December 27, 2001

CONTENTS:




- SWABI: Illegal excavation of archaeological sites continues
- Fels takes aim at trophy hunters (collusion between bidders in the sale at Christie's in Melbourne)
- Permanent Observatory for the Protection of Cultural and Environmental Objects of the Nations in crisis.
- Unesco Sources: Treasure Hunters Beware !

SWABI: Illegal excavation of archaeological sites continues

By Our Correspondent
SWABI, Dec 26: Illegal excavation of some vital archaeological sites had been continuing across the district Swabi, authentic sources told Dawn here on Wednesday. The sources said besides very rich archaeological site, Hund, there are a number of sites in the district but the provincial archaeological department had failed to initiate excavations, providing an opportunity to the smugglers to conduct secret digging and extracting valuable archaeological items and then smuggling these to the desired areas in return for huge amount of money. About two months back, the sources said the CIA police had raided an archaeological site, Dheri, near Galabat bypass (located in Baja area), arrested one Islam and registered a case against him for allegedly conducting illegal digging of the site and extracting a number of valuables, earning, thereby, millions of rupees. The case against Islam was being processed in a local court, the sources added.
The accused, however, had claimed he would win the case because there was no proof with the CIA, and that he had never indulged in such business, the sources added. Islam had claimed that he had leased out the archaeological site, Dheri, allowing the digging and taking of clay from it for the motorway. The police arrested him and registered a case against him. About 15 days back, the sources said, the local police had arrested 24 residents of Charbagh area when they were allegedly caught red-handed, conducting the excavation of the controversial Dheri. However, they were released on bail after a case against them was registered. The sources said Islam had made vigorous attempts for allowing him to carry out excavation and also for taking away clay from Dheri but the government had not given any green signal. The local administration, they said, had not allowed anyone to take clay from Dheri. The Mardan museum in charge and NWFP archaeological officers had also visited the sites but no written statement was given to him, allowing the digging of the area. When contacted, the CIA in charge, Khalid Naseem Khan, told Dawn that the Mardan army monitoring cell had informed the Swabi monitoring cell who inquired from the Swabi police about the illegal excavation, and "we raided the site and recovered a human skull, hands and other items from Mr Islam. Therefore, a case was registered against him and the items handed over to the in charge of the Mardan museum, Sikandar Shah."
Quoting the museum in charge, a source said no person was given sanction for excavation and digging of the site was illegal. He said: "Whenever the archaeologists allow the digging of such site, one of our representatives will be present on the occasion to see the archaeologists or the in charge of Mardan museum." He said: "We have evidence against Mr Islam that will be produced before the local court during the case proceedings when the concerned judge asks for it. The recovered items handed over to the in charge of Mardan museum will also be presented as proof."
http://www.dawn.com/

