>From its January 1998 issue the Art Newspaper with the Art Loss
Register is publicising major art and antiques thefts which have
occurred internationally. Shown in the January issue of the Art
Newspaper on the penultimate page are:
"French Windmill", "Moored" and "The Narrow Bench" by Michael John
Hunt, stolen from a gallery in England in December 1996;
"Lake Louise Winter Festival" 1996 by Virginia A. Hemmingson, stolen
while on show in Canada Dec 1996-January 1997;
"Portrait of a Lady", by Gustav Klimt, stolen from a museum in Italy
in February 1997; Book of Hours on vellum dated to 1500, stolen in
England June 1996;
A Georgian side-chair of Chippendale design upholstered in
Tiger-skin velour, the front legs carved with lion masks. Stolen in
England, December 1996;
"St Tropez, le village" 1983 by Bernard Buffet, stolen from a
private residence in France in March 1997.
Also shown is a recovered item - A George II silver coffee-pot by Paul
de Lamerie, London 1827, stolen in England in 1991 and found in New
York in October 1997.
The article goes on: "If you find any of these items, please call the
Art Loss Register on +44 (0) 171 235 3393 in London or on +1 212 262
4381. The Art Loss Register is finding stolen pieces every w Details
of the Art Loss Register can be found on their website at:
http://www.artloss.com
The Art Newspaper is published monthly. Subscription details + 44(0)
1732 884023 (UK and Europe and other countries); + 1 800 875 2997
(USA); +1 800 363 1310 (Canada).
NPCA News Release - NPCA Names Top Park Stories of
1997, Park Threats for 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 30, 1997
CONTACT: Jerome Uher, (202) 223-6722, ext. 122
NPCA NAMES TOP PARK STORIES OF 1997,
PARK THREATS FOR 1998
New Year Sees New Directions For Park Service and NPCA
Washington, D.C. -- A plan to return Yosemite Valley to a more
natural state and to limit the use of cars in the most crowded parks
was the most positive development affecting U.S. national parks in
1997, says the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA).
NPCA, the nationÆs leading national park advocacy group, today named
the events of 1997 that will have the most lasting impacts on parks
and forecasted possible 1998 actions. Although there were some
setbacks, 1997 was very encouraging for the state of our national
parks. Progress was made in taking on the big problems that face the
largest and most popular parks,ö said Carol Aten, NPCA Executive Vice
President. One of the most difficult problems is how to handle
overcrowding. The floods at Yosemite provided the opportunity to
reevaluate what did and didnÆt belong in the valley. A landmark
decision was made to reduce the endless lines of cars that can
frustrate the appreciation of natural wonders. The U.S. Interior and
Transportation departments announced major changes in the way visitors
will be transported at Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Zion National
Parks. Plans include the use of alternative fuel buses and light
rail in order to limit the number of automobiles in the parks. At
Yosemite, floods which closed the park for three months facilitated
new plans to remove park administration and housing from the valley,
eliminate 2,300 parking spaces, and restore 147 acres to their
natural state. Aten says that protecting the natural resources of
parks from destructive and intrusive use will become a major focus of
concern for national parks next year. In 1998, the main concern will
be providing a clear definition of what activities should be allowed
in and around the parks in order to protect what we value about our
parks,ö Aten said. Our national parks are here for our enjoyment,
but as importantly, they are supposed to be preserved for the
enjoyment of our children and grandchildren. A number of threats, to
both individual parks and to the whole park system, will be addressed
in the coming year.ö NPCA identified the following 1997 events as
particularly notable: YELLOWSTONE 125TH -- Yellowstone celebrated
its 125th year as a national park amid a number of controversies.
Nearly 1,100 Bison were slaughtered in the winter of 1996-97 because
an agreement could not be reached among the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the Park Service and the State of Montana over how to
manage bison that wander outside the park. The same bison management
plans remain in effect going in this winter. A $65 million deal to
prevent a gold mine operation from opening just outside the park was
completed. The three year-old gray wolf reintroduction program was
ruled unlawful by a federal district court in Wyoming. The park
released a draft plan on winter use of Yellowstone that suggests
closing a snowmobile path to study impacts on bison migration.
more...
