A local art gallery is offering a reward to anyone who can identify a wily thief who walked out of the store with a $36,000 sculpture Thursday. The thief snuck into the Editions Gallery's front showcase and quickly nabbed one of the store's most expensive pieces -- without leaving a fingerprint or getting caught by security cameras. "I don't know how he did it," said Simon Ohayon, one of the owners of the West Edmonton Mall gallery. In a matter of seconds, the brazen robber slid behind a painting resting on an easel, grabbed the 10-kilogram statue from a rotating stand and walked out before any of the two owners and three sales staff in the store noticed. "Disbelief -- that's all I felt," said Ohayon. Made from acrylic and lucite, the clear 30-cm tall statue depicts the upper bodies of three women. Ohayon and his partners are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who helps catch the statue nabber. The thief was not only nimble when it came to stealing the sculpture, but had surprisingly good taste. The piece by well-known American artist Frederick Hart has skyrocketed in value since Hart died of pneumonia on Aug. 13. A month ago, the limited edition statue -- called Counterpoint -- was worth about $12,000. It's current value is higher. Gallery staff are undecided whether the thief was an art expert or just made a lucky grab. "You don't have to be an art connoisseur to know that it was worth something, but it's very shocking that someone would take it," said Rhonda, a sales representative who refused to give her last name. "I can't believe someone having the audacity to think they could do this," she added. "It wasn't a very easy thing to do -- it was very awkward and slippery." The stolen statue is No. 274 out of 350 made by Hart. The sculpture was one of several of the Counterpoint statues the Editions Gallery has acquired over the last two years. Besides one the gallery has left, the only way to buy the statue is from private collections now, said Ohayon. "It's very, very hard to get them now," he said.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/stories/990911/2845195.html
Amid a sea of masterpieces in the Impressionist gallery of the Museum of Fine Arts hangs the well-known ''Field of Poppies near Giverny'' by Claude Monet. If the people who run the MFA are to be believed, the painting is serving a valuable function: helping to create and gratify a taste for fine art among the people of Lawrence.
It does not perform this duty alone. Two other paintings - by Camille Pissarro and, like the Monet, loaned to the museum decades ago - also serve the same noble purpose. And if a misguided ruling this week by Suffolk Superior Judge Margaret R. Hinkle stands, they will probably be at the MFA forever, 30 miles from the community they were intended to enrich. The paintings were part of the estate of a Congregationalist minister named William E. Wolcott, a resident of Lawrence who died there in 1911. In his will, he left 17 paintings to a local charity called the White Fund to ''create and gratify a public taste for fine art in Lawrence.'' He added instructions that they were to be offered to the MFA for display until a ''fireproof'' public art gallery was established in Lawrence. Sadly, the mill town was starting to decline by the time Wolcott died, and the hoped-for museum has never happened. The ''loan'' to the MFA seems more permanent with time. For a decade, some people in Lawrence have wondered how the exhibition at the edge of Roxbury helps to cultivate appreciation of the arts there. The White Fund Trust, which owns the paintings, wants them back. The trustees would like to sell at least some of the art - valued at between $7 million and $9 million - and use the proceeds to set up art education programs in the city. They believe that would do more for Lawrence and the arts than hanging the pictures in a museum in Boston, and they're right. But while the trust may own the paintings, it figures to be a long time before they are seen in Lawrence. In a strangely Solomonic ruling, Hinkle concluded that the three paintings on display are to remain on loan to the MFA, while a trial is to be conducted on the other 14. Hinkle is a well-regarded judge, but this ruling was bizarre. Why would three paintings be treated differently from 14 other paintings bequeathed in the same will? Plainly and simply, her ruling would give the MFA custody of the valuable paintings, and leave the White Fund Trust battling to regain the scraps. The three paintings on display represent 90 percent of the value of the entire collection. Still, the idea that the paintings will ever be displayed in Lawrence is almost a joke. That city is no closer to serving as the home of a permanent major art gallery than it was in 1911, arguably further away. ''The paintings are plainly serving no purpose for the people in Lawrence,'' said Richard Renehan, lawyer for the trustees. ''There is not going to be an opportunity in the foreseeable future to display them in Lawrence for the people of Lawrence.'' MFA director Malcolm Rogers contends that the will does not allow the trustees to sell the paintings, and that Wolcott intended the art to be displayed in Lawrence. The trustees maintain the will allows them to use the paintings in any way that furthers art appreciation. Of course, the MFA also argues that anyone in Lawrence who would like the see the paintings, at least the ones on display, is welcome to buy a ticket and stroll right in. And museum officials say that returning the paintings would concern other donors, who would worry that the terms of their bequests might be overturned or ignored. ''People in Lawrence shouldn't be imprisoned within the city limits,'' said Andrew Griesinger, who is representing the MFA. ''Spending money for art in Lawrence is a great thing, but that's not what the will says they can do.'' The attorney general's office, which regulates charities, has entered the fray on the side of the White Trust. It is calling for a trial on the fate of all 17 of the paintings, seeing little benefit to Lawrence now. If fine art is going to be part of the public life of Lawrence, it isn't going to happen via displays at the MFA. If the paintings themselves are not going to be returned, then the only way to honor Wallace's commitment to the city in which he spent his life is to return the paintings to the trustees, their rightful owners. They, and not the MFA, are the proper judges of how to cultivate an appreciation for art in their city.
