- additions website
- mass-tourism = serious threat to the heritage
- Colombia recovers church art worth $1.5 million
- Swiss Send Art to U.S. in Protest
- China sells crumbling museum
- Doubts cast on 100 Van Goghs
ADDITIONS WEBSITE:
TSCM-L Technical Security Mailing List
Postings: TSCM-L@tscm.com
Unsubscribe: unsubTSCM-L@tscm.com
Subscribe: subTSCM-L@tscm.com
Admin: jmatk@tscm.com
Verification Technologies
ISISTM is a patented technology of Verification Technologies Inc. (
VTI ) for the identification of valuable objects so as to prevent
counterfeiting, forgery and mistaken identity.
---------
mass-tourism = serious threat to the heritage
From: Puccio Speroni
Organization: The National Museum of Denmark
Subject: ICOM-CC's project for Melbourne 98 - Request for help
To: ICOM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
The ICOM-CC Directory Board during its last meeting approved an
activity project to be presented at the ICOM General Conference in
Melbourne next year. The topic will deal with the tourism and the
inadequacy of safeguards to ensure the preservation and conservation
of diverse cultures and heritages. Over the past forty years the
tourism industry has grown to such an extent that travel is no longer
restricted to a wealthy elite and there are very few locations in the
world which are not accessible to the tourist. This means that sites
of archaeological or historic interest as well as the diversity of
cultures and heritages are under far more serious threat than
previously. ICOM-CC does not wish to deny to people the benefits which
tourism indoubtedly offers, but it does see an urgent need for greater
investiments and resources to protect against the negative effects of
mass-tourism. The provisional heading for the ICOM-CC presentation is:
"No sousteinable Tourism without Conservation Programmes". Under this
topic ICOM-CC plans to organise in Melbourne different kinds of
activity and between them a carousel slide show. The idea is to gather
40 slides (a carousel can hold up to 80 slides) representing specific
examples of tourism-related problems. Each slide will be complemented
with a second one containing relevant explanatory data. The carousel
would run continuosly during the General Meeting. In order to realise
this project we need slides of good quality and relevant to the topic:
mass-tourism = serious threat to the heritage. We appeal through the
ICOM distribution List to all ICOM members: if you have one or more
slides which you think could be of use to our project, please send
them to: Puccio Speroni National Museum of Denmark Conservation
Department Postbox 260 DK-Brede, 2800 Lyngby Denmark
On behalf of the ICOM Conservation Committee, I thank in advance all
those colleagues who would like to help us in such a project. Puccio
Speroni Vice-Chair, ICOM Committee for Conservation E-mail:
bev-ps@brede.natmus.min.dk
----------------
Colombia recovers church art worth $1.5 million
BOGOTA (Reuter) - A Bogota man with a taste for 17th century art ended
up in jail Thursday after police found a treasure trove of stolen
church artwork decorating his luxury downtown apartment. Colombian
police say art dealer Carlos Ordonez had filled his home with $1.5
million worth of religious paintings, sculptures and ceramics stolen
from Colombia's Catholic churches. Police spokesmen said a tip led
them to Ordonez's home where they discovered two dozen religious
artifacts, some dating to the 1600s, which Ordonez had been planning
to smuggle out of the country. The purloined art will remain under
guard until religious leaders can sort out who gets what. Ordonez will
be charged with receiving stolen property, police said.
REUTER@
Reut18:08 07-03-97
-------
Swiss Send Art to U.S. in Protest
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) In protest of proposed laws giving the
government a say in whether art can be sold, and at what price, a
Swiss foundation said Thursday it is sending its Manets, Picassos and
other masterpieces to Texas. The art will be loaned to Fort Worth's
Kimbell Art Museum for three years starting in October to press the
Swiss parliament to reject the new international art rules, the Rudolf
Staechelin Family Foundation said. Called the Unidroit convention, the
new rules were negotiated in 1995 by more than 70 nations to
strengthen provisions in a 1970 art treaty regarded as too difficult
to enforce. If Switzerland adopts the convention, it would have a say
in major Swiss art sales and could conceivably block sales or set a
cap on the price for individual works of art. Rudolf Staechelin, the
foundation president, said keeping the works in the United States
would protect his ability to sell the art on his own terms. The
foundation said the works would return if Switzerland rejects the
convention. The 26-painting collection, currently displayed at Basel
Kunstmuseum and the Musee d'Art et d'Histoire of Geneva, also includes
works by Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Gauguin, van Gogh, Cezanne and
Matisse. Leaders in the Swiss art world are divided over the
convention, named after the French word for law and the efforts to
unify art laws. So far, only Paraguay and Lithuania have ratified the
new rules, which also require the return of stolen or illegally
obtained cultural objects. The Swiss government signed the convention
last year and has submitted it to parliament for ratification.
