Subject: RE: responses to query Guard coverage per sq. ft.
Date sent: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 17:35:15 +1300 From: "Gordon Gullery" ggullery@akmuseum.org.nz To: securma@xs4all.nl
In case the discussion is still open:
This is really answered by the threat and level of risk a situation holds. I was once told that I was to have one security guard per 100 persons - this of course is ridiculous; instead I allocate guards to tasks and in some wide area floors it may take two guards to do the one task. It is a matter of common sense and sound judgment based on an appreciation of the situation.
Having read through many of the answers though I think almost every answer has merit and can be used in some way. At the Museum I have used:
a. time past a point eg the guard must pass a certain point within a time gap having completed specified tasks;
b. a highly valuable and at risk object/display may require it's own security guard or camera;
c. reduce guard numbers by increasing surveillance devices and having a reaction person(s) on standby; and
d. allocate one security guard per room based on the guards ability to move about the room.
There are many other ways but in essence it comes down to appreciating the threat and risk, and then determining the allocation of security guards.
Gordon Gullery Manager Safety and Security Auckland War Memorial Museum New Zealand
Date sent: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 12:41:36 +0100 Send reply to: International Council of Museums Discussion List ICOM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM From: Secrétariat ICOM secretariat@ICOM.MUSEUM
Subject: ANNOUNCE: ENG : New pages in ICOM Web Site FRE: Nouvelles pages s ur le site ICOM SPA:Nuevas paginas en el sitio ICOM
The ICOM Secretariat would like to inform you that the following information is now available on the ICOM Web Site:
Fighting the illicit traffic in cultural property - List of Useful Links at: http://icom.museum/traffic_links.html Latin America Red List: A list of categories of pre-Columbian and Colonial cultural objects particularly at risk from looting and theft at: http://icom.museum/redlist_latina_eng.html **************************************
Le secrétariat de l'ICOM a le plaisir de vous informer que les informations suivantes sont maintenant disponibles sur le site Web de l'ICOM.
La lutte contre le trafic illicite des biens culturels - Liste de liens utiles à l'adresse: http://icom.museum/traffic_links_fr.html
Liste Rouge Amerique Latine : une liste des catégories d'objets culturels précolombiens et de l'époque coloniale les plus touchés par le pillage et le vol http://icom.museum/redlist_latina_fr.html
**************************************
La secretaria de ICOM tiene el agrado de comunicarles que las paginas siguientes estan disponibles en el sitio ICOM.
La lucha contra el tráfico ilícito de bienes culturales: http://icom.museum/traffic_links.html (en ingles) http://icom.museum/traffic_links_fr.html (en frances)
Lista Roja América Latina : una lista de categorías de objetos culturales pre-colombinos y coloniales que corren un riesgo serio de ser robados o saqueados. http://icom.museum/redlist_latina_spa.html
Italian Art Chief Arms Revolution, Not Privatization
Sun Feb 16,10:11 AM ET
By Shasta Darlington
ROME (Reuters) - Could Italy put the Colosseum, once the site of bloody battles between gladiators and wild beasts, up for auction? Could Michelangelo's David come under the hammer? As far-fetched as it may sound, these are questions Italians have been asking as the government rolls out the red carpet for the private sector to step into the cherished realm of Italy's millenniums-old cultural heritage. But the man who reigns supreme in this kingdom has a simple answer. "That's ridiculous," Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani told Reuters in an interview. "I hope to inspire an authentic revolution in arts management, but nobody is privatizing the Colosseum," said the bespectacled minister as he took a break from signing copies of his new book "Italians' Treasure" at a book launch.
The former minister of public administration's "revolution" is more about number crunching than grandiose art expositions. "Considering the size of its enormous cultural heritage, Italy spends too little of its GDP to protect it," he said. As a result, the ministry is putting on the pressure for more state funds, clearing the way for more private investment through tax breaks and even trying to launch a lottery that would finance only cultural projects. But it is Urbani's plan to put some sites under private management and a broader government proposal to sell off some state assets -- including those belonging to the Culture Ministry -- that have grabbed headlines.
GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE...
