Subject: IMPORTANT PRESS RELEASE-Letter to the Paris Biennale
des Antiquaires warn of World War II Loot
Letter to the Paris “Biennale des
Antiquaires” warn of World War II Loot.
For immediate release
New York, N.Y. – September 20, 2002 – On the day of the opening the
“Biennale des Antiquaires”in Paris, France, its sponsoring
organization, the Syndicat National Des Antiquaires, has received a
letter sent to its President, Christian Deydier, warning all dealers
of potentially looted Decorative Arts items. The Jewish family which
recently filed a claim against an entire collection with the
Carnavalet Museum, located in Paris, has now notified the Biennale
Organizers to check provenance on decorative art items which will be
shown at the Biennale and which may have been sold after 1939 on the
Paris market . This Jewish family initially filed a claim against the
Bouvier collection at the Carnavalet Museum, one of the most
prestigious XVIIIth Century French Furniture collections in the world.
This collection was donated by Henriette BOUVIER, an antique dealer,
to the Carnavalet Museum, in 1965. The art claim was filed by a Jewish
family stating that this collection actually belongs to an estate
which was looted during World War II. Items from this estate which may
have been sold by Henriette Bouvier after 1939 and now in possession
of Antique Dealers during the Biennale will be considered of
suspicious provenance. Given the strong market activity in Decorative
Arts in France during and after the 1940s, this l! ooting activity may
have a significant impact in the French and US market as well. The
initial claim against the Carnavalet Museum was filed on May 21, 2002
with the Drai Commission, a Government-appointed commission in charge
of resolving all Holocaust-related claims covering assets in France.
This claim already attracted considerable attention in the French
press due to the importance of the antique dealer Henriette Bouvier in
the French Decorative Arts market during the 1940s and 1950s. Press
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