Opponents of the convention include the Swiss Art Collectors
Association and the Geneva and Basel museums currently showing the
collection. The group told a news conference Thursday in Basel that
ratification would have "drastic negative consequences" for the Swiss
art trade and "the entire cultural scene in Switzerland." But other
art institutions and development organizations, including the
Association of Museums of Switzerland and the Center for Preservation
of Cultural Heritage, called for rapid ratification. "The convention
is a necessary step in the battle against illegal trade in art and its
devastating worldwide impact," the group said in a statement. Edmund
P. Pillsbury, director of the Forth Worth museum, welcomed the
Staechelin foundation's loan, saying they were "works of definitive
excellence." "We are honored to be able to share these great works
with our visitors and are confident the exposure will make the
individual works better known worldwide," he said.
(03 Jul 1997 17:31
EDT)
---------
China sells crumbling museum
BEIJING, July 4 (UPI) _ Central China's Henan (''Huh-nan'') province
has auctioned off a crumbling museum to raise funds for relic
protection. The Yangcheng (''Yang-chung'') Evening News says the site
of the Henan History Museum was sold to a real estate developer last
week for $13.3 million. Provincial officials say the museum building
was more than 40 years old and near collapse. Although constantly
worried many of their 200,000 precious relics would be destroyed by
rain or sun, museum officials could not afford a new facility. The
collection was saved by rampant development in Henan, pushing the
price of land sky high and making the museum site worth millions.
Funds earned in the sale will be used to construct a modern facility
with more floor space, central air-conditioning and adequate security
systems. Museum curators in other parts of China praised the sale as
an example of ''invigorating culture through commercial practice'' and
urged others to follow suit. _-
Copyright 1997 by United Press
International. All Rights Reserved. _- (04 Jul 1997 00:18 EDT)
--------------
Doubts cast on 100 Van Goghs
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
Telegraph
MORE than a hundred paintings and drawings by Vincent Van Gogh may be
fakes, according to The Art Newspaper, a reputable specialist
publication, released today. Among the alleged fakes is Sunflowers,
one of a series of seven works with the same name, sold to a Japanese
firm for £24.75 million in 1987. The report also claims that a
portrait of Dr Gachet hanging in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris is a
counterfeit. A similar study of the doctor, who cared for Van Gogh
before he killed himself, set a world record price for a picture in
1990 when it was sold to Japan for £48.8 million. The claims are
likely to be hotly debated and challenged. But, if proved, they will
damage the reputation of many galleries and cause widespread concern
among dealers and auction houses. The Art Newspaper questions the
authenticity of several of Van Gogh's most famous oils: the Sunflowers
sold to Japan, two self-portraits, The Garden at Auvers, The
Arlesienne and the portrait of Dr Gachet in Paris, as well as many
watercolours and drawings on paper. The investigation is based on an
examination of several scholars' studies by Martin Bailey, an expert
on the artist. The Art Newspaper said one of the doyens of Van Gogh
scholarship, Jan Hulsker, believed that 45 works listed as by Van Gogh
are fakes. He said he was "very doubtful" about the authenticity of
many more. The 67 oils allegedly painted at Auvers-sur-Oise, when Van
Gogh was being cared for by Dr Gachet in 1890, were particularly
doubtful, he said. The scholars believe that Dr Gachet, an amateur
artist and a discredited doctor who may have exploited Van Gogh in his
last days, may be the source of some fakes.
----------------
- $400,000 IN FINE ART WAS STOLEN
- The council that kept its head after the roof fell in
- Archaeologist swims river to escape lynching
- issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece
$400,000 IN FINE ART WAS STOLEN
NORTHRIDGE - DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES from Dialog via
Individual Inc. : Burglars who police say have a penchant for
fine art nabbed paintings worth $400,000 from the Northridge
home of a jazz musician who was not identified.
As the middle-aged musician and his wife traveled to Northern
California this weekend, police said, a storage room of their
home on Nordhoff Street was cleaned out of more than 300 pricey
paintings, the work of various Hungarian artists.
The victim is uncertain of the exact number of pieces taken,
police said.
Various watercolors, oils and gouaches were stolen after the
burglars entered the home by breaking a side window, said Los
Angeles police Detective Donald Hrycyk, of the Art Theft Detail.
The burglars also stole photographs of the paintings, which
police said hampers their efforts to recover the artwork.
To find stolen artwork, police typically submit photographs and
vital statistics to the International Foundation for Art
Research, a worldwide database of stolen art.
Police recommend that collectors take photographs and appraisals
of valuable items to provide as proof to insurance companies and
to help investigators recover the artwork if it is stolen.
``The big thing is getting a photograph of each artwork so we
can publish it,'' Hrycyk said. ``We've had a number of art
recoveries through them.''
Although the Northridge victim did have photographs of his art
pieces, he kept them alongside his paintings.
