Some of the world's smallest pieces of art, which fit into the eye of a needle, have been stolen. Three pieces created by the British sculptor Willard Wigan vanished, while being packed after an exhibition in London's Covent Garden. The three minute carvings, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Tower Bridge and Jesus, are together worth £100,000. They are each less than a millimetre in size and are mounted in the eyes of needles. Bath-based artist Mr Wigan is today devastated at the loss of three of his prized possessions. "No human being can understand what I am feeling right now. Each of these pieces represent months of my life and are irreplaceable. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in particular, is the finest piece I have ever done. I have put eight people into the eye of the needle. No-one else can do that."
They were due to go on exhibition in Japan next year.
The theft has been reported to the police.
Story filed: 10:00 Thursday 25th October 2001 http://www.ananova.com/
Auction houses face flagging economy, new world
By Christopher Michaud
NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Art world eyes are trained squarely on New York this week as auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's and newcomer Phillips head into their big fall sales amid a flagging economy and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Despite an economic picture that muddied prospects for the auction houses' annual fall sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art even before the attacks on New York and Washington, officials remain cautiously optimistic that the art market will weather the crisis. ``I'm not predicting great things happening, but I'm also not predicting disaster,'' David Norman, Sotheby's worldwide co-chairman for Impressionist and modern art told Reuters. ``People have been calling. They've wanted to see artworks, we've taken works to their homes, they've asked for reports on the condition and they have sent advisers in -- things that the serious collectors do when they're really going to bid,'' he said.
In a bit of dramatic timing in a dramatic business, Sotheby's has the added onus of holding its sale on the eve of the criminal trial of its chairman, A. Alfred Taubman, who is charged with colluding with rival Christie's to fix commission structures for the two firms. Christie's has cooperated with the government since the scandal broke early in 2000. ``It's terrible and lousy for the company,'' Norman said. ``But it hasn't at all been a topic of conversation with collectors about the sale. ... They don't really care.'' Notably absent from the auctions are works in the $20 million to $30 million range, the likes of which can set records for artists like Picasso, van Gogh or Cezanne. Officials at all three houses agree that the sagging economy was a bigger factor in the fall auctions than the Sept. 11 attacks that killed some 4,800 people, mostly in New York. ``There still seems to be a certain amount of financial insulation among collectors who are bidding at this range, and a determination to continue with their lives as they would have done even before Sept. 11,'' said Christopher Eykyn, co-director of Impressionist and modern art at Christie's New York. But he conceded that ``there hasn't been a real test yet.'' Norman said a bigger concern was the competition for discretionary income posed by perceived opportunities for bargains in areas such as real estate or other investments.
EMPHASIS AGAIN ON WORKS OF TOP QUALITY
``I think it would take even more than recent events to stop collectors from interest in pictures of this quality,'' Eykyn said, referring to Christie's sale of the Rene Gaffe collection, a $40 million group of 20th-century paintings being sold without reserves with proceeds going in total to UNICEF. The late Belgian businessman's collection features works by Picasso, Renoir, Miro, Magritte and Leger, including Miro's monumental works ``Danseuse espagnole'' and ``Paysage sur les bords du fleuve amour,'' which are expected to fetch $5 million to $7 million and $4 million to $6 million respectively. Other highlights include Picasso's ``Etude pour 'Nu dans une foret,''' a 1908 work first owned by Gertrude Stein, and Leger's ``Le moteur,'' each estimated at $4 million to $6 million. Besides the Gaffes, a Matisse sculpture, ``Deux Negresses'' ($8 million-$10 million), Monet's ``Dans le Jardin'' and Renoir's ``Au cafe'' (both $4 million to $6 million) are all on the block. Christie's expects to take in $84 million to $120 million. Sotheby's Norman agreed that quality was the key to a successful sale. ``I think everybody wants quality. And the middle of the market, where you have a B-grade picture, could suffer because the people with wealth really only want to focus on quality. They're not going to make a marginal choice,'' he said.
Sotheby's has the most modest of this week's sales, with a $39 million to $53 million estimate. On Friday it lost its top lot, Modigliani's ``Giovanotta dai Capelli Rossi,'' when the seller withdrew the work, which was expected to go for $5 million to $7 million. That left Pissarro's ``La Rue St. Lazare'' ($4 million to $6 million) as its highest estimated piece. At Phillips, the star of Monday's sale is the Smooke collection, featuring works by Modigliani, Degas, Picasso, Matisse and Leger. The firm has sparked controversy in recent years in its bid to join Sotheby's and Christie's as an auction world powerhouse, offering clients unprecedented guarantees, such as a minimum promised price for sellers even if the work goes unsold.
A HOT MARKET FOR SCULPTURE?
Top lots include sculpture, a hot market in recent seasons, led by Degas' modernist ``Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans.'' It also is offering Egon Schiele's 1917 painting ``Suburban House with Washing.'' Each work is expected to fetch $8 million to $12 million. Simon de Pury, chairman of Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, said he was encouraged by the advance viewing in New York. ``As with any auctions, you cannot make predictions of how it's going to go, but we were concerned that maybe some people might not come to New York. That has not been the case.'' De Pury said success was incumbent upon three factors: ``The works have to be of first quality, they have to be reasonably estimated and they have to be fresh on the market. That is, they must not have been offered in the recent past.'' ``Obviously the events of Sept. 11 haven't helped,'' he added. And he said the market would continue to be very selective. ``Clients will go after specific things that they're looking for, and have a very, very focused approach,'' he said. Norman said there was ``definite skittishness'' after the attacks. ``We had two pictures consigned that were pulled. But we got five pictures after the 11th,'' he added. Eykyn said Christie's also received ``major consignments'' after the 11th.
``I hear from all the art dealers that there's very little private selling going on, and that they're really waiting for the auctions to take place,'' said Norman.
The wait is almost over.
(New York City bureau, +1 646 223 6280) http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/011103/n03149109_1.html Date sent: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 07:21:46 +0100 From: Jos van Beurden beurden@nwsbank.nl Subject:
The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted today by the Plenary session of the 31st General Conference by 87 affirmative votes, thus becoming UNESCO'S fourth heritage Convention. Four States voted against and 15 abstained from voting. A number of States gave explanations of their vote, and an Observer, the United States, gave a statement of its views.
Certified copies in the six authoritative languages will be signed by the President of the General conference and by the Director-General of UNESCO. This procedure, unique to UNESCO, takes the place of signature by the States: the next step for Member States of UNESCO will be the deposit of an instrument of ratification, approval or acceptance. Certain non-Member States also have the right to accede to the Convention, or may be invited to do so.
The new Convention will enter into force three months after the deposit of the 20th instrumnet of ratification, approval, acceptance or accession.
No amendments were made during the General Conference to the document 31C/34, but some linguistic adjustments may be made to the Arabic and Chinese versions.
Lyndel V. Prott Director Division of Cultural Heritage UNESCO
Jos van Beurden / Africa Asia Desk PO Box 13218, 3507 LE Utrecht, The Netherlands / Pays Bas tel +31 30 271 5473 fax +31 30 272 3388
Sotheby's takes bidder to court
BY DALYA ALBERGE, ARTS CORRESPONDENT
SOTHEBY’S is embroiled in a lawsuit against a collector who it claims bid for 74 items worth nearly £1 million. The collector denies that he was present at the auction. The sale took place in May at Sotheby’s New York branch. A man with a numbered identification paddle, which bidders hold up instead of their hand, spent a day bidding. Clutching a paddle numbered 562, for which he had signed, he bought 33 items of African and Oceanic art, including an Easter Island figure for £25,000, beat other collectors for nine American-Indian pieces and 32 pre-Columbian gold and pottery objects.
The auction house sent its invoice. It is believed that the mystery bidder left a message on an answering-machine distancing himself from the sale by suggesting he did not collect such works of art. He is named in Art Newspaper as Dean Taylor, a professor of finance at the University of Colorado, who has an American-Indian art collection worth more than $1 million. Sotheby’s say that many people who saw him bidding. It is suing Professor Taylor for £725,000 which was bid in the saleroom, as well as more than £180,000 for loss of goodwill towards the sellers. On being contacted by The Times, Professor Taylor dismissed the claim that he bid for 74 items as “not true”. He refused to discuss the matter further. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/