- 2 - GETTYSBURG RENOVATION --
The Park Service turned to the private sector in order to fund a $43
million restoration project at Gettysburg National Military Park.
Under the proposed plan, a consortium led by a Pennsylvania real
estate developer would build a new visitor center and museum at the
Civil War battlefield. The developer would also establish a
foundation to fund the project, which would include a giant-screen
movie theater, restaurant and gift shops. As a potential model for
future partnerships, the proposed plan must only be allowed if it
doesnÆt compromise the integrity of the park.
EVERGLADES RESTORATION
-- Everglades National Park turned 50 amid unprecedented plans to
restore the Everglades ecosystem. The Army Corps of Engineers is
working on a plan for the most massive ecosystem restoration project
ever attempted, estimated at a cost of $3 billion to $4 billion over
5 to 10 years. Restoring the Everglades would benefit not only
Everglades National Park, but Big Cypress National Park and
Preserve, Biscayne National Park, and Dry Tortugas National Park.
MORE MONEY FOR PARKS -- Congress increased appropriations to $1.2
billion for operation of the National Park Service and revived
funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program to
purchase threatened lands. However, future funding to meet pressing
needs may be jeopardized by separate reports of excessive spending on
outhouses. Despite many worthy and well-documented needs, reports of
costs reaching $330,000 for a restroom facility at Delaware Water Gap
National Recreation Area and a pair of outhouses costing $1 million
at Glacier National Park may prompt Congress to question any
proposed increases in spending on park projects.
NEW NPS DIRECTOR --
Robert G. Stanton was appointed National Park Service Director.
Stanton, a career employee of the National Park Service, is the
first African-American director of the NPS and has spoken on the need
to get all citizens to value and enjoy the national parks. Studies
show that national parks attract few African-Americans, Hispanics,
Native Americans or Asian- Americans as visitors.
ATTACKS ON PARKS REBUFFED --
Pressure from the environmental community and a presidential veto
threat led to the elimination of Senator Ted StevensÆ Pave the
Parksö rider. The measure would have given states authority to give
away highway rights-of-way across national parks, as well as refuges,
wilderness areas, military bases and other lands under an obscure
provision of the 1866 Mining Act. Another rider sponsored by Senator
Stevens was also defeated. His amendment to an appropriations bill
would have taken 30,000 acres of coastline from Lake Clark National
Park in Alaska.
Park Threats in 1998
UNWANTED ROADS -- Powerful members of Congress will be pushing
legislation for roads through parks in their states. In Alaska,
Senator Frank Murkowski, Chairman of the Energy and Natural
Resources committee, is expected to continue his bid to build an
environmentally damaging and financially unsound road through
northern Denali National Park. For the $111 million cost of the
proposed Denali road, the Park Service could fund all major
development projects in AlaskaÆs 13 national park units. Senator
Pete Domenici (R-NM) will push legislation to remove land from
Petroglyph National Monument in order to build a freeway to an
undeveloped part of Albuquerque. The monument, which preserves more
than 15,000 Native American rock images, is considered a sacred site
by New Mexico Pueblo Indians.
PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY --
Congress also will resume work on
legislation (H.R. 1127) to restrict the PresidentÆs authority to
unilaterally proclaim national monuments under the Antiquities Act of
1906. The legislation, passed in October by the House of
Representatives, came in response to President ClintonÆs use of the
Act to proclaim the 1.7 million acre Grand Staircase- Escalante
National more... - 3 - Monument in Utah in 1996. H.R. 1127 would
place restrictions on the PresidentÆs ability to declare monuments
larger than 50,000 acres, most notably a requirement that Congress
approve a monument designation within two years of the presidential
proclamation. The Antiquities Act has been used by 13 U.S.
Presidents to declare 105 national monuments, many of which have
become part of the National Park System. GARBAGE DUMP --
Surrounded
on three sides by Joshua Tree National Park, an abandoned iron mine
is proposed as the site of the worldÆs largest garbage dump. The
Superior Court of the State of California will rule on a revised
environmental report for the Eagle Mountain Landfill. Riverside
County and landfill developers have approved a modified environmental
report for the dump, responding to an earlier Superior Court query
resulting from a lawsuit initiated by NPCA. NPCA opposes the
landfill due to the tremendous threat a landfill accepting up to
20,000 tons of garbage per day would pose to the parkÆs resources.
Positive Action in 1998
OVERFLIGHT NOISE REDUCTION --
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) seeks to
pass legislation to provide a nationwide policy to reduce the noise
from sightseeing planes and helicopters in the national parks. More
than 100,000 tour flights take place each year at Grand Canyon
National Park, where efforts are being made to reduce noise
disturbances to park visitors. Noise from air tours has become a
concern at several national parks, but currently no process is in
place for regulating or managing flight tour operations over parks.
JET SKI POLICY --
The National Park Service is expected in 1998 to
release proposed regulations on the use of personal watercraft
throughout the park system. Personal watercraft (PWCs, commonly
known as jet skis) have the potential to turn parks into motorized
playgrounds. Because of concern over noise, water pollution and
potential harm to wildlife, PWCs are now banned in several national
parks including Glacier, Everglades and Yellowstone. Restrictions and
bans are also being considered in Grand Canyon, Big Bend, Olympic,
and Voyageurs national parks. HAZE CLEAN UP --
U.S. industry will try
to further postpone or stop implementation of Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) clean air regulations which include measures
to restore scenic vistas at national parks. Even under the strictest
of EPAÆs proposed regulations, it would take 150 years to remedy the
severe haze problem which obstructs views at Great Smoky Mountains
National Park and other parks in the Southeast. Great Smoky
Mountains, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, faces air quality
problems that rival those of major industrial and urban areas.
Relatives of American artist protest religious poster
(church
stresses that the poster does not legitimize art vandalism as
Newman's relatives have claimed. )
December 31, 1997
UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS - AP World News via Individual Inc. : The
latest poster from the Roman Catholic Church was meant to get people
talking about God. Instead, it has riled the relatives of American
abstract expressionist Barnett Newman.
- The controversial poster, which has a caption that reads ``Who's
afraid of God?,'' is a takeoff on Newman's 1967 painting ``Who's
Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III?''
- That painting made headlines in 1986 when it was slashed by a
vandal _ the same anti-Newman crusader who was arrested last month
for slicing another Newman work at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum.
- The church poster at the heart of the dispute shows two slits that
form a crucifix against a red background, flanked by yellow and blue
strips.
- An Archdiocese of Utrecht spokesman said the poster was meant to
be a harmless spoof on the art vandal incident while challenging
young people to think differently about God.
- Already 800 posters have been distributed to Catholic schools
nationwide.
- ``Everyone who sees the poster knows that it's a joke,''
Jan-Willem Wits, a spokesman for the Utrecht archdiocese, said
Tuesday.
- U.S. relatives of the late artist aren't laughing.
- They have demanded that the posters be pulled down and are seeking
25,000 guilders (dlrs 12,500) in compensation, according to their
Dutch representatives.
- ``They think it's horrible that his painting is being used this
way,'' said Evonne van Eck, a lawyer from the Amsterdam-based
company Beeldrecht, which is responsible for the Dutch copyrights of
Newman's works.
- She declined to identify Newman's relatives.
- The archdiocese of this central Dutch city maintains the poster is
an original work and not a reproduction of Newman's painting, and
refuses to pay the compensation.
- But it has decided to change the color of the strips for a second
printing scheduled at the end of January.
- The church also stresses that the poster does not legitimize art
vandalism as Newman's relatives have claimed.
- ``Our goal was not to make a statement about art, but a statement
about God,'' said Wits.
- (jc/bk)
[Copyright 1997, Associated Press]
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