[Copyright 1997, Dialog]
-------
Thursday, July 3, 1997
The council that kept its head after the roof fell in
Sydney.
One spark and $30 million later ... the buckled roof and distorted
columns of the Bankstown Civic Centre after fire raced through it on
Tuesday night. By ROBERT WAINWRIGHT and ANDREW CLENNELL
At lunchtime yesterday, within sight of the charred remains of his
council chambers, Bankstown's Mayor, Councillor Kevin Hill, was at
work - interviewing candidates for a secretary's position. "Council
business must go on," he said 12 hours after being called to watch
helplessly the $30 million fire that will disrupt the affairs of one
of the State's biggest municipalities for up to two years. While Cr
Hill held interviews, demountable offices were erected in the car
park, 12 telephone lines were reopened, and the 270 council staff
turned up two hours early to help clean up. The loss of artworks
collected over 40 years by the local art society - including paintings
by "brushmen of the bush" Jack Absalom, Pro Hart and Eric Minchin -
was especially devastating, but staff were positive. "I can't believe
the response; it has been unbelievable," Cr Hill said as he surveyed
the remains of the Bankstown Civic Centre later in the day. "You begin
to realise what community spirit is all about when this sort of crisis
occurs. "We've had offers of help from all over the place. Other
councils, the State Government, even local businesses who have offered
office space for nothing." Police say the fire started shortly after
11pm on Tuesday from a workman's spark, and spread rapidly. No-one was
hurt in the blaze, which took 60 firefighters an hour to control. Cr
Hill insisted that the council would be open for business for its
168,000 residents tomorrow and operating fully, although from a number
of locations, by Monday. Computer records - including those of rate
notices which raise $46 million a year for the council - escaped the
fire. "We've just recovered the computer tape from the building and it
seems okay," Cr Hill said. "All we've got to do is find a computer to
run them on ..." All building approvals and development applications
were destroyed, however, and will have to be resubmitted. The
35-year-old building did not have sprinklers but Cr Hill said it had
been constructed before they were required. And he is now a mayor
without chains - the council's prized 1895 set went in the fire. This
material is subject to copyright Sydney Morning Herald
-----------
Archaeologist swims river to escape lynching
BY TUNKU VARADARAJAN
Mayan altar triggered attack
AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has survived an attack by villagers in the jungles of
southern Mexico while trying to remove an ancient Mayan altar. Details
are emerging of how Peter Mathews, one of the world's leading experts
on Mayan hieroglyphic writing, was stripped, hit on the nose with a
rifle butt, and beaten at the hamlet of El Cayo, 80 miles southeast of
Palenque, in the troubled southern state of Chiapas. Dr Mathews, an
Australian who is a professor at the University of Calgary, was
attempting to move a Mayan temple altar to a nearby museum. He had
permission to do so from the Mexican Government, which feared that the
villagers would attempt to sell it on the thriving black market for
Mayan artefacts. The attack occurred while Dr Mathews, three Mexican
archaeologists, and six local Cholo Indian labourers were hauling the
altar towards a vehicle last Saturday. The group was were surrounded
by a band of men, brandishing guns and machetes, screaming abuse and
demanding money. The archaeologists were ordered to remove their boots
and most of their clothes, and Dr Mathews' spectacles were smashed.
After they were relieved of their cash and valuables and beaten, the
archaeologists managed to flee. They reportedly survived only by
jumping into the swollen Usumacinta river nearby, and then swimming to
safety to neighbouring Guatemala. Unshod and undressed, they spent two
nights in the dense rainforest, having to kill a coral snake on one
occasion. Eventually, they were found by friendly Guatemalan peasants,
who guided them to safety. They had eaten nothing for two days and had
drunk little water. Dr Mathews received treatment for a broken nose
and lacerations to the body. Both he and his colleagues were suffering
from exposure and bad wounds to the feet. Speaking by telephone
yesterday to colleagues in Calgary, Dr Mathews said: "This was not
quite the result we expected when we went in there. I suppose I won't
be going back to El Cayo for a while. It's far too tense to go in and
do anything. We would have to have a heavily armed escort and the
military won't want to provoke the situation."
Mayan altar triggered attack
THE large, round stone slab, called "Altar 4", dates from the 7th
century and depicts the figure of a Mayan king. It weighs more than
1000 lbs (Glen Owen writes). The local community of Cholo-Maya Indians
are direct descendants of the altar's architects. The Maya rulers of
Central America developed one of the world's great civilisations,
first settling in the tropical forests of Belize in 3000 BC. At its
height, the Mayan world was a dense collection of city states, each
headed by their own kings. Dr Mathews said he had reassured local
people that the altar would be staying among their community in the
Palenque museum. He said he believed he had been attacked by bandits
from outlying areas.
