DENNIS - Police are searching for a painting stolen from the Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 21. The painting by Kenneth Stubbs is valued at $2,500, according to Dennis Capt. William Monahan. The painting was stolen while the museum had been rented for a private party, Monahan said. It was taken from a wall where it was among a number works by Stubbs. The painting is titled "Shorescape with Wharf" and "it is painted in the style of abstract cubism," Monahan said. The painting measures 10 inches by 12 inches and was displayed in a gold-colored frame. Anyone with information about the theft or painting is asked to contact Detective Garvin Kelley at the Dennis Police Department at 508-394-1315. http://www.capecodonline.com/
Police Search Church for Missing Art
Fri Oct 4, 6:05 PM ET By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Tipped off by an Internet sleuth, police searched the altar of a small-town church Friday hoping to solve the seven-decade old mystery surrounding a notorious art theft, but they came up empty-handed again. Police acted on tips from Gaston De Roeck, a retired cab driver who has spent years gathering clues about the painting, which disappeared in 1934. He posted seemingly credible tips on his Web site in recent days based on decades of study of the disappearance of a Flemish Master from the St. Bavo Cathedral in nearby Ghent. Police searched the church at Wetteren looking for the stolen panel of Jan Van Eyck's 20-panel "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" — painted in 1432 and on view at cathedral. After the results were announced, even De Roeck was ready to give up his lifelong search for the 5 1/2-foot by 6.3-foot panel. "There are no more clues. I have no idea where it could be. This was to be the climax," De Roeck told VRT television. The "Adoration" is among Belgium's greatest works of art, the highlight of Flemish Primitive painting with translucent colors and intricate detail. The latest hunt for the missing panel, titled "10 Just Judges on Their Way to Venerate the Mystic Lamb," began after De Roeck put a message on his Web site saying the panel was hidden in a wooden wall behind the altar of the St. Gertrude Church at Wetteren, 26 miles west of Brussels. The Van Eyck theft from Ghent's St. Bavo cathedral left Belgium aghast at the time. Soon after the theft, extortion letters arrived, but church officials refused to pay. Former Ghent police inspector Karel Mortier has chased the mystery since 1956 and still believes the priceless painting is somewhere in the St. Bavo Cathedral.
Teotihuacan's most important temple in danger of disappearing
Monica Medel, EFE - 10/4/2002
Mexican archeologists and engineers are employing nearly 2,000-year- old drainage canals in their efforts to prevent the magnificent temple of the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan from suffering permanent water damage. "Some stones are just crumbling, but we're learning what the cause is and halting the deterioration," Alejandro Martinez, archeology coordinator at the National Institute of Anthropology, told EFE. The temple of Quetzalcoatl's facade is replete with carvings of the plumed serpent and Tlaloc, the main gods from the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America, and forms part of the 22 square kilometers (8.5 square miles) that make up the complex of Teotihuacan, which means "the city of the gods," in the language of the local Indians. The complex, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of the capital, is one of Mexico's main tourist attractions and a gem of pre- Colombian monumental architecture. A diagnosis of the complex shows the main cause of the deterioration to be water that leaked into the site from buildings located north of the temple whenever it rained. The accumulated liquid flows directly toward the Quetzalcoatl temple due to a natural slope and is absorbed from the soil by the stones. Martinez attributed the leaks to nearby excavations dating from the 1980s, when rubble and dirt were removed in efforts to find other buildings, and a great deal of flooring was destroyed. "We reckon the water is leaking from there," he said. "A good deal of what falls on the north side passes under the temple of Quetzalcoatl." To remedy the problem, efforts are underway to channel the waters elsewhere. To do so, they are relying on the drainage system built by the natives of Teotihuacan, which functioned between 100 A.D. and 600 A.D., when the city had some 250,000 inhabitants from diverse ethnic backgrounds. "We looked for the ancient canals and are now removing the water," Martinez said. "Then, we're going to seal the flooring on the temple's north side, which should control the humidity affecting the building." Channeling the waters and sealing the flooring will continue into the first months