Adrian Walker's e-mail address is walker@globe.com.
This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 09/11/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Experts are struggling to identify thousands of tiny fragments and shards of ancient pottery broken and scattered around Greece's National Archaeological Museum by a strong earthquake that ripped through the capital earlier in the week. A number of collections and ancient sites, including the Acropolis, suffered damage from Tuesday's magnitude 5.9 that killed more than 100, but the historical treasures at Greece's premier museum and one of its most prominent tourist attractions suffered the most. ``The National Archaeological Museum had the most damages of all museums. The monuments did not suffer any damages,'' said Lena Mendonis, general-secretary of the Culture Ministry. On the Acropolis, damage was restricted to small pieces of marble falling off the Parthenon and the main gate to the hilltop complex overlooking this city of more than 5 million. Hardest hit at the 110-year-old museum was the second floor's northern wing, which houses pottery from its Classical period collection dating back to the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., when Athenians built the Parthenon. Ministry officials would not provide a catalogue of the damage and insisted that none of the broken antiquities included irreplaceable pieces. But rare collections of small oil flasks used in ancient funerals - also known as the Attic white likithoi - were displayed in the rooms where pots were damaged. Some of the best examples of 4th century amphorae, or earthen jugs, may have also been broken. Other objects housed in the rooms include pots decorated using the red-figure technique, where figures painted in red are juxtaposed against a black background. ``It was a big collection of Classical period pots ... different kinds of pottery,'' Mendonis said. According to Mendonis, most pots fell from their bases but did not break. Some of the damaged vessels had previously been glued together by archaeologists after they were first excavated. ``It is dramatic to see a vessel that has been preserved for two-and-a-half thousand years ... break in an earthquake,'' she said. Closed immediately after the quake, the museum plans to open on Sunday, but the rooms where pots were damaged will remain closed indefinitely. The extent or cost of the damage to the pottery will not be known until the archaeologists finish their examination, Mendonis said. Archaeologists are consoled by the fact that all the exhibits and pots are well documented. ``For history, this does not mean anything. Historical documentation cannot be lost,'' said Mendonis.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990911/wl/greece_quake_museum_1.html
SOTHEBY'S is conducting a worldwide investigation into the systematic sale of fake furniture at its London saleroom. The inquiry was revealed after The Sunday Times last week disclosed how the auction house had sold a series of counterfeit antiques. Robin Woodhead, the chief executive of Sotheby's Europe, admitted that the company had unwittingly offered to buyers a "pattern" of suspect items. More than 40 lots sold by the auction house to clients around the world are being tracked down and scrutinised. It is understood that in one sale alone, a wealthy Russian client advised by Sotheby's bought five fakes. "We are in the process of tracing every single piece of furniture from two consigners," said Woodhead. "This matter is open-ended until we have traced every item. The buyers are scattered all over the world and it's taking some time. We have got some things wrong and passed through furniture which proved to be fake. We, however, believe we have dealt with this matter responsibly, very quickly and wholly properly." Antique dealers said the inquiry, going back several years, was unprecedented. Christopher Gibbs, a London antique dealer, said: "It will be a good thing to have a shake-up. This is a start, but I think they should throw the net even wider." In the pursuit of possible fakes, Sotheby's experts have flown to the United States, South America, Portugal and Ireland to re-examine items sold in the saleroom. Eight fakes have been identified. The two antique dealers at the centre of the inquiry are understood to be Cooks of Marlborough, based in Wiltshire, and Nicholas Carr-Linford, who is based in Bath. Both deny any wrongdoing. Suspicions over the sale of fakes was triggered last July after Herbert Black, a Canadian multimillionaire who bought two pairs of "Georgian" chairs for £1.4m raised doubts about their authenticity. The chairs were found to be fakes. Sotheby's issued a writ against the supplier, Catherine Wilson Cook, a director of Cooks of Marlborough, claiming damages for misrepresentation of more than £1.7m. The two senior executives in the English furniture department, Graham Child and Joseph Friedman, were cleared of any wrongdoing but both resigned. Subsequently, The Sunday Times learnt that at least three other fake items had been sold by the auction house, including a desk worth more than £80,000. Sotheby's refunded the buyer when the fraud was revealed. Last week Sotheby's admitted to the sale of other fake items. In one sale in July 1996 a Russian buyer, believed to live in Surrey, bought a series of lots after consulting Sotheby's furniture experts. Five items, including a £60,000 "17th Century" chest, are known to be fakes. It is understood that 25 lots supplied by Catherine Wilson Cook or Cooks of Marlborough are being traced and re-examined. The auction house has also reopened inquiries into 18 lots supplied by Carr-Linford. "We are reinvestigating these because, in the light of the Wilson Cook case, we identified a pattern which we had never seen before," said the Sotheby's source. Some suspect items are not fakes but are original items which have been "over-restored". Legal action has never been launched by Sotheby's against Carr-Linford because he claimed all the items he had supplied were restorations. "There are unscrupulous people in the art world as there are in any other business," said Woodhead, 48. "It's not only difficult for Sotheby's, but it's difficult for the industry as a whole to protect itself from these individuals. We view all the furniture that goes on sale and we carry out detailed checks. However, in the rare event of a fake getting through, the buyer is immediately reimbursed." Although the auction house is only examining two suppliers, at least one other dealer has offered suspect artefacts. The sale of two hanging lanterns at Sotheby's in November 1995 was later cancelled after the buyers complained they were fake. William Cook, 60, a director of Cooks, said: "We have never knowingly provided Sotheby's with fakes," he said. Carr-Linford would not comment yesterday.
Additional reporting: Simon Trump
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/frontpage.html?999
MEXICO CITY -- The Mayas exhibition has not been without its controversies. Several major European museums that lent pieces to the show at Venice's Palazzo Grassi refused to allow the works to travel to the Mexican exhibit because the artifacts originally were taken illegally or stolen from Mexico. European curators believed it would be possible for the Mexican government to refuse to allow those works to leave Mexico again. "It's a very touchy point," said Dolores Beistegui, director of the San Ildefonso museum. "Bringing them here would seem to be asking for trouble." Though it's now illegal for Mayan artifacts to be taken out of their countries of origin, archeological theft remains a major problem in Mexico and Central America. Earlier this year, Mexican authorities recovered 39 pre-Hispanic ceramics being hawked at a roadside stand in Hidalgo state. The works were believed to have been stolen from the giant Teotihuacan pyramids near Mexico City, one of the most heavily guarded and most visited of the country's historical sites. Last year, U.S. Customs officials found 14 artifacts, some estimated to be at least 2,000 years old, in a shipment bound to a New York art dealer. The Mayas includes some stolen works that have since been recovered by the government. A stone column depicting a man in a feathered costume believed to be about 1,300 years old was "cut in slices like salami" by thieves who removed it from a Yucatan Peninsula site, Beistegui said. Though it has been cemented back together, it bears the telltale scars of the powerful saws used to extract it. Mexican authorities say they have neither the money nor the manpower to protect or explore all the nation's ancient sites. The National Institute of Anthropology and History has catalogued 28,000 locations, only a little more than 10 percent of the 200,000 sites believed to exist in Mexico, said Daniel Ortega, director of plans and evaluation. Only 172 are open to the public. Mexico and its Central American neighbors have launched aggressive advertising campaigns to attract tourists to the cities of ancient civilizations that mysteriously began to be abandoned. Last year, 2.8 million foreign tourists spent almost $2 billion visiting Mexico's Mundo Maya (Maya world). Despite this quest for tourist dollars, perhaps the most controversial issue, to some Mexicans, is the belief that their Mayan heritage is confined to museums and amounts to little more than relics of a lost civilization. In stark contrast to the exhibit's show of riches and power of the ancient civilization, the Maya and other indigenous peoples are the region's poorest populations, long neglected by their governments. "There is an absolute disparity between one and the other," said Mercedes de la Garza of Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology. "The old Mayas were a great civilization that created this marvelous city and these marvelous works of art," she said. "Then the Spanish conquistadors destroyed the Maya culture. They were totally stripped of their own territory and their culture, and they became the slaves of the Spanish."
http://detnews.com/1999/nation/9909/12/09120085.htm
Frankly, invading the privacy of an unknown woman simply on because an e-mail was sent to you is the height of irresponsibility. You have an amazing amount of power, and do not seem to realize it-- or to understand that you severely damage the credibility of this forum by blithely passing along what are, without dispute, unsubstantiated rumors.
You may also risk legal consequences, if your act of "publishing" this woman's name and address causes her damage. By no definition is she a "public figure" --who can usually be libeled with impunity as long as no "malice" can be proven.
At the very least, you owe this woman an apology; at worst, you may end up owing her much of what you personally own.
--Earl Merkel
Gallery staff baffled after statue stolen
Christina Frangou, Journal Staff Writer
The Edmonton Journal
A local art gallery is offering a reward to anyone who can identify a wily thief who walked out of the store with a $36,000 sculpture Thursday.