Times of London
-------
Macedonian Press Agency
THE ISSUE OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES
WAS DISCUSSED IN LUXEMBOURG YESTERDAY
Luxembourg 2 July (MPA)
The issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece was
discussed in Luxembourg yesterday by Greek Minister of Culture
Evangelos Venizelos and his British counterpart Mark Fisher.
Mr.Venizelos delivered a memorandum with the Greek positions
concerning the return of the Parthenon Marbles, while he announced
that Greece prepares to launch an international information campaign
on the Greek request.
The response given by mr.Fisher was within the framework of the
British position but kept the discussion open, said mr.Venizelos,
pointing out that the request for the return of the marbles is made
mainly in the name of the efforts to protect the monument itself and
the world cultural heritage.
The Greek Culture Minister invited his British counterpart to visit
Greece and the exhibition of the Treasures of Mount Athos in
Thessaloniki.
-------------
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
- Petition to save a library in peril
- Archaeologist Recalls Jungle Clash
- Art gift threatened by gallery plan to charge
Date sent: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 03:07:56 -0700
There was some correspondence recently on this list about the present
difficulties of Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, and the
possibility that it might have to be dispersed and sold off at
auction.
I have now set up, with the full permission of the BPH, a Web site
petition of support. I would be very grateful if people on this list
might sign this electronically. This petition with the attached e-mail
addesses will be given to the BPH in a printed form for them to use in
their struggle to survive. Your signature will not be openly shown on
the Web site, but only attached to the final printed document.
The petition can be found on my web site home page
From: Adam McLean
Subject: Petition to save a library in peril
http://www.levity.com/alchemy
With best wishes,
Adam McLean
alchemy@dial.pipex.com
-----------------------------
Archaeologist Recalls Jungle Clash
By JANET SCHWARTZ PARNES
PALENQUE, Mexico (AP) Peter Mathews thought all sides had signed off
his plan to move an ancient Mayan altar from the jungle to a local
museum. The Mexican government had given its approval. So had leaders
of the Chol Indian village where the altar was standing. But those
agreements counted for nothing when Mathews, three other
archaeologists and seven Chol assistants began removing the 600-pound
altar from Mayan ruins in Desempeno, a village in southern Mexico.
According to Mathews, dozens of angry people approached them, saying
that the ruins, known as El Cayo, belonged to them. As the two sides
argued, bandits armed with rifles emerged from the jungle and stole
the team's boots, extra clothes, money and possessions. "I think there
probably was a faction that wanted to keep the altar in the
community," said Mathews, who teaches at the University of Calgary in
Canada. "But by the end, most just wanted to see how much they could
get out of us." When gunmen finished ransacking the expedition. They
forced them to stand in a straight line and beat them with gun butts.
Then they ordered them to the ground and pummeled and kicked them
again, Mathews said. Mathews suffered a broken nose. One man received
broken ribs and several others were badly bruised. The bandits
disappeared, but the team was too afraid to return to the village. Six
of the Chol assistants made a dash along the banks of the river to
find a place in the bush to hide, Mathews said. The Australian
archaeologist and four companions leaped into the river and swam to
the opposite bank, which is Guatemalan territory. They set off,
shoeless and without food, through the Guatemalan jungle in hopes of
reaching the archaeological site of Piedras Negras, 20 miles
downstream. For two days, they walked. "We were getting weaker and
weaker, and it became clear we weren't going to make it Piedras
Negras," Mathews said. The river had risen 30 feet Saturday, making
swimming or walking along the river banks too risky. "There were
spines and thorns, but we were most worried about snakes," he said.
The group finally holed up along the river, waiting for a passing
plane or boat. On Sunday afternoon they were picked up by a 60-foot
boat carrying supplies to Piedras Negras. The six Chols who had fled
by land had reported the attack and by Sunday evening, Mathews'
colleagues had begun to spread word on the Internet that he was
missing. Diplomats from Canada and Australia asked Mexican officials
about the case. By Monday afternoon, Mathews' group managed to reach
Palenque, a popular archaeological site often used as a jumping-off
point for expeditions into the jungle. The 4-foot circular stone
altar, which bears the image of a Mayan noble and other Mayan
inscriptions dating back more than 1,000 years, apparently remains in
place. "We knew when we went into El Cayo that was it a difficult
place to work in," Mathews said. "We thought we had done our homework,
talking to local authorities, but what these people told later, when
they held us captive, is that they don't respect any authority," he
said. The state of Chiapas is dotted with remote, desperately poor
villages and is plagued by disputes over land, and by drug trafficking
and archaeological looting. "The Chols of Desempeno have always been
very friendly, and some them helped us at risk to themselves," Mathews
said. But, he added, "it will be a while before I go back to
Desempeno." The Chiapas state prosecutor's office said it has opened
an investigation into possible crimes, including battery and robbery.