"Italy is like a person with many houses but also with many debts. So we have to look at which houses are dispensable," Urbani said of plans to auction some property. Public outcry grew when the government issued a decree last year that transfers all state property -- from ancient Roman temples to modern office buildings -- into a new holding called Patrimonio SpA, controlled by the Economy Ministry. Some of these assets will be sold to reduce Italy's ballooning deficit while others can be used as financial guarantees for large public works. Now, the government is drawing up a list of those assets which it deems should be offered for sale. "This could happen in the next six months," Urbani said. "They'll be mostly ancient palazzi, military barracks and 18th century jails ... but nothing of artistic value." Italy boasts more than 3,000 museums, 2,000 archeological sites and countless castles, gardens and historical buildings. Urbani insists the government has no intention of including the Trevi fountain or Colosseum in its fire sale, but critics say he should have made that clearer in the vaguely-worded decree. "The law is very dangerous," said Salvatore Settis, an Italian art historian and a former director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. "I believe the minister, but in theory, the law allows the government to sell whatever it wants, and who knows who will be minister in five years."
PRIVATE SECTOR TO THE RESCUE
The Culture Ministry is also awaiting approval of a proposal that would allow private firms to manage cultural sites, taking the burden off the government and providing concession fees. "This is a question of two months," Urbani said. Currently, private companies can manage services like bookshops and cafes, but not the sites themselves. "I confess, my reasoning is that having our cultural heritage in public hands has not guaranteed its protection. The public sector has tolerated devastating activities," he added. Indeed, up to a third of Italy's most valued cultural sites are in a state of emergency, according to one independent study. It says pollution, illegal building and pressure from tourism, combined with insufficient funding, are destroying treasures like the fragile floating city of Venice and the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. "I don't think the real risk is privatizing. It's undervaluing what we've got," said Silvia Dell'Orso, author of a book on managing Italy's cultural sites. "In some cases, private management can be more enthusiastic and effective."
Urbani's argument is more financial.
Until recently, the state has earmarked 0.17 percent of gross domestic product for the preservation and maintenance of its cultural heritage, but Urbani sees funding rising to as high as 0.8 percent of GDP with public and private help. One of his first measures was securing a portion of Italy's infrastructure budget for the Culture Ministry. Now, three percent of funding for infrastructure will go toward the protection of cultural heritage. The minister said the next step was seeking approval for private concessions to manage sites, but insists the state will be responsible for their protection. "The concession won't be allowed to do whatever it wants, the state is there to guarantee the heritage is maintained and protected," he said. But the problem, according to Settis, is that there is no incentive for private companies to get involved since museums -- which are largely financed by the state in places like Italy and by donations in places like the United States -- simply do not turn a profit. "The first thing a private company would have to do is close some galleries and stop funding for research and restoration. It wouldn't work," he said. But apparently Urbani believes that "when you can't beat 'em, join 'em." In the face of mounting protests against his market-friendly policies, the minister took Settis and a handful of critics on board at the beginning of the year to try to redraft the law on the management of cultural heritage to make sure the country's treasures are protected. "I don't necessarily think I have the answers, but I do think these are things we have to debate," Urbani said.
War-ruined Kabul Museum being restored with British help
Mon Feb 17, 6:30 AM ET
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - The war-ruined Kabul Museum's entire top floor is missing — except for the windowless outer walls — and the first floor is a wreck of tangled wires and bare light-bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Many of the museum's centuries old artifacts have been destroyed or stolen, and the only piece of art still visible is a large marble basin made in the southern city of Kandahar in the 15th century. But with British help, several rooms have now been renovated and officials are hopeful that some of the precious artifacts can be restored. The work was done in consultation with the British Museum in London and with help from the British Embassy in Kabul, said Omara Khan Masoudi, museums director at the ministry of information and culture. British peacekeepers in the 4,000-strong multinational force that patrols the city also assisted, he said. The museum was wrecked during civil war in the 1990s, and rival Islamic groups — some of whom are currently in power — emptied it of most of its artifacts.
The former Taliban regime destroyed what was left, saying the museum's human images were idolatrous or offensive to Islam. Workers have been piecing together ancient statues and other objects that have been in storage. "We're restoring the artifacts, but it's a long process," Masoudi told The Associated Press. "The museum is still not open to the public, but we hope it could be by the end of next year." The latest work began Jan. 20, the international peacekeeping force said in a statement Sunday. The new restoration room, brightened with a fresh coat of yellow paint, stands in stark contrast to the dark interior of the rest of the building. A neighboring room was also rebuilt with three new sinks to help clean objects.