Fels takes aim at trophy hunters

Terry Ingram
The exaggerated market in"trophy pictures" may soon be as extinct as their popular 19th century counterparts - stuffed animals hanging on billiard room walls. A decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could have a big bearing on the market's longevity. The commission is investigating the possibility of collusion between bidders in the sale at Christie's in Melbourne last month of View of Hobart and Mount Wellington, painted by the colonial artist John Glover. The painting sold for what many informed observers consider the extraordinarily low price of $1.78 million to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia. The commission is investigating the suggestion that art museums may have been discouraged from bidding, or talked each other out of bidding for the picture, to the detriment of the market-place and a fair price for the vendor. The commission's chairman, Allan Fels, has stated that if this could be demonstrated to be in the national interest museums could be exempted from the normal requirements. The commission's decision to prosecute or otherwise, and the accompanying rationale, presumably will not preclude public museums from bidding against each other. But public opinion almost certainly will. This leaves vendors in a spot, as the directors of art museums have become virtually the last sole hunters of the genre - the big picture that comes with a story attached, generates conversation and costs a lot of money.
But vendors at least have other methods of selling - through a dealer, by public tender or private treaty. Capturing a trophy picture wins the owner great kudos with their constituency, which may range from trustees or directors to the (uninformed) gallery visitor. This has meant that the small watercolour that might reveal more of an artist than the grandest composition in oils is overlooked, despite being a far more pertinent addition to a public collection. West Australian businessman Alan Bond was the last celebrated Australian trophy hunter outside the gallery system. The most valuable trophy picture brought to Australia was Van Gogh's Irises, which Bond bought for $79 million after failing to secure Sunflowers for about half that amount. Private hunters of trophy pictures have either died out or camouflaged themselves well. With the discrediting of many of the art-loving tycoons of the 1980s who bought big pink and purple paintings of sunsets in elaborate gold frames, art became a bit of a liability in the 1990s.
The absence of a counter-bidder for the Glover has not been the only occasion that these private bidders proved elusive during the boom that started in the mid-1990s. Even at the more fashionable modern end of the market, Brett Whiteley's Jacaranda Tree on Sydney Harbour produced only a disappointing couple of bids when it sold for $1.98 million at Christie's in Sydney in 1998. The few trophies that went through the market in the '90s are anonymously owned: present day tycoons are conscious of their predecessors' fate. The boom that began in the 1990s, however, is based more on personal investment aspirations. So the directors of public art collections have been left to carry the can for the trophy pictures, and such is the desperation to fill gallery walls with works that mark their tenures that heady prices have been paid. This is part of an international trend that has trapped unsuspecting directors overseas - possibly including an expatriate - and cost the national heritage here and in the United States lots of money. Timothy Potts, director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, who was director of the National Gallery of Victoria, returned a Sumerian statue to a dealer this year after doubts were cast on its authenticity. It cost $US2.7 million ($5.4 million) - and qualified as trophy art on price alone. The convention that Australian trophy hunters should not bid against each other was established in the 1980s, when the number of trophy paintings available began to dwindle and prices rose. But then prices fell, and they began breaking ranks.
Armed with the biggest gun by virtue of the truly national nature of his institution and the support it could raise - and with flak flying in every direction about issues from the gallery's air-conditioning units to low morale - Brian Kennedy, director of the National Gallery of Australia, bagged two big trophies, in 1999, David Hockney's A Bigger Grand Canyon for $4.6 million and this year, Lucien Freud's $7.4 million After Cézanne. Across the road at the National Library of Australia, bullets went equally astray. Bidding against the State Library of Victoria, the library, which buys pictures of record, paid $376,500 in 1998 for Henricus van den Houten's The Exploring Party Coming Upon An Encampment of Natives. The painting depicts an incident that was anticipated, but did not take place, during Ludwig Leichhardt's expedition into the interior. The sale was a triumph of Sotheby's marketing, as the picture had difficulty in obtaining more than $42,000 when offered as the catalogue cover illustration at an auction held by Lawsons in Sydney in 1996. Trophy hunting seemed set to gather pace as blockbuster exhibitions - the other vehicle for an art director to make an impression - become fewer because of the insurance costs. Trophies can be a liability for the private buyer because a sense of déjà vu limits their negotiability. Allan Fels has a chance to introduce a little atrophy into the public market for these pictures, which tend to be over- rated - just like good taste and modesty in the private sector.
This story was found at:
http://afr.com/smartmoney/2001/12/28/FFXAWM3WPVC.html

Permanent Observatory for the Protection of Cultural and Environmental Objects of the Nations in crisis.

Dear Director,
It's my great pleasure to inform you of the formation- within the I.S.FO.R.M.- of the Permanent Observatory for the Protection of Cultural and Environmental Objects of the Nations in crisis.
The aim of the Observatory is: The Observatory has accumulated a large amount of data ( photos, video tapes and index cards to catalogue) regarding the damages produced by the recent war to the artistic heritage of Bosnia, Albany and Kosovo. I acquired these documentsduring humanitarian missions by IFOR, SFOR and ALBA .There are also three video reportsandthe following books: