By Shasta Darlington
ROME (Reuters) - A third of Italy's most valued cultural sites -- including Venice and Pompeii -- are in a state of emergency, an environmental group said Wednesday. It said the sites were threatened by pollution, illegal building and pressure from tourism. After studying the 36 Italian monuments, cities and sites that have been honored as world heritage by the U.N. cultural organization UNESCO, the Legambiente group has raised the alarm, warning that one out of three is at serious risk. "The threats range from polluted water to constructions invading protected areas, but the main problem is knowing how to appreciate and take care of Italy's riches," said Federica Sacca, in charge of art and culture campaigns at Legambiente. The fragile floating city of Venice and St. Mark's Square are being eroded by polluted water and heavy boat traffic, Legambiente warned, while smog and intense urban living are taking their toll on Naples, Florence and Rome. Illegal construction is encroaching on the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and the Greek temples at Agrigento in Sicily, while an explosion of hotel building has scarred the dramatic Amalfi coast, the group said.
"Both funds and a change of attitude are needed, or some of these treasures could be lost forever," Sacca said. In some cases, those who are responsible for protecting the sites have not only been negligent, they have exploited them by trafficking in ancient artifacts, Legambiente said. Even experts at UNESCO admit some sites are running risks. The conditions at the Greek temples at Agrigento and the cluster of fishing villages in northern Italy known as the Cinque Terre are causing concern, a UNESCO source said. "The proliferation of illegal buildings growing up around Agrigento makes you think a bomb wouldn't be a bad solution," the source said. The beautifully preserved temples set on rolling hills in the heart of Sicily are surrounded by illegally and legally built cement apartment blocks and slapdash hotels catering to tour buses. The problem with Cinque Terre, a series of villages perched on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean, is more complex and tied to the end of a lifestyle based on agriculture and fishing and the rapid growth of tourism. But UNESCO's official Italy office said that most of the sites were well protected. "The care of sites is quite good, but Italy really should set aside more funds considering the size of its heritage," said spokesman Vincenzo Pellegrini.
Italy does not figure on UNESCO's list of 33 world heritage sites that are officially in danger, at least so far. But both UNESCO and Legambiente agree that the situation is grim at the thousands of Italian churches, archaeological sites and monuments that have not been declared as world heritage. http://story.news.yahoo.com/
Uffizi faces lights out over unpaid bill
By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 21/11/2002)
The Uffizi Gallery, home to such resplendent masterpieces as Botticelli's Birth of Venus, could be plunged into darkness because the authorities have not paid the electricity bill. The Florence gallery contains dozens of other world-famous works such as Botticelli's Allegory of Spring and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation. Because the arts board at the centre of the crisis also runs other museums, scores of other masterpieces, including Michelangelo's statue of David, in Florence's Accademia, could also be affected. The arts authority owes £165,000 for electricity and other bills have been mounting up. Its financial plight, which caused a stir in the art world when it was reported in the newspaper La Repubblica yesterday, is attributed to recent government moves to make the management of art heritage autonomous. The crisis was so acute, the paper said, that the authority was unable to provide even the most banal supplies such as paper towels and lavatory paper. "If we were a company we would have already gone seriously into the red," said Prof Antonio Paolucci, the fine arts superintendent, a former government minister. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Subject: Fire Drill Procedures
From: "Tony Christoforou" tony.christoforou@brooklynmuseum.org
Dear Colleagues, We are in the process of reviewing our Fire Drill Procedures. It would be helpful to see other institutions' policies. If you are willing to share your written Fire Drill Procedures please e-mail them to me at tony.christoforou@brooklynmuseum.org or fax them to my attention at (718)501-3631.