-------------------
(01 Jul 1997 19:19 EDT)
Art gift threatened by gallery plan to charge
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
GOVERNMENT hopes of scrapping admission charges to public museums and
galleries were dealt a serious blow yesterday when eight public
collections on Merseyside decided to introduce an entrance fee because
of a growing cash crisis. The decision, by the National Museums and
Galleries on Merseyside will also almost certainly mean that the
Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool will lose three important 17th-century
Italian paintings which were to be gifted by Sir Denis Mahon, the art
historian, on condition that public access remained free. Chris Smith,
the Heritage Secretary, appealed to the group last week to defer plans
to charge until after the Government had completed a review of museum
funding in the autumn. But a meeting of Merseyside trustees decided
yesterday to introduce charges "reluctantly" from Tuesday. They run
eight collections on Merseyside, including the Walker, the Liverpool
Museum, the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
The public will be be able to buy a £3 season ticket allowing access
to all eight collections for a year. Though the charge is low, the
group says it will raise £400,000 by the end of this year and well
over £1 million by the year 2000. The collections say that they would
have to lay off staff, abandon exhibitions, close galleries and stop
urgent repairs without the extra income. Public expenditure cuts have
seen admission charges introduced at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the Science Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the Natural History
Museum. Sir Denis, 86, one of the country's last "gentleman scholars"
and a passionate campaigner for free access to galleries, offered the
Walker three paintings as part of plans to give the the bulk of his 78
17th-century Italian Old Masters, worth £25 million, to the nation. It
is one of the most spectacular gifts this century and the collection
will be divided among several public galleries with more than 20 works
destined for the National Gallery in London. But Sir Denis said he
would withdraw works to any institution that sold paintings or charged
for admission. The three works destined for the Walker were Il
Guercino's 1624-26 masterpiece, St John the Baptist Visited in Prison
by Salome, Luca Giordano's Venus, Mars and the Forge of Vulcan and
Pier Francesco Mola's Landscape with St Bruno in Ecstasy. Last night
Sir Denis said he was "deeply saddened" by the Merseyside decision.
The plight faced by the Walker gallery was "a disgrace to this
country". Hesaid: "I am not going to yield. I believe galleries have
no right to charge for paintings that are owned by the people. They
are not owned by the State but by the public and the State shouldn't
make the public pay to see their paintings. "I am now going to
instruct my trustees that these paintings should not go to Liverpool
but go abroad. I am not going to yield. I can't go on messing about. I
am aged 86 and I want to make my arrangements." Barbara Webb, a
spokesman for the Merseyside group, said: "We are very sad that Sir
Denis has taken this stance. They would have been a marvellous
addition to the collection but there is nothing we can do. We are
caught in the middle by public spending policy. At the end of the day
the biggest losers are going to be the public."
-----------------
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
-HK says return to China puts noose on smugglers
-British Art Market Fears Collapse Under EU Tax Burden
-Experts Demand Hunt For Owners Of Nazi-Looted Art
-Britain says will not return marbles to Greece
-Art dealer to stars arrested
-Firing of Berlin's Jewish Museum director unleashes fury
-Art thieves plague Cambodian religious structure
Friday June 27 10:22 PM EDT
HK says return to China puts noose on smugglers
By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG, June 28 (Reuter) - Tight border controls between Hong Kong
and China have put a noose on rampant smuggling before the territory's
sovereignty change, customs officials said on Saturday.
British-ruled Hong Kong's return to China at midnight June 30 is
expected to further improve cooperation in checking cross-border
movement of contraband, they said.
``Smuggling cases have gone down in recent months, both on land and
sea,'' Peter Tiu, spokesman for Hong Kong's anti-smuggling Customs and
Excise Department told Reuters.
``The smuggling trend has really fallen. The Chinese are now guarding
their side very tightly, and especially on water, smuggling activities
are drastically down,'' said another senior customs officer, who
declined to be named.
``At least for the near future, the situation will be stable,'' he
told Reuters.
Smugglers over the decades have enriched themselves by moving
everything from mundane diesel fuel, cigarettes and luxury cars to
exotic antiques, tombstones, dinosaur eggs, children and heavily
pregnant Chinese women.
Whatever and whoever is wanted by just anybody who can pay, on either
side of the border.
Despite tall wire fences along most parts of Hong Kong's land border
with China and a 24-hour surveillance by sea, authorities often
acknowledge that smugglers have been quick thinking and artful.
Last April, authorities ordered a massive overnight sea search by
high-speed launches and a helicopter after they thought smugglers had
shoved illegal Chinese children overboard as decoy during a
cat-and-mouse chase with marine police at sea.
But police netted only a scarecrow -- the following day.
The smugglers' heyday may have ended. In the run up to Hong Kong's
handover, now only four days away, China and Hong Kong have stepped up
border patrols, and cross-border contact will intensify.
``The lower smuggling activity is probably due to the exchange of
intelligence and cooperation between governments in China and Hong
Kong. There are not so many escape routes, so smugglers will think
hard,'' Tiu said.