Dresden Treasures Await Refuge
By ALAN RIDING
DRESDEN, Germany — In theory, a disaster averted should leave few traces. Yet six months after the dramatic rescue of Dresden's art treasures from incalculable flood damage, the mood in this city's leading museums is sour. Heralded for their heroic salvage effort, museum administrators and curators are now complaining that Saxony's regional government has refused to provide them with a safe place to store their art. Unsurprisingly, money is at the heart of this dispute. Germany is going through a prolonged economic crisis, with cultural budgets being trimmed nationwide. In this case, the government of this former East German region is spending $3 million to restore the underground storerooms used before the floods. But the museums, arguing that the once-flooded storerooms are obviously unsafe, are demanding construction of a $30 million building designed to accommodate art. The immediate result of this standoff can be seen in the Zwinger Palace, home of one of Europe's greatest collections of old masters paintings. The main floor of the old masters picture gallery, dominated by Italian, Flemish and Dutch masterpieces, reopened on Nov. 9. But other rooms and corridors are crowded with thousands of other paintings stacked against walls six or seven deep. Among them are works by Rembrandt and Van Dyck. Half a mile away at the Albertinum, which houses the sculpture and modern masters museums as well as the Green Vault of Saxon royal treasures, a similar problem exists. The main sculpture hall is filled with hundreds of antique, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures rescued from flooded basements in August. Many galleries are closed because they are being used to store 19th- and 20th-century paintings.
"We are almost in a worse situation than immediately after the floods," said Martin Roth, who as managing director of the Dresden State Art Collections has ultimate responsibility for the city's 11 museums. "At the time, there was an optimistic feeling that everyone would help. Politicians went on television to offer assistance. But in the meantime no one helps you. The government says it wants to restore the status quo and put everything back in place. They seem to have forgotten that it looked like an aquarium." On Aug. 13, in a remarkable seven-hour operation undertaken largely in the dark, museum staff members, firefighters and other volunteers carried 4,000 paintings to higher floors in the Zwinger Palace. By the time the level of the Elbe and Weisseritz Rivers peaked four days later, the Zwinger's basement was under 10 feet of water. Six Italian paintings too large to move were removed from their frames, wrapped around cylinders and tied to the basement ceiling. Restoration of the Zwinger's basement is proceeding even though this underground area for storage, workshops and technical facilities was added only in the early 1990's when the palace was modernized after the unification of Germany. "The palace was built in the 19th century without a basement precisely because the danger of flooding was known," said Tilmann von Stockhausen, the state art collections spokesman. In the Albertinum, where about 6,000 sculptures as well as some 1,600 paintings were rescued within 36 hours, hundreds of 18th- and 19th-century casts of antique and Renaissance sculptures had to be left in the basement, including three sections of a full-size mold of Michelangelo's "David." Thanks to round-the-clock pumping, the water there was never more than a few inches deep and no artworks were damaged. But the perils of using the area for art were amply demonstrated. Still, one positive consequence of the near disaster was fresh recognition that Dresden's art collections are central to this city's identity. A selection of exceptional works from the old masters collection was first presented in Hamburg and is now on exhibit at the Altes Museum in Berlin through Feb. 28. About 50 Dresden masterpieces will then go on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on March 12. Meanwhile, major sculptural pieces have been exhibited at the Martin- Gropius-Bau in Berlin.
"I was impressed by the response of these museums," Mr. Roth of the state art collections said. "Exhibitions that normally take years to organize were put together in two months." The show at the Altes Museum includes works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Ribera and Velázquez as well as two works of particular importance, Dürer's "Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen" and Mantegna's "Holy Family." Also on loan for an exhibition, "Vermeer and the Dutch Interior," at the Prado Museum in Madrid is Vermeer's "Girl at a Window Reading a Letter." Yet even without these works, the main gallery at the Zwinger remains breathtaking, with its large collection of works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Titian and individual masterpieces like Rembrandt's "Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of the Prodigal Son in the Tavern," Poussin's "Realm of Flora," Correggio's "Madonna With St. George," Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus" and Raphael's "Sistine Madonna." For Dresden's museum directors, however, the future is full of uncertainty. After the floods, which affected a large area of Central Europe and caused particular damage to cultural institutions in Prague, Dresden's museums received about $1 million in private contributions as well as $3.4 million from the auction of paintings donated by artists. Just one abstract oil by Gerhard Richter, "The Rock," brought $2.6 million and was immediately lent to the Albertinum by the anonymous buyer.
But official aid has been sparse.