of next year, when restoration of the sculptures is expected to begin. During pre-Hispanic times, the temple of Quetzalcoatl was covered up by another structure, which has helped preserve it to this day. Between 1915 and 1920, the facade was removed and the temple's true face was exposed. Teotihuacan was built between 100 A.D. and 550 A.D. and reached its zenith close to 450 A.D. The city was abandoned around 600 A.D. for reasons still being researched, since the residents left no written documents. The ceremonial center, which includes the Road of the Dead, the pyramids of the Sun and Moon and the temple of Quetzalcoatl, is the only part that has been restored. The rest of the original site is buried beneath the foundations of factories and residential buildings on the outskirts of the Mexican capital. http://www.thenewsmexico.com/
200-year-old dagger stolen from museum
JAIPUR, OCT 4 (PTI)
A 200-year-old dagger has been stolen from a transpArent box of Albert Hall Museum here, police said today. The 18-inch-long dagger with sharp-edged blade, commonly known as 'khukhari', was stolen yesterday, Superintendent of Police (South) Sanjay Agarwal told PTI. Police have lodged a case and started conducting searches at the antique showrooms to locate the piece of historical importance, Agarwal said. As per preliminary reports, one of the visitors stole the dagger by pushing the glass down, he said. Security cover was provided when the incident occurred, he added. http://www.outlookindia.com/ The Art Newspaper.com
This week's top stories
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NOT ARSON, CONCLUDES FIVE-YEAR REPORT ON FIRE IN THE CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SHROUD
TURIN. The public prosecutor charged with investigating the 1997 fire that destroyed much of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin and part of the adjacent royal palace has concluded that the fire was not arson, but he has also reported several instances of negligence and breach of contract. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10077
CENSORSHIP OR TACT?
LONDON. At the opening of the RA’s “Galleries” exhibition on 12 September the talk was not of the big bang caused by phyrotechnic Chinese artist Cai-Guo-Qiang’s giant exploding money bag but of less conspicuous financial matters. The evening’s hot topic was the censorship of a text by artist’s collective “Inventory”, whose anti- imperialist tirade, sprayed directly onto the RA’s walls, had been expunged of all American references. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10076
CULTURE ONLINE TO RIVAL MUSEUM WEBSITES
LONDON. As part of the government's initiative to take Britain online, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have appointed Jonathan Drori as the first director of Culture Online, the new DCMS department responsible for increasing digital access to the nation's cultural heritage. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10075
REFORMS TO FIAC, FRANCE’S TOP CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
PARIS. The Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) will be held from 24 to 28 October at the huge exhibition complex of the Porte de Versailles. This is the 29th edition of an event which from modest beginnings in the East End of Paris has flowered into France’s major contemporary art fair. However in recent years it had become bogged down in, shall we say, humdrum French art. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10074
BARNES COLLECTION APPLIES TO MOVE INTO TOWN
Philadelphia. The financially failing Barnes Foundation filed court papers last month seeking to move its collection from suburban Philadelphia to a new building downtown. Three Pennsylvania-based foundations—Pew, Lenfest , and Annenberg—promise to raise $100 million for construction and $50 million for endowment if the court approves the petition. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10073
RAISE ST MARK’S SQUARE
VENICE. In November work will begin on the raising of the pavement of the waterside quay by St Mark’s Square, Venice. This is the first of a series of measures aimed at repelling high tides in one of the lowest lying areas of Venice, which gets flooded some 200 times a year. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10072
COURTAULD GETS 20TH-C MASTERPIECES ON LOAN
LONDON. The Courtauld Institute Gallery is to unveil a series of major loans on 10 October, which will transform its modern collection. The loans, from five owners, comprise 105 20th-century works, worth over £100 million. To provide hanging space, the Great Room on the upper floor is being subdivided into four, with temporary partitions, and the new works will be shown after the Post- Impressionists donated by Samuel Courtauld. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10071