or war.
During World War II, many important works were destroyed in Europe. And in 1920, during strife in Germany, stray bullets damaged the Rubens painting ``Bathsheba.'' Most recently, Taliban rulers in Afghanistan blew up two giant statues of Buddha, chiseled into a cliff in the central Bamiyan Valley more than 1,500 years ago. The Taliban said the art was idolatrous and against the tenets of Islam.
But at times, some art has been saved.
During the War of 1812, First Lady Dolley Madison rescued a famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington from the White House as the British entered Washington. And during World War II, many priceless works of art were removed from American museums and placed in protected vaults for safekeeping, because of fears of possible attacks on U.S. soil.
In the rubble of the Trade Center, the remains of ``Double Check,'' a bronze sculpture by J. Seward Johnson Jr. of a businessman looking inside his briefcase, has become a makeshift memorial, with a bouquet of flowers and a note scrawled on a piece of white, lined paper: ``In memory of those who gave their lives to try and save so many.'' It is signed by almost a dozen people.
``It's rather weird that such an easy, forgettable work should become so poignant,'' said Tom Eccles, director of the nonprofit Public Art Fund, which places artwork throughout the city.
The attacks will not lessen the demand for public art, Eccles said, but themes will probably change. Webster agreed.
``The demand will be for works that are more hefty, less decorative and corporate-feeling,'' she said. ``I think works will be more interactive rather than a piece of sculpture in a plaza or a tapestry on the wall.''
Bruce Ferguson, dean of the Graduate School of the Arts at Columbia University, said that over the past decade, much public art has reflected an urban irony and cynicism.
``Artists have often dealt with the dark side of the world, and have made works of art symbolic of those moments which help us to work our way through the traumas,'' he said, citing Goya's ``Disasters of War'' series and Picasso's ``Guernica,'' a protest against the bombing of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.
``Perhaps there will be a `Guernica' of the World Trade Center,'' added Casey Blake, director of the American Studies program at Columbia. ``The mural was a reaction to the aerial bombing of civilians. This is the terrorist equivalent, and maybe someone will be able to capture the primal scream we are feeling.'' http://dailynews.yahoo.com/