``We have been regularly meeting our Chinese counterparts for a very
long time, for at least 10 years,'' another senior anti-smuggling
official said, adding their Chinese counterparts
-------------------------
British Art Market Fears Collapse Under EU Tax Burden
By Helen Smith
LONDON (Reuter) - Vincent Van Gogh's watercolor "Harvest in Provence"
fetched a price of 8.8 million pounfd ($14.7 million) at a London
auction last week, making it the most expensive modern painting sold
in Europe for seven years.
A few days later at Christie's auction house, Rembrandt's "Abraham
Entertaining the Angels" sold for 210,500 pounds, five times its
estimated sales price.
Big sales like these have underscored the fact that the London art
market is booming again after languishing in the early 1990s.
But dealers fear the recovery will be short-lived because the
European Union is planning to impose new taxes that could send buyers
and sellers rushing off to New York and Geneva.
"Take a British industry worth 2.5 billion pounds a year, threaten it
with new Euro-taxes, pack in some propellant material to do with the
Social Chapter, soak thoroughly in two conflicting views of European
culture and its relation to the wider world. Light fuse and stand well
back. Miles back," the Independent newspaper editorialized.
"Who would be stupid enough to concoct this explosive brew? Ah yes,
the European Union."
London has a 30 percent share of the $10 billion (annual sales)
international art market, though it has been steadily losing share to
New York for several years.
LONDON TO FOLLOW PARIS INTO DECLINE?
Dealers fear that thanks to the EU, London's fate will follow that of
Paris, which was home to the world's biggest art market in the years
after World War Two, but which now has only a share of about 6
percent.
Paris's decline has been widely blamed on heavy taxes and too much
red tape.
Brussels' proposed taxes would bring London into line with other
European countries. That would mean raising Value Added Tax (VAT) on
arts sales from 2.5 percent to 5 percent and introducing a "droit de
suite," which gives an artist's family 2 to 4 percent of the sale
price each time a contemporary work of art is resold.
Anthony Browne, chairman of the British Art Market Federation, says
the EU should recognize that London is a special case.
"What singles out London as being unique in Europe and makes it
second only to New York is its global standing ... if there's a major
auction sale in London, people will come from all over the world,"
Brown said.
"But if vendors look at the cost and if you have levies here which
you don't have in New York, they are going to go there," Browne
continued.
So convinced are some of London's art dealers that the market is
about to collapse that they are shifting their business to New York
and Geneva.
Earlier this year, the British capital's biggest arts dealer,
Wildenstein & Co., said it was leaving its Bond Street gallery and
expanding its businesses in New York and Asia.
Auctioneer Phillips also is hedging its bets by opening offices in
New York and Geneva, and Christie's is expanding in America.
FEAR OF LOSING EXPERTISE
What this means is that much of the expertise that has kept London at
the forefront of the global art market will be lost overseas, dealers
said.
"I suppose if I were a younger man, I'd be packing up and going to
New York too," said Christopher Wood, author of "The Great Art Boom
1970-1997" and a dealer in old masters.
Not all of London's dealers are quite so gloomy.
"The new taxes won't help the market, and I think they should be
resisted," said Phillip Hook, director of Impressionist paintings at
Sotheby's. "But I don't think we are going to see the end of the
European art market."
Hook says the increase in VAT, which applies to works of art imported
for sale, will not have too much of an impact on the market because
buyers from outside the EU don't have to pay it.
Most of the world's biggest buyers of art these days are Americans --
a fact that has helped New York build up its 40 percent share of the
world market.
Browne disagreed. Art buyers would still have to provide costly bank
guarantees that the tax would be paid and would suffer from even more
bureaucracy, he said.
'DROIT DE SUITE' THE BIGGEST WORRY
The biggest worry for dealers in contemporary art is the droit de
suite on paintings for up to 70 years after the artist's death.
The idea of the tax, first introduced in France, was to encourage
struggling artists. Dealers say it doesn't work.
"It's not the Matisse family and the Picasso family that need more
money," Hook said.
The American market is unburdened by such levies. Although the New
York market has an 8.25 percent sales tax, this doesn't apply to any
goods delivered outside the city.
New York was the biggest beneficiary of the 1980s art boom, which
Hook says was triggered by speculators.
Now, he says, buyers are more discriminating, and the recovery is
more sustainable unless buyers are frightened away by prohibitive
taxes.
The British government says it will resist the EU's plans, although
it has made little public fuss so far.
"We will defend our existing arrangements," said a spokesman for the
Treasury. "If Brussels is suggesting any changes we will expect them
to look at the economic effects of those changes."
If the government fails and the taxes go ahead, "this particular
golden goose isn't about to become foie gras. It's just going to flap
its wings and fly away," said Howard Banks of Forbes Magazine.
Reuters/Variety
-----------------
Experts Demand Hunt For Owners Of Nazi-Looted Art
GENEVA (Reuter) - European art experts appealed Wednesday for a
concerted effort to track down the owners of thousands of art works
looted by Nazi Germany, many of them still hanging in museums or
private collections.
"Paintings that have not yet been given back to their owners are
still in museums, in private collections, and they are sold regularly
by the big international auction houses, in France, in Italy, in the
USA," writer Hector Feliciano told a conference on the restitution of
stolen Jewish property.
"The only solution is to do ownership research on each and every one
of these paintings or works of art. This is a problem that must be
solved internationally," said Feliciano, whose book "The Lost Museum"
tracked art plundered in wartime France.
"The longer you wait, the harder it will get" to document the history
and ownership of individual art works, said Josefine Leistra from the
Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage in The Hague.
"Many files still exist, but you have to know where they are and even
that knowledge disappears with time," she told the conference,
organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group
based in Los Angeles.
Feliciano said the Nazis systematically removed 203 collections
comprising 25,000 works of art in France alone. Other looting in
France included an estimated 100,000 pieces, or one third of all art
in private hands, he said.
Of that, around 20 percent is still missing, he added.
Much stolen art -- coveted by Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler and Herman
Goering -- was recovered by the Allies and returned to rightful
owners, but some ended up in the Soviet Union, brought back by "trophy
brigades" that combed the post-war Soviet occupation zone in search of
valuables.
"Today in the main Soviet depositories we have hundreds of art works
with unclear provenance," said author Konstantin Akinsha, citing 547
such unclaimed paintings in the Hermitage Museum and 480 more in the
Pushkin Museum.
"It is very easy to suppose that quantity of our oldest art works was
presumably confiscated by the Nazis from Jewish families and Jewish
collections," he added.
"These art works have to researched, but to research them we have to
have access to them. Unfortunately, we do not."
Feliciano said the world had to take a more forthright approach to
recovering looted art, much it smuggled to Switzerland, Argentina and
Brazil and sold to collectors.
He called for an independent commission to undertake ownership
research.
"It will bring a little bit of havoc into the art world, but I think
this is nothing compared to the havoc that was brought to the art
world and to human lives by the Nazis during the war."
--------
Tuesday July 1 3:01 AM EDT
Britain says will not return marbles to Greece
By Janet McEvoy
LUXEMBOURG, June 30 (Reuter) - Britain's new Labour government told
Greece on Monday that it does not intend to return the disputed
Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Greece.
But Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said after meeting
British Arts Minister Mark Fisher for the first time he remained
optimistic that the Marbles, exquisite classical era sculptures, would
one day return to where they belong.
Venizelos asked to see Fisher on the sidelines of a meeting of EU
culture ministers after the new British government, within hours of
its landslide election on May 2, dashed Greek hopes that the Marbles
would finally be returned.
Greece's late Culture Minister and actress Melina Mercouri had
secured a promise from the then Labour opposition leader Neil Kinnock
in the 1980s that a future Labour government would return them, but
the new government said that would not be feasible.
While Monday's meeting only served to repeat existing positions,
Venizelos said he felt the weight of world opinion was behind Greece's
crusade.
``I am always optimistic, because the most important factor is the
pressure of the international cultural community,'' he told Reuters,
saying he was speaking not on behalf of the Greek government, but on
behalf of the Parthenon itself.
``The British positions are, of course, known, but the dialogue about
the issue of the restitution of the Marbles is in fact open,'' he
said.
He said Athens was pinning its hopes on Britain's intention to become
a full member of the world cultural organisation UNESCO again. UNESCO
favours the return.
A British diplomat said that the Marbles, taken by British diplomat
Lord Elgin from the Parthenon nearly 200 years ago, had been acquired
by the British Museum legally and the government could not force the
Museum to give them to Greece.
Greece says the sculptures have been plundered, while those who
oppose their return say that they would have been destroyed by Athens
pollution, looters and earthquakes.
--------
Tuesday July 1 5:05 AM EDT
Art dealer to stars arrested
NEW YORK, July 1 (UPI) _ A New York art dealer who moved to California
and reportedly got in over his head to keep up his Hollywood lifestyle
is facing federal charges he defrauded his clients of more than $2.5
million before he filed for bankruptcy two years ago. The New York
Times reports that among the victims of Todd Michael Volpe was the
actor Jack Nicholson, who was his partner in an art investment fund.