"The federal government offered $100 million for cultural restoration, 80 percent of it for Saxony," Mr. Roth said. "We were offered $500,000, but we never received more than $200,000. I think it's a scandal that there's a Saxony government that owns one of the most beautiful collections in the world and does nothing." He said that the museums were offered temporary space in an old storage building and were promised that it would be ready in December. "It may now be ready in April, but it only has space for about half of what we have in the old masters collection," he went on. "In any event, it wasn't made to house Vermeers and Cranachs. It was built by the East German government for farm machinery." Matthias Rössler, the culture minister for Saxony, said the regional government could not afford to build a new depot, which he estimated would cost $25 million to $30 million. But he pledged that any solution would place the art "well out of reach of potential flood damage." He also noted that he had been encouraged by a conversation about the problem with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. "We have received a very hopeful signal that the federal government might support the project," he added. Mr. Roth, who said he too was seeking help from Berlin, insisted that the only proper solution would be construction of a building in which the art would be safe from "fire, water, terrorism and war." Given the value of the art, he added, the estimated price was reasonable. "The Vermeer we have sent to Madrid was insured for $60 million," Mr. Roth said. "A new storage space would cost half that. But this is difficult for politicians to understand." Given the difficulty of finding suitable land in downtown Dresden, he said he was even willing to consider placing the building in the courtyard of the Albertinum. "I don't much like that idea, but it would be better than having lots of little depots around the city," he said. "What we need are facilities at the level of this great collection."
http://www.nytimes.com/
Art looted by Nazis to go on sale
By Will Bennett (Filed: 17/02/2003)
A British family whose grandparents were murdered by the Nazis are to sell art and antiques worth £2 million in one of the biggest sales of war-looted art. A Jacob Elsner painting from the Gutmann collection The Goodman family have recently recovered silver, Old Master paintings, furniture and other antiques from the Dutch government 60 years after they were stolen by Hitler's henchmen. The works of art were part of a huge collection originally amassed by Eugen Gutmann, who founded the Dresdner Bank in Germany, and passed on to his son Fritz and the latter's wife Louise. The Gutmanns, whose family was originally Jewish but had converted to Roman Catholicism in the 19th century, moved in 1917 to Holland, where they assumed Dutch nationality. When the Nazis invaded in 1940 they declared the Gutmanns to be Jewish and ordered them to sell their collection to a Berlin dealer who was one of Hitler's chief art procurers in occupied Europe. The Gutmanns were then encouraged by the Nazis to move to Italy. They agreed but were put on a train to Berlin, where they were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Mr Gutmann was beaten to death at the Theresienstadt camp and his wife later died in Auschwitz, enabling the Nazis to seize their collection.
Their son Bernard took British citizenship and anglicised his surname to Goodman. He spent years trying to track down the collection. After Mr Goodman died in 1994 his sons Nick and Simon continued his quest. The Commission for Looted Art in Europe took up the family's case and last year the Dutch agreed to return 233 paintings and antiques. Now the family has decided to sell more than 90 of the recovered works at Christie's in May and June.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
From: SOHO.GWIA."Jonas.Maxwell@CentaurGalleries.com" Sent: Fri 2/14/2003 4:30 PM To: Sasha Jackowich Cc: Steve Angelo
Subject: Theft of LeRoy Neiman Painting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2003
LAS VEGAS - An original LeRoy Neiman painting valued at almost $40,000 was stolen Wednesday afternoon from a Las Vegas art gallery. A $5,000 reward has been posted by the gallery for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the theft, and return of the art.
The painting had been on display in the window at Centaur Galleries in the Fashion Show Mall, and was taken out of the gallery shortly after 5pm on Wednesday.
The theft was seen by a gallery employee who was monitoring a security surveillance camera, and by another witness just outside the gallery. According to the witnesses, the thief walked into the gallery carrying several shopping bags, picked up the painting, slid it in among the shopping bags, and walked out. One witness described the suspect as a male white, 45 to 50 years old, 150 pounds, black/white hair, wearing blue jeans, a dark below-the-waist coat, and tennis shoes. He was last seen walking eastbound from the gallery through the mall.
The painting, entitled "Golf Landscape" and valued at $39,500, is a one-of-a-kind oil on board painting completed by Neiman in 1991. It measures 7 1/2 inches wide by 6 3/8 inches high and bears Neiman's signature, "LeRoy Neiman '91", in the lower left corner.
LeRoy Neiman is considered America's most popular sports artist, and has become a household name in millions of American homes. According to a Centaur Galleries spokesman, his original paintings are often valued at more than $100,000. Some of their Neiman paintings have sold in the past for more than $500,000, including one for $995,000.
Centaur Galleries is one of the largest dealers of LeRoy Neiman art. Neiman regularly makes personal appearances at the gallery.
For images and more information on the painting, visit http://www.centaurgalleries.com/Main/Art.cfm?InvNo=28835.
To report information related to the theft, call Secret Witness at (702) 385-5555.
For more information, call Jonas Maxwell at (702) 737-1234, Monday- Friday 10am to 5pm; (702) 324-3843 after 6pm;