Thank you for your assistance,
Tony Christoforou Assistant Manager- Security & Safety 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11238 Telephone-(718)501-6463
The Aksum Obelisk: A Disquietening View
Professor Angelo Del Boca is one of the leading Italian historians of Ethiopia - and of Africa. He is renowned for his book "The Ethiopian War 1935-1941", as well as for his four-volume historical work on the Italians in East Africa, "Gli Italiani in Africa Orientale". He is a keen advocate of the Aksum obelisk's repatriation to Ethiopia. Recalling that the question of the Aksum obelisk was raised at the foundation meeting of the African Union at Durban some months back, he wrote to Professor Richard Pankhurst, on 4 November, warning against "excessive optimism" on the obelisk issue. Del Boca observes that even though the Berlusconi Government had on 19 July announced its commitment to return the stele it had failed to specify any date whatsoever for restitution. Opponents of restitution, Del Boca reports, are fighting back. An article by the Professor urging the obelisk's immediate return to Ethiopia was attacked in Italian Fascist circles, where the critics asked, by way of ridicule, whether he proposed the restitution to Egypt of nine other obelisks which had been looted by various Roman emperors. Amadeo of Aosta, Del Boca reports, likewise made a mendacious statement to the effect that the obelisk had been presented to Italy by Emperor Haile-Selassie. It had been necessary for the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome to deny this "falsehood". Professor Del Boca, like Ethiopia's own organisation AFROMET, therefore urges the need for the Italian Government to issue a clear statement as to when restitution, promised since 1947, can in fact be expected to take place. Advocates of restitution note that the Berlusconi Government has also made no public statement as to the return of Ethiopia's pre-war aeroplane Tsehai, needed for the new Addis Ababa airport building, or of the pre-war Ethiopian Ministry of the Pen archives still in Rome. http://www.addistribune.com/
SW China Sets up Fossil Protection Body
Southwest China's Guizhou province has set up a special committee for the protection of prehistoric fossils, to be headed by Long Chaoyun, the provincial vice-governor. Southwest China's Guizhou province has set up a special committee for the protection of prehistoric fossils, to be headed by Long Chaoyun, the provincial vice-governor. Following the discovery of four areas with piles of valuable prehistoric fossils in Guizhou, a region marked by limestone rock formations, the provincial government organized a thorough survey on fossil resources over a four-month period ending July. The survey revealed that some fossils were damaged, after a handful of people had dug them up without authorization and smuggled them to other cities in China, such as Chengdu, Nanning and Wuhan. Long attributed the occurrence to inadequate government management and coordination among fossil protection and research units. "The founding of the protection committee is aimed to arouse the concern of all social strata on protecting Guizhou's cultural and natural heritage and to better take care of these valuable resources," Long said. Moreover, he said, his province would build a geological park at two of the regions where the large amounts of fossils had been found. Some archaeologists and geologists in Guizhou called for drawing up a national law on cultural relics protection, especially rare fossils.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/
Tip leads to rare prosecution in artifact theft
Indian graves often looted without legal action
Knight Ridder/tribune
November 24, 2002
Robbing the graves of American Indians is lucrative, illegal and almost impossible to stop because the crime generally occurs in remote areas far from police patrols. But federal and local officers responding to a telephone tip did catch two suspects near Wappapello Lake in southeastern Missouri three months ago, setting up a rare prosecution that could bring the pair 10 years in prison if convicted. Cynthia Jackson, assistant operations manager for the Army Corps of Engineers at the lake, about 100 miles south of St. Louis, said other parks and corps regions across the country have problems protecting archaeological treasures. "Every district in the nation has burial sites that are getting dug up," Jackson said in a recent interview. "We're the only ones who caught someone. That's unusual." The anonymous call came Aug. 15 to the corps, which manages the lake as part of a 44,000-acre park in Wayne and Butler counties. Corps rangers, joined by a Missouri conservation agent and Wayne County sheriff's deputies, drove to a remote area near the lake and hiked a half-mile through hilly terrain. There they discovered the two men digging up an archaeological site, said Alan Dooley, spokesman for the corps. The officers arrested Steven S. Tripp and William T. Cooksey as the two prepared to leave.
The men had about 15 arrowheads and artifacts in their possession, and Tripp had several items in his shoes, said LeeAnn Summer, an attorney for the corps. Both were indicted Oct. 24 on charges of destroying archaeological resources on federal land and damaging federal property. A conviction on the former charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $20,000 fine; conviction on the latter carries a possible 10-year term and $250,000 fine. Cooksey, 53, of Union, Mo., appeared in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau, posted a $10,000 bond and pleaded not guilty. He could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Terry Flanagan, declined to comment. Tripp, for whom no age and address were available, remains at large, a prosecutor said. The charges relate to the artifacts only and would apply regardless of the presence of the bones, officials said. Corps officials placed a value of $14,000 on the damage they blamed on the suspects. Summer said it was not determined from which culture the artifacts originated. About 10 American Indian tribes, including the Cherokee, are known to have lived near the lake, she said. The destruction of archaeological sites nationwide occurs constantly, said Patty Wright, assistant professor of anthropology at University of Missouri-St. Louis. The black market for artifacts is booming here, and they're popular in Germany and Japan also, she noted. State and federal laws, including the U.S. Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, make it illegal to destroy graves or move artifacts. It is legal to collect arrowheads and some other artifacts on private property, Wright said. But it is illegal to disturb graves - whether on private or public property - without first obtaining permission from proper authorities.
http://www.sunspot.net/
Steal-to-order gangs feared behind theft of priceless Usk Castle relic
Catrin Williams, The Western Mail
WELSH churches and chapels could be steal-to-order gangs' next target. A valuable family heirloom may be the first Welsh victim in a internet-spurred crime wave hitting the nation's places of worship. The 14th-century stone font - used for centuries for christenings - has disappeared from St George's Chapel in the ruins of Usk Castle. Experts believe it has already been snapped up by a foreign buyer and shipped abroad, possibly to the United States, as part of a growing illegal trade in religious relics. This latest theft fuels increasing fears that brazen thieves are now trying their luck in Wales after it emerged more than 200 antiques have been snatched from churches across nearby Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Somerset within the last six months. Usk Castle owners, the Humphreys family, are devastated because of the sentimental value attached to an icon used to christen its latest generation. "It is so, so, so disheartening because outside this castle it is a lump of stone but in this castle it is a relic of the early Christian years," said Rosie Humphreys last night. "It belongs to this place. It was probably carved for this chapel." The roofless place of worship is regularly used for funerals, thanksgivings and other ceremonies because it is still consecrated. "We would hope to christen future generations here," said the mother whose three children were christened in the font. "It is a very peaceful place and we like people coming here to enjoy it and we would not want to stop that. But it is this awful opportunism. "It makes you wonder if people do not deserve to have wonderful places like this if they cannot treat them with respect. "It still feels like a very, very special place and what is so soul destroying is that people cannot imagine this little stone font is nothing beyond this place. "Here it is priceless because there is such a long religious history. Take it away and it is worth nothing." The font - one of the largest and most unusual artifacts to be stolen so far - is the second piece to be taken from the castle this month. Two 30 inch-long brass cannons were swiped from outside the gate-house despite being tethered with chains. Nick Tolson, of Churchwatch, says thieves photograph the item, post the picture on the internet and then respond to the highest bidder's request by stealing it. "Statues are being ripped off tombs and used as garden ornaments," he said. "They are usually gone in a couple of days and they can go anywhere. It will go over-sees almost certainly."
He believes the medieval font, which has a 10-inch base, could fetch between £5,000 and £10,000 on the unchecked market. "A font is unique and they don't often come on the market," said the church security advisor. "It is very sad and it's very unfortunate. This sort of theft is very rare. They do happen but the good news is that we do catch the people that do these things. We have caught every single thief that specialises in antiques like these over the past 10 years." A man was arrested recently for stealing cash from collection boxes in 74 churches across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Gwent Police were unable to confirm last night whether an organised gang was targeting Monmouthshire churches. But officers believe the heavy font would have needed at least two people to carry it to a waiting van. "The owners are devastated as it is priceless to them," said a spokesman. "It has been used for hundreds of years and they desperately want it back." CHURCHES are advised not to start locking their doors because this will not deter thieves. They are more likely to cause damage by smashing their way in, said Churchwatch's Nick Tolson. Owners are advised to take pictures and descriptions of any valuable furnishings and fittings. They can also be marked with special ultra-violet pens and fitted with alarms at £20 each. Consideration should be given to displaying plastic, plate or wooden replicas. Wooden offertory boxes should be replaced with metal wall safes and should be bolted and grouted into masonry. Gates should be locked at night and hinges regularly checked.
Ensure items are insured. Ensure the place of worship is included in any local Neighbourhood Watch scheme. Liaise with local police and notify them immediately of any break-in. Monthly magazine TRACE specialises in retrieving stolen works of art and antiques.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/
Watches worth millions stolen in Geneva
24/11/2002 - 13:36:04
Thieves using a truck as a battering ram smashed into Geneva’s watch museum early today, making off with around 100 pieces worth several million Swiss francs, police said. Police said the thieves attached a two metre-long metal bar to the back of the stolen truck and then reversed at high speed into the entrance of the 19th century villa housing the collection of 5,800 watches and clocks and 7,000 pieces of other jewellery. The burglar alarm of the 19th century villa sounded at 5:25am. Although police responded rapidly and gave chase, the thieves managed to escape in a car. Swiss authorities ordered a border alert with neighbouring France. There was no immediate breakdown of the pieces stolen or their precise value. The museum already suffered a break-in in August 2001, when thieves made off with 40 watches worth about two million francs (€1.35m).
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/
Until framed evidence arrives, a delay
By PETER HALL The Express-Times
FLEMINGTON -- Hunterdon County authorities are working to recover a painting Thaine Clark allegedly stole before his 21-year run from the law. The 73-year-old former Hunterdon County man is charged with aggravated arson and art theft in connection with a 1981 blaze at his Delaware Township home and the disappearance of $165,000 worth of art that belonged to his estranged wife. Clark appeared in Hunterdon County Superior Court on Friday with his attorney Carol Skarpetowski. Hunterdon County Assistant Prosecutor Katharine Errickson told Judge Ann R. Bartlett that she is working with Interpol, the international law-enforcement cooperative, to recover the most valuable of the paintings Clark is accused of stealing. She asked for time to get the painting because she intends to use it as evidence during Clark's trial. Bartlett said she would grant Errickson the time she needs and ordered Clark to return for a pretrial conference in January. Clark's ex-wife Debra Clark, who now lives in Vermont, spotted the 1948 Georgio Morandi still life painting on the Web site for Christie's auction house in London in October. Although the painting was removed from the Christie's register, its owner, an Italian man who was not identified by the auction house, still has possession of the piece, Errickson said. The painting is thought to be worth about $700,000 now, Errickson said. Debra Clark bought the painting for about $40,000, Skarpetowski said. Authorities allege Clark started a fire in the basement of his Rosemont-Raven Rock Road home before going out to dinner July 31, 1981. A neighbor spotted him leaving the home minutes before smoke began to billow from the house, according to court records. Clark returned to the house to find the blaze extinguished and police on the scene. He told an officer he needed to retrieve his checkbook from an upstairs bedroom, left out the back door of the house, according to court records. Several days later police discovered that a divorce settlement with his ex-wife Deborah Clark required Thaine Clark to turn over about $164,485 worth of 20th-century paintings. According to Deborah Clark, he had not given her the art and she believed it was still in the home they had shared. Law enforcement agencies tried for more than two decades to track down Clark in the United States and Canada before his son-in-law told police he was living near Southampton, Bucks County. Police arrested Clark in January. Also on Friday, Skarpetowski filed a request to have Clark declared physically unfit to stand trial. Skarpetowski said her client has suffered from a minor stroke and heart problems. "I believe he's not capable of sitting next to me through a stressful trial," she said. Skarpetowski said Clark's trial is likely to last for two or three weeks. The goal of her motion is to allow Clark's health to stabilize to a point where he could sit through the trial. "It's not like they're going dismiss (the charges) because he's old and ill," Skarpetowski said.
http://www.nj.com/
Trial starts for New York man with talent for art forgery
A man described by US federal prosecutor as homeless, and with an alleged talent for faking paintings, went on trial in New York yesterday charged with selling more than $US185,000 ($A331,779) worth of forged art. Alfred Martinez, 35, is charged with attempting to sell more than a dozen forged paintings by the late American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, after claiming he had obtained them from the late artist's former girlfriend. Assistant US Attorney for Manhattan Andrew De Vore told jurors today the woman had never existed. Martinez was arrested in June after two separate art dealers complained to authorities he was attempting to peddle what they had determined were forged works, the prosecutor said. According to De Vore, Martinez was also secretly recorded by an FBI agent who had posed as an art collector. De Vore charged that Martinez had been motivated to sell the fakes in order to buy himself a partnership in an art dealership. ''He wanted to make it desperately in the art business and he needed the money to do it,'' he said. The defendant not only allegedly peddled the fakes, De Vore told the jury, but also faked documents authenticating the artworks. The agent and art dealers are due to testify, and also Basquiat's father, Gerard, who heads a committee which authenticates his late son's art. Basquiat, who started out as a subway graffiti artist, emerged on New York's art scene as a protege of Andy Warhol in the 1980s. He died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at age 27. Martinez's lawyer, Ronald Garnett told the jury that his client was not capable of such a complex scheme. He said his client had merely been ensnared in the plot by another art gallery owner peddling the faked Basquiat paintings. ''It will be up to you to determine whether or not the evidence shows you that it was Alfredo Martinez who perpetrated this fraud,'' Garnett said. If convicted of either count of wire fraud or mail fraud, Martinez faces up to five years in prison and fines of a minimum $US250,000 ($A448,350).
http://www.theage.com.au/
6 mil. yen painting stolen from Kanagawa offices
Yomiuri Shimbun
A Japanese-style painting worth 6 million yen was stolen and replaced with a worthless watercolor at the Kanagawa prefectural government's new offices in Yokohama, police said. A 41-centimeter by 50- centimeter painting, titled "Sakuhin," had been displayed on the wall of the landing between the third and fourth floors in the office. It was the most expensive among 21 pictures displayed in the office. Police have no leads as to when or how it was stolen. The painting depicts woodpeckers in a stand of trees, and was painted by Kojin Kudo, 87, from Hiratsuka in the prefecture. The prefectural government purchased the painting for 500,000 yen in 1981. According to police, a prefectural official noticed the painting missing at 4:50 p.m. on Tuesday. The painting had been hanging at a hook on the wall, and could have easily been removed.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/
Stolen statuettes go home
Bamako - Eighteen 13th-century statuettes which were illicitly removed from the west African state of Mali, apparently after clandestine digs, have found their way home, the local media reported on Wednesday. The small figures, 16 of them in terra cotta and the others carved in wood, were stolen from the Niger river delta region in the central Bandiagara region, the government daily L'Essor reported. The director of the National Museum in the capital Bamako, Samuel Sidibe, expressed delight at the return of the "family heirlooms", which were believed to have been found in the possession of a private collector and a French antiques dealer. "The return of these works rewards the major efforts Mali has made in recent years to alert international opinion, the police and customs services to the looting of our heritage," Sidibe said. A few years ago, French President Jacques Chirac returned to Mali a terra-cotta figure of a ram which had been given to him as a birthday present by one of his aides. An investigation showed that it had been taken illicitly from Mali. - Sapa-AFP
http://www.news24.com/
Smuggler's blues: Japan will sign a convention to return stolen artifacts, but cultural affairs officials are skeptical.
By EIJI YAMAMORI, The Asahi Shimbun
``Signing the convention is a matter of proving your `class' as a nation.''TOSHIYUKI KONO Professor at Kyushu University
Japan is finally taking a step toward clearing its unwanted reputation as a ``haven for stolen artifacts.'' Japan will join 95 countries and agree to the terms of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The convention was adopted at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1970. The Diet in June approved the government's decision to join the internationally coordinated effort to prevent illegal trafficking of artifacts.
The treaty will become effective in December.
However, Agency of Cultural Affairs officials remain skeptical. ``Dealings involving stolen goods are carried out behind the scenes, so we have no idea what is actually going on,'' said one official. There have been several lucky finds, though. In 2001, a private museum in Shiga Prefecture returned a standing Buddha figure that was evidently stolen from China. Also, the left foot of Zeus, a sculpture that disappeared from the national Kabul Museum in Afghanistan, mysteriously resurfaced in Japan recently. Cultural property smuggled into Japan drew much attention at a conference in Tokyo held by cultural art specialists last year. ``There has been a marked influx of china and porcelain from Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines to Japan during the past 20 years,'' an archaeologist said. Nations' heightened awareness of their heritage and their desire to safe-keep their cultural artifacts led to the establishment of the UNESCO convention. Naturally, many countries in Asia and Africa that were once colonies of the Western world rushed to sign up. In contrast, European states tended to drag their feet. Several countries, including Germany, have not signed up after 30 years. What prompted Japan to adopt the policy after all these years?
According to the Foreign Ministry, the recent trend for exchanging cultural assets was definitely one of the reasons. Furthermore, the United Nations repeatedly urged Japan to join. After Japanese Ambassador Koichiro Matsuura was appointed director-general of UNESCO in 1999, Japan simply had to make a move. Toshiyuki Kono, professor of international legal studies at Kyushu University, said: ``Signing the convention is a matter of proving your `class' as a nation. Up to now, Japanese were sorely short on sensitivity. In their eyes, cultural assets were on par with general trade products. Japan did not feel they were protecting irreplaceable treasures.'' Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi also touched upon Japan's lack of action.
``If we had pursued the issue in earnest, it probably would not have taken us 30 years to join,'' she said at a meeting in June. After the treaty comes into effect in December, the agency will draw up a cultural assets catalog and all exports will require permits. All imported artifacts will be checked to determine if they were taken out of countries covered by the treaty. However, these measures alone will not give Japan a clean bill of health. For example, how should Japan deal with artifacts smuggled out of countries such as Afghanistan that have not joined the UNESCO convention? Ikuo Hirayama, president of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music and a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, established a committee to prevent the scattering of cultural assets from war-torn Afghanistan last year. He has accumulated about 120 items that will be returned after proper channels have been established. ``There are organizations in Europe that are taking similar support measures,'' Hirayama said. But Japan's situation is unique. It has also been asked to make amends for its past. At the summit meeting held in Pyongyang on Sept. 17, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) requested that Japan return and compensate for cultural assets taken during the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
In principle, convention rules are not retroactive.
``All artifacts were acquired legally and rightfully,'' said an official of the Agency of Cultural Affairs. ``We are under no obligation to return anything.'' However, Japan did ``return'' 1,321 articles, including celadon porcelain and old documents, to South Korea when the two nations signed the Japan-Korea Treaty in 1965. Yasushi Kono, who is with the cultural bureau at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, said: ``I do not know much about North Korea, but in general, if a former colony requests the return of certain cultural assets, the former suzerain may be bound to comply. It is a moral obligation that is in accordance with the spirit of the UNESCO convention. ``It is undoubtedly one of the issues that international society must come to terms with in the future,'' he said.(IHT/Asahi: November 22,2002)
http://www.asahi.com/ The Art Newspaper.com
This week's top stories:
SNUFF MOVIE OR ART-AS-JOURNALISM?
NEW YORK. A New York gallery is showing a work of art which includes lengthy footage of soldiers actually being killed during an al-Qa’eda attack on a Russian convoy in Chechnya. The video was sent to the artist, Sergei Bugaev by a friend in Russia’s special forces. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10375
CONVICTED ANTIQUITIES DEALER APPEALS
NEW YORK. Frederick Schultz, the New York antiquities dealer sentenced in June to 33 months in prison by the US federal district court in Manhattan for receiving antiquities which Egypt claims under national ownership laws, has appealed his conviction on four grounds. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10374
NOT A GREAT COLLECTOR, YOUR MAJESTY
LONDON. The Royal Collection has traditionally kept rather quiet about its purchases, preferring to buy discreetly. But to mark the Jubilee, The Art Newspaper set out to discover what pictures have been added by The Queen during her reign. Thanks to a welcome new openness, the Royal Collection assisted, providing a full list, amounting to 20 works. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10373
SUCCESS IN THE TRIBAL ART DEPARTMENT
NEW YORK "Stanley Marcus: The Eye of A Collector," Sotheby's sale on 16 November of property owned from the estate of the retailer whose brilliant marketing schemes transformed his family's Dallas department store (Neiman Marcus) into a household name for luxury, was a huge success. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10372
TEARS OF JOY, INDEED
NEW YORK. Whatever doubts may have existed on the eve of the latest round of contemporary art auctions were comprehensively swept aside in a powerful demonstration of the market’s momentum, the more remarkable since a long list of the leading American collectors did not attend the preview weekend and were not seen to be taking part in the competition. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10371