--------
Firing of Berlin's Jewish Museum director unleashes fury
BERLIN (AP) After a simmering dispute over control of the Jewish
Museum, its fired director accused city leaders Friday of harboring
"deep hate" toward the portrayal of Jewish history. The fight centers
on whether the Jewish Museum should be a division of the Berlin
Museum, as the cash-strapped city wants, or an independent
institution with its own budget and decision-making powers. Amnon
Barzel, director since 1994, said his firing Tuesday by a city
museum board meant the fight for autonomy was lost. "They are trying
to eliminate the Jewish Museum," Barzel said. The move, he added,
showed that "still in Berlin, 52 years after the Holocaust, there is
a deep hate against showing of the Jewish
history and its culture, integrated in the German
society." The Jewish community board in Berlin also criticized the
dismissal as reminiscent of "the dark times" of the Nazi era, and
called on the Berlin city council to reverse it. Its leader later
softened the statements. City Culture Minister Peter Radunski could
not be reached Friday, and his spokesman refused
to comment on the reasons for Barzel's dismissal. Currently in
temporary quarters, the Jewish Museum is to move into a $70 million
extension to the Berlin Museum in 1999. When ground was broken in
1993, Barzel said, museum and city officials agreed that the Jewish
Museum would be independent. But in 1995, the newly created City
Museum Foundation board, established to oversee a merger of more
than a dozen small museums in Berlin, decided to make the Jewish
Museum a division. Barzel said he supports having the institutions
together physically, but does not want to lose control of his
finances or be required to get approval for exhibitions. At
Radunski's urging, the city council backed the
foundation in April. This week, the foundation
board headed by Radunski voted to fire Barzel,
effective Sept. 30. Radunski's spokesman, Axel Wallrabenstein, said
only that Barzel was fired for "various reasons." But he said
Radunski met Friday with the new head of the
Jewish community board, Andreas Nachama. According
to Wallrabenstein, Nachama continued to oppose the
firing, but said the board did not mean to accuse
the city government of anti-Semitism. They planned
to meet again to try to resolve the dispute, Wallrabenstein said.
Barzel, an Israeli citizen, said his firing violated his open-ended
contract. "I will go to court, I will work on political means and on
public means," he said. "I see a huge storm. You cannot fire me
because of my ideas."
Copyright 1997 E The Associated Press.
-------
Art thieves plague Cambodian religious structure
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A millennium after Angkor emerged in Cambodia's
jungle as capital of a great empire, thieves are still sawing pieces
off the ruins of the world's biggest religious monument for sale in
New York's art market. The International Council of Museums is using
the first major U.S. exhibit of Cambodian art,
opening Sunday at the National Gallery of Art, to begin a campaign
for recovery of the stolen artwork. "The United States is a major
market," said Valerie Julien, the museum council's spokeswoman. "If
there are no buyers, there's no market." The Angkor complex sprawls
across 150 miles (240 kms) or more of Cambodia's jungle, renowned
both for its sheer size and the exquisite sculpture of its stone
temples. In 1186, when the Khmers already had ruled Kampuchea for
hundreds of years, the temple of Ta Prohm alone was served by 12,640
ordinary people, 2,740 officiating priests, 615 dancers and 13 high
priests. It was the center of a Kampuchean empire stretching across
Southeast Asia. The site eventually was largely overtaken by jungle,
lost to the world except for local people, until French
archaeologists began spreading word of its wonders early this
century. Soon after, the loss of noteworthy pieces began. Angkor lies
near the headquarters of Cambodia's splintered Khmer Rouge rebel
movement. When the Khmer Rouge ruled the country in a reign of terror
between 1975 and 1979, many of the country's art experts were among
up to 2 million Cambodians they killed. Some objects at the National
Museum were damaged and stolen. But conservators say the Khmer Rouge
did little harm at Angkor except to some statues of the Buddha, which
they regarded as alien. Most of Angkor honors Hindu gods. Instead,
lovers of ancient art are the threat. Early in the century the French
writer Andre Malraux was jailed briefly for using a handsaw, chisel
and crowbar to take seven stones from the temple of Banteay Srei.
Thierry Zephir of the Guimet Museum in Paris said he admired in
January 1993 several heads of vultures carved on Banteay Srei. He
returned six months later and found them gone. "Somebody obviously
wanted just those heads," he said. The museum council praised New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Honolulu Academy of Arts
this month for their decisions to return stolen Cambodian sculptures.
In 1993, the museum group published a book on Cambodia called "One
Hundred Missing Objects," detailing pieces stolen from the Angkor
Conservation Depot in the nearby town of Siem Reap. Only seven sold
through auction houses have been recovered. Still, as recently as a
year ago a customer could go into an antique shop
across the Thai border in Bangkok, examine pictures
of the temples and order pieces to be sawed off,
said Helen Ibbitson Jessup, the National Gallery
exhibit's curator. Cambodia's present government has set up a special
police force to guard ancient sites. And major importing countries,
including the United States and France, have ratified a convention of
the United Nations to stifle illegal trade in art. Under the
convention, any piece determined to be illegally taken since the
early 1970s from major antiquity sites must be returned. But the
trade continues. "Of the Cambodian pieces that come up for sale today,
90 percent are doubtful in some way," Jessup said.
------
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands