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November 10, 1998
CONTENTS:
- Hunt still on for stolen painting (Sunday Times South Africa)
- NEW SCURITY CHIEF APPOINTED (Seattle Art Museum)
- response to steve kellers remarks (Dorit Straus)
- Hot on the trail of stolen artwork (JOE DIRCK THE PLAIN DEALER)
- INT-LAW Re: Holocaust Asset Litigation - US Fed court materials
- Re Article "Museum Behavior" (Paul Smith)
- Risk Assessment & Fire Protection Pertaining to Cultural Objects
- Sprinkler systems (Roger Wulff)
- Sprinkler systems ( Gregor Trinkaus-Randall)
- Steve Keller comments on Paul Smith's message
- Judge will decide who owns the art
- 'Raffles' gang plunder Venice palaces
- hosts/security guards (Ton Veld)
- Re Steve Keller's message (Paul Smith)
- Report from Rutgers (Art, Antiquities, and the Law conference)
- Brazilian commission hunts for artworks looted by Nazis
- commenting on host/guard issue (Michelle Lehrman)
- Security, query about motion detector (Barbara Batson)
- Honduras This Week Online--Special Update on Tropical Storm Mitch
(Jonathan Sazonoff)
- Fire Hits Landmark Italian Palace (Jack Sullivan)
- Austria approves restitution of Nazi art loot
- List Reveals Names of Nazi-Era Art Looters
- UKPounds: 2m Stradivarius stolen from home of violinist
- (Miami Herald) FBI seizes painting from auction house
- (Russia Today) Missing Chagall Works Puzzle Belarus
- France publishes catalogue of art Nazis stole
- Re: Security, query about motion detector
Hunt still on for stolen painting (Sunday Times South Africa)
POLICE are still searching for a 96-year-old painting stolen this
month from the South African National Gallery, writes BABALWA SHOTA.
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of the
small painting, Royal Hotel, Dieppe, by British artist Walter Sickert.
It is worth about R100 000.
One suspect, Shaun Prince, 25, of Bonteheuwel, Cape Flats, is in
custody. through a piece of paper with an address written on it as he
fled the scene. The other is city art dealer Johannes Swanepoel, who
is on R5 000 bail.
from: Scotty Ray [SMTP:ScottyR@SeattleArtMuseum.org]
subject: NEW SCURITY CHIEF APPOINTED
Gail Joice, Senior Deputy Director for Operations at the Seattle Art
Museum would like to announce that Scotty Ray was selected as the
Museum's new Security Chief replacing John Wickstrom. John retired
last May after 14 years as the Museum's Security Chief.
Scotty was John's Assistant Chief and had assumed the Chief's duties
while the Museum conducted applicant interviews. Scotty was also an
applicant and after careful consideration of a group of very qualified
security professionals, was the unanimous choice of the selection
committee.
Scotty has worked at the Seattle Art Museum for the last two years.
Prior to that he was an Industrial Security Manager and Emergency
Preparedness Specialist with a commercial nuclear power plant in
Washington State. He also served as a criminal investigator for a
Washington State Sheriff's Office and is a graduate of the FBI
National Academy (95th Session) at Quantico, Virginia.
Scottyr@seattleartmuseum.org
From: "Dorit Straus" Dorit_Straus@aceusa-ins.com
To: MSN_digest securma@museum-security.org
Date sent: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 09:52:54 -0500
Subject: Re: Museum Security Mailinglist digest October 26,
1998
i would like to respond to steve kellers remarks as respects one
issue. a lot has been said about the need for good collection
management system as a way not only to track works within museum walls
but also in recovery - having worked as a museum registrar before i
made a career change to become an insurance undewriter specializing in
providing insurance for museums and cultural institutions - i know
that registrars do care and that a lot of progress has been made in
computerizing inventory and inproving practices! but I would like to
take issue with the point out that most museums have high deductibles
of as much as $100,000 for thefts- quite the contrary - must museums
have very low deductibles on their collection( fine arts) insurance -
in most cases it is around $1000 and no deductibles if the works
belong to others. insurance companies think that museums are very good
risks - and insurance premiums for collection insurance have dropped
so much over the last 20 years and it has become very affordable to
purchase substantial limits of insurance. if there are theft losses -
they are not being reported to the insurance companies for some other
reasons other than the deductible considerations. I have looked at
countless number of insurance applications and its a rare situation
when the museum has reported losses on their application, theft or
otherwise. Dorit Straus Assistant Vice President Art Culture &
Entertainment ACE USA 90 park avenue suite 1600 new york, ny 10016 212
984-1089
Hot on the trail of stolen artwork (JOE DIRCK THE PLAIN DEALER)
Hi again. In our continuing effort here at the column to go behind the
headlines and provide readers with background and insight they won't
find anywhere else, we would like at this time to turn our probing
spotlight toward one of last week's biggest stories.
Actually, we had a choice. We could have gone with the Middle East
peace talks, but believe us, we know our limitations, and that
international stuff is way over our heads.
Or, we could have chosen to dive fearlessly into the muck and mire of
Campaign '98, but, well, we just got these trousers dry-cleaned, and.
. . .
Then it hit us. If ever a story called for a probing spotlight, it
was that odd matter of the stolen French masterpiece seized by the
FBI in Cleveland last week just before it was to go on the auction
block. What was that all about? Fortunately, fine art is a subject
anybody can sound intelligent about without knowing squat, and we
are no exception. We can stand in front of a painting, stroke our
chin thoughtfully and say, "Hmmm, the subtleties are intangible yet
moribund," as well as the next guy. So without further ado, we will
attempt to prove this by answering some FAQs (frequently asked
questions, in Internet-ese) concerning the stolen painting:
Q: Can you tell us about this artwork and the Frenchman who painted
it?
A: Oui, oui, mon cherie. The purloined painting is titled: "Bassins
Duquesne et Berrigny a Dieppe, Temps Gris," which is French for:
"Elvis in Black Velvet, the Las Vegas Years." Its monetary value is,
of course, subjective, but had the auction proceeded as planned, it
was expected to fetch $400,000 to $600,000 (frame extra).
It was painted in 1902 by Camille Pissarro, who had a nickname we
probably shouldn't go into right now. Critics generally regard
Pissarro as an important, if second-tier, impressionist. In other
words, he was pretty good, but he was no Frank Gorshin.
Q: And how did it end up in Cleveland?
A: Ah, a question worthy of Inspector Clouseau. The Pissarro was
among 10 paintings stolen in 1978 from the home of a Massachusetts
art collector, and it had not been seen since, although unconfirmed
reports suggest it may have been hanging all this time in a Waffle
House outside Sioux Falls, where it shared wall space with a
no-shirt-no-shoes-no-service sign. Clearly, more investigation is
needed.
Q: Wasn't there a similar story last year about some other
masterpieces being found here?
A: Good memory. Yes, the FBI moved in last summer after two stolen
paintings worth millions were discovered in Cleveland. One was Monet's
"The Customs Officer's Cabin at Pourville," and the other was
Picasso's "Nude Before a Mirror."
Q: What happened to that case?
A: Nothing yet. Apparently, as soon as Kenneth Starr saw the word
"nude," he insisted on jurisdiction, and that's the last anyone ever
heard of it.
Q: With all this art theft going on around here, aren't you worried
that Cleveland's reputation could suffer?
A: Are you kidding? After some of the stuff said about us over the
years, you think we're going to complain about being known as the
world capital of priceless stolen masterpieces? That's not an insult;
that's a Cary Grant movie.
Q: A picture's a picture, right? Who in their right mind would pay
that kind of money for a painting, anyway?
A: Someone with the taste, breeding, sophistication and refinement to
appreciate a brilliant work of art like the stolen Pissarro,
obviously. Someone who is able to discern its finer qualities, which
admittedly are probably not immediately apparent to a plebeian such as
yourself.
Q: And what qualities would those be?
A: Well, for one thing, its subtleties are intangible yet moribund .
. .
Messages for Dirck may be left at (216) 999-4818.
c1998 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.
From: jen.zibin@utoronto.ca[SMTP:jen.zibin@utoronto.ca]
Sent: 27 October 1998 21:36
To: int-law@listhost.ciesin.org
Subject: INT-LAW Re: Holocaust Asset Litigation - US Fed court
materials
Hi,
I am trying to get information concerning the following class action
lawsuits filed in distict court in NY in 1996 & 1997:
Weisshaus v. Union Bank of Switzerland
Friedman v. Union Bank of Switzerland
World Council of Orthodox Jewish Communities v. Swiss Banks
A $1.25 billion settlement was reached regarding these lawsuits, but
I would like to examine the causes of action that were advanced in
the lawsuits for the purposes of a paper that I am writing.
I am told that if I formally write the east district court of NY and
ask for the materials, they may comply (more likely not comply). If
anyone can suggest a more expedient route, I would really appreciate
it.
Thanks.
Jendy Zibin
To: securma@xs4all.nl
From: psmith@vanartgallery.bc.ca
Subject: Re Article "Museum Behavior" (Paul Smith)
Dear Dorothy
Thank you for submitting your wonderfully considered article. I am
Assistant Security /Visitor Services Manager. This dual role has
given me lots of experience in seeing both sides of this type of
situation. I have come to realize that patrons at an art gallery or
museum come to that institution with enormous expectations that can
never be realistically met.
This situation becomes even more potentially fraught when one
attempts to
enact gallery policy. We at the Vancouver Art Gallery pride ourselves
at having one of the most "customer friendly" security departments in
the world. We have dispensed with all of the quasi-police
paraphernalia such as guard uniforms, badges etc and retrained our
guards to be hosts. They are trained to facilitate the experience of
the patrons rather than being remote and stentorian. In spite of this
we find that even rational and reasonable people rail at gallery
policy. I must get about 1 comment per week from a patron that starts
something like this:
"We were visiting the gallery when some rude person barked at me to
check my umbrella/camera/backpack in to coat check.....This
thoroughly ruined my visit. I will never return......."
The essence of this observation is:
1 Regular law abiding people DO NOT like being told to do something.
It doesn't matter if there is some validity to the request. People
react reflexively to any authority.
2 People think that the world is now negotiable. That is, given
enough time most people hold out the hope that they be able to
negotiate their way out of any situation.
3 People who attend art galleries tend to be from a relatively narrow
social strata that is not used to coming into contact with authority.
4 People attend an art gallery and have a hope that the experience
will be so profound as to leave them irrevocably changed. What I call
the "epiphany" patrons. Any minor annoyance will permanently damage
their hope for a deeply moving experience.
5 People will often exhibit indignation far in excess of the cause.
They may state that; "....it ruined an otherwise happy visit to
Vancouver.....".
This in response to being asked to check their umbrella.
In short I was wondering has any work been done on the subject of
gallery/museum patrons and the manner in which they respond to
gallery/museum services?
It can be difficult explaining this phenomena to management especially
as the patron appears to be a paragon of rationality on the phone a
few days later.
Paul Smith
Asst Security/Visitor Services Mgr.
Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver
BC
V6Z 2H7
CANADA
psmith@vanartgallery.bc.ca
From: "William A. Heidecker" heideckerwa@worldnet.att.net
Subject: Risk Assessment & Fire Protection Pertaining to Cultural
Objects
I am seeking advice and counsel from those in the field about the need
for professional journal articles, a possible book, or training
programs.
The issue of physical security (e.g., theft and vandalism) of objects
of artistic and/or historic value have been well covered. However, a
perusal of available information suggests that the issues of risk
assessment and fire protection for the buildings housing such objects
have not been particularly well covered. Incidents such as those
listed in the Museum Security Network's listing of large fire losses
would seem to suggest a need for much more information.
Proposed articles would discuss assessment of the fire risk and
property loss prevention for buildings that are, in themselves, of
cultural value or for buildings housing articles of cultural value.
They would also address similar issues for buildings used to warehouse
or restore culturally valuable objects. My premise is that the objects
cannot be considered safe while the building in which the objects are
located is at risk. Sub-headings would include assessing the fire
risk; fire prevention, detection, and suppression; and emergency
planning.
The author has twenty-one years experience in loss prevention and
risk assessment with national and international exposure.
Professional experience covers a wide variety of occupancies ranging
from manufacturing plants to high-rise complexes, offshore oil
platforms, hospitals, and many others. The experience also includes
museums and an archival facility for historical maps. Numerous essays
regarding risk assessment and loss prevention in general, and fire
protection in particular have been written for professional audiences
that do not include fire protection professionals.
Date: 23 Oct 98
From: Roger Wulff museplan@erols.com
Subject: Sprinkler systems (Roger Wulff)
In regards to [Elana Makridou's] questions about sprinkler systems, I
help plan and manage "The National Conference On Cultural Property
Protection" which has been sponsored for the past 22 years by the
Smithsonian Institution. Next year--7-12 March 1999 in Los Angeles, CA
USA--we are being hosted by The Getty where we will be meeting with
the International Committee On Museum Security of The International
Council of Museums.
Fire Protection--detection and automatic suppression is a most
important topic at all of our conferences. Someone once said, "if
someone steals an artifact from your institution, you may get it back
15 to 20 years down the road--but if that artifact is destroyed by
fire, its gone forever." Fire is the greatest risk to an
institution--its people, its buildings and its collections--and
automatic sprinkler systems are the best and most cost effective means
to prevent that destruction. They should be used throughout the
entire building complex. If properly designed and installed, they are
safe and will not leak. If you would like back-up documentation,
contact Andy Wilson, Chief, Fire Protection Division at the
Smithsonian Institution or Sjur Helseth, Head of Section for
Development, Technical Department, Directorate for Cultural Heritage,
(Central Office of Historic Monuments and Sites), Norway.
Kind Regards
Roger Wulff
Date: 27 Oct 98
From: Gregor Trinkaus-Randall gregor.trinkaus-randall@state.ma.us
Subject: Sprinkler systems ( Gregor Trinkaus-Randall)
I would strongly recommend installing sprinkler systems throughout the
building. It is far better to have wet materials than ashes. One only
has to look at the recent Linkoping City Library fire where the fire
was started elsewhere in the building and resulted in significant
damage to the library collections. The other option, if you are
worried about the amount of water (25 gallons/min),you can investigate
the water misting system (4 gallons/min) that has come on the marked
recently--several installations are in place in Scotland according to
my information.
Gregor Trinkaus-Randall
Collection Management/Preservation Specialist
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
648 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215-2070
617-267-9400, 800-952-7403 (in-state)
Fax: 617-421-9833
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Date sent: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 02:33:41 EST
To: securma@xs4all.nl
Subject: Steve Keller comments on Paul Smith's message
Paul Smith asked if there has been any work done in the area of
security and visitor services with regard to his comments that you
can't please all of the people all of the time. He has made security
very visitor friendly in Vancouver.
I don't know of research but I do have experience. My observation has
been that Paul hit the nail on the head. No matter how easy going
security is, you will get complaints. I truly believe that he will get
as many complaints with his action plan on security as he would if he
had a conventional action plan where guards were guards and not hosts,
etc.
Everything Paul said in his post was very true. Some people will
complain about anything. The question is, "Is security diminished in
his museum as compared to an identical hypothetical museum next door
that might have traditional security with guards that are not hosts
but are more aggressive in enforcing security rules?" I think that
guards in a visitor services role are well equipped to protect the
museum under routine conditions but when a problem occurs, a
paramilitary organization with a more conventional badge carrying
approach to security is probably better able to deal with the problem.
Do colleagues agree?
Steve Keller, CPP
Judge will decide who owns the art
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
A Cuyahoga County judge will decide in January who owns a French
impressionist painting stolen 20 years ago in Massachusetts and
seized last week by FBI agents in Cleveland. Until then, the FBI will
keep the 1902 dock scene by Camille Pissarro, titled "Bassins
Duquesne et Berrigny A Dieppe, Temps Gris." Agents seized it Oct. 22
at Wolf's auction house, 1239 W. 6th St., two days before it was
scheduled for sale. Common Pleas Judge Richard J. McMonagle yesterday
scheduled a hearing for Jan. 13 to determine ownership of the
painting, which could be worth $400,000 to $600,000. It was stolen in
1978 in Worcester, Mass., from the collection of Helen Stoddard, who
maintains she is the rightful owner. The Liberty Mutual Insurance
Co., which paid Stoddard more than $90,000 to compensate for her loss
of the painting, also has asserted a claim. The FBI, which
investigated the theft of the painting 20 years ago but charged no
one, now is investigating how it arrived in Cleveland. William
Edwards, first assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said the statute
of limitations on the theft of the painting was five years. But
anyone who carried the painting across state lines within the last
five years knowing it was stolen can be charged with interstate
transportation of stolen property, Edwards said. Edwards said the FBI
probably would keep the painting as evidence at least until McMonagle
rules on ownership. The FBI learned the painting was in Cleveland
after a New York art dealer planning to bid on it did some research
and learned it had been stolen. Wolf's has declined thus far to name
the person or persons who submitted the painting for auction, but the
auction house agreed yesterday to provide the name to Stoddard's
attorneys, McMonagle said.
c1998 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.
'Raffles' gang plunder Venice palaces
By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Daily Telegraph London)
A GROUP of thieves are stripping Venice's finest palazzi of paintings
and artefacts worth millions of pounds. Armed with the knowledge of
which palaces do not have burglar alarms, and the movements of the
city's privileged classes, the "Raffles of the Rialto" have enjoyed a
lucrative October.
In the biggest of a string of heists so far, the gang made off just
over a week ago with the only oil painting still in private hands by
the Venetian Old Master Canaletto, estimated to be worth £1.2
million. The 2ft x 4ft signed canvas, Il Fonteghetto dela Farina, was
spirited away from the collection of the late Count Alvise
Giustiniani, descended from the Roman emperor Justinian, and was its
most celebrated work.
The thieves also took a valuable old map of Venice and other
treasures from a palace in the Dorsoduro or so-called "English
quarter", when the count's adopted daughter, married to the Italian
steel magnate Alberto Falck, was out. The palace had no alarm, and a
trusted family retainer discovered the theft when he saw the empty
frame still hanging on the wall. Before departing, the robbers added
insult to injury by drinking the owner's champagne in antique Murano
glasses. Bianca Maria Cotronei, a prosecutor in the city, said: "It
was a clean job."
The Canaletto was reportedly not even insured. Days before it was
stolen, a visit was paid to the house next door belonging to Italy's
ambassador to London, Paolo Galli, which cost his family dear.
On this occasion the Raffles gang emptied the entire first floor of
the palace, taking the family silver valued at £100,000. Mr Galli's
daughter, Francesca, discovered the break-in when she returned from a
holiday.
Two other similar robberies took place in September, including one in
Palazzo Mocenigo. The palace was once the ancestral home of Count
Alvise di Robilant, a former Sotheby's director bludgeoned to death
in an unsolved case early last year, and where Lord Byron lived when
he wrote Don Juan.
Investigators piecing together the clues last week said they believed
that they could be dealing with a group of professionals who were
working on commission, and who knew "the city to perfection".
There was some suggestion that police were preparing to swoop on some
of the "orphans" of the local "Brenta Mafia", once headed by the
dashing, champagne-swigging pretty boy of Italian organised crime,
Felice "Angel Face" Maniero. He is now behind bars after his
high-living escapades in public as a supergrass angered the
authorities so much that they re-arrested him.
An investigator said: "These people are too clever for words, and too
well-informed for words. It's as though they had a plan of Venice
where every palace minus any alarm was clearly indicated."
From: "nlco5036" NLCO5036@CAPITOLONLINE.NL
Subject: hosts/security guards
Dear Steve,
to answer your question:
I am founder/owner of a small company, offering hosts/security-guards
to Funeral-companys, to guard the houses from deceased and relatives
during funerals. Most of all my employees are ex (retired) policemen,
55 years and older, socialy skilled, tactfull, friendly, reliable and
able to act like a host but think as a policeman. The ideal
combination, also for Museum Security !
Best regards,
Ton Veld
Bureau voor Nabestaandenbegeleiding/Beveiliging
Allegrostraat 20
1312 TC Almere
The Netherlands
E-mail: NLCO5036@CAPITOLONLINE.NL
pfrom: smith@vanartgallery.bc.ca [SMTP:psmith@vanartgallery.bc.ca]
subject: Re Steve Keller's message
Steve Keller made a number of very pertinent comments in his last
message regarding the form museum/gallery security should take. It
should be made clear from the outset that having customer oriented
security and effective security are NOT mutually exclusive. We arrived
at the host model of security by pragmatically applying sound security
principles. The security officer's duties were examined and the
disposition of time spent on various tasks was established. We found
that having security officers who were poised in a perpetual state of
readiness for major, but infrequent, contingencies was a luxury that
the gallery could not afford. It also meant that the security
officers were doing nothing other than acting as a retributive body
who tended to alienate the people who keep us alive. A security
officer can deal with the major contingencies AND help facilitate the
patron's experience at the same time.
It comes down to selecting the staff who can demonstrate the required
level of mental agility to cope with both roles and training them
accordingly. In my view, staff will rise to the lowest expectation
held in them. Keeping security officers mentally engaged also means
that they are less likely to display the inertia and overall malaise
that security managers fear. They are also less likely to over react
and cause the sort of media black eye that the gallery in Akron
recently suffered. We hope that, in the event of an emergency, the
security team will react quicker as they are an ACTIVE presence in the
gallery. There are a number of secondary benefits to be derived from
this approach. Curators and public programmers can instruct the hosts
on the cultural and societal ramifications of a particular exhibit.
For example, we have just finished a magnificent exhibit of first
nations masks. The hosts were instructed as to the possible fall out
from having a display of what some people describe as "plundered
artifacts" and their need for sensitivity when dealing with patrons.
They can become part of the solution instead of compounding a
sensitive issue with over zealous response. To reiterate, this is not
a soft option. These people are security officers first and foremost
with a veneer of customer service applied after. There has been no
reduction in security at the gallery. What we do have is a
professional and well rounded resource.
Paul Smith CPP
Asst Security & Visitor Services Mgr.
Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby St
Vancouver
BC
Canada
(604) 662 4700 loc 503
from: Jonathan Sazonoff [SMTP:saz@kwom.com]
subject: Report from Rutgers (Art, Antiquities, and the Law
conference)
Dear Subscribers,
We have just returned from Rutgers University's Art, Antiquities, and
the Law conference. Our thanks to the organizers for their
hospitality; and thanks to the participants for the many informative
presentations. A full list of proceedings can be found at
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~allconf/
As for highlights:
The US Information Agency will be launching a cultural property
website in two weeks. For those in the field, a preview can be found
at http://www.usia.gov/education/culprop/ Comments and suggestions are
welcome to strengthen the site prior to its official launch. Next, the
Italian government has posted an Untraced Treasures website. This
lists works lost in WWII that are still missing (including
Michialangelo) http://cam07a.sta.uniroma1.it/comin/ingle/initial.html
Next, Richard Ellis (Scotland Yard &CoPAT) offered steps to clarify
and strengthen due diligence laws. This information could be of great
help, to those wishing to demonstrate good faith, in future property
disputes. (unable to contact their server www.theasaurus.co.uk at the
time of this posting.) There were so many fine presentation, they are
too numerous to list. The conference was to conclude by passing
resolutions; while we were flying back to Chicago. Those resolutions
will be forwarded - once they are received. On a personal note, it was
a great pleasure meeting Anna Kisluk (Director ALR), Sharon Flescher
(Executive Director IFAR), Lynne Richardson Chaffinch (F.B.I.),
Richard Ellis (New Scotland Yard), Willian Martin (P.I. / Art
Consultant), Robin Thornes (Getty Institute), and so many others who
have contributed to so greatly to the field of cultural property
protection. Thanks to all for their comments and kindness. We hope
you find this useful.
Regards,
Jonathan Sazonoff
SAZ Productions, Inc.
www.saztv.com
Brazilian commission hunts for artworks looted by Nazis
By Rochelle G. Saidel
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 2 (JTA) -- The hunt for artworks looted by the
Nazis is pressing ahead here. A commission created by the Brazilian
Justice Ministry in 1997 is using leads supplied by the World Jewish
Congress to search for more than 100 such works sold in the country
between the 1940s and 1970s. In addition, two artworks -- oil
paintings by Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso -- have been placed under
the protection of the Special Commission to Examine the Nazi Legacy in
Brazil. According to Rabbi Henry Sobel, a member of the commission,
the oils were in the possession of two S o Paulo families. They were
sold for $2.2 million in 1939 and are worth considerably more today.
The sale was supposedly made through art dealer Thadeus Grauer, who
represented the Switzerland-based Fischer Gallery in S o Paulo. Many
of the artworks looted by the Nazis from their Jewish owners found
their way to Switzerland during and after the war. The families who
owned the two oils did not know the works had been stolen and they
have been cooperating with the commission, Sobel said. He added that
he has lists of suspect works that are housed in the Museum of Art of
S o Paulo, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and the Museum
of Art of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre. He named two paintings in
the Porto Alegre museum, originally bought by families in the region
in the 1950s, and later donated to the institution. One is ``The Small
Black Lake" by Rose Bonneur, and the other is a small untitled
landscape by Bruxton Knight. The sale of looted artworks had the
purpose of filling the coffers of Kamaradenwerk, an arm of the Odessa
network, which was dedicated to helping Nazis hiding in Latin America
after the war, Sobel said. Odessa was deactivated in 1954, but
Kamaradenwerk continued operating until 1968, according to the
commission. Controversy has surrounded the commission's search, as
local art dealers have questioned the ability of the commission to
document whether any of the art had, in fact, originally been stolen
by the Nazis. Museum officials, meanwhile, are defending themselves
from charges that they are housing looted art. ``The works in the
Museum of Art of S o Paulo have their origin extremely well
documented, and the major part of the collection was attained before
the war. Therefore, I don't think there is any problem," the president
of the museum, J£lio Neves, told a local newspaper. ``At any rate,
until now no one questioned anything, and I don't know anything." The
director of the Museum of Art of Rio Grand do Sul, Paulo Amaral, told
the newspaper, ``I have the utmost sympathy for the work of the
commission, but it is very much in the air, without papers, without
proof." According to him, the works in the museum by Bonneur and
Knight that Sobel mentioned are having their purchase documents
evaluated. But he does not believe there will be any conclusive
evidence that can relate them to the Fischer Gallery. The commission
has come under criticism for the secrecy surrounding its searches, but
Sobel said it protects both the investigations and the individuals and
institutions involved. ``The truth is that we have indications, but we
don't have proof, and it is necessary to take precautions so that this
does not become sensationalist,'' he said.
(c Jewish Telegraphic Agency Inc.
commenting on host/guard issue (Michelle Lehrman [SMTP:mlehrman@nelson-atkins.org])
In an ongoing effort to minimize complaints and assist with improving
customer service, we have implemented the following: 1) CONSISTENT
enforcement of museum guidelines. Every officer is "on the same
page". We developed a "WHY" sheet so the officer and patron can read
a script of our guidelines and why we have them. (example: Why we
don't allow patrons to touch the art.) Frequent visitors hear the
same thing from every officer. 2)CURATORIAL TOURS of new exhibits and
fact sheets for permanent ones. Giving the officers a separate and
informational tour of changing exhibits offers them an investment in
the exhibit and allows them to give knowledgeable answers to
questions. Even if it is as simple as, "How much does that statue
weigh?"
I have a very diverse staff ranging from art students, writers, and
officers with strict security backgrounds. EVERY officer from the
interview, to training, to their evaluations are told the importance
of customer service. We implemented a training tool which explains
how important their role is as the museum's voice and it lists some
examples on how to deal with frequent complaints.
Hope this information helps.
Michelle A. Lehrman
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, MO
Security (Barbara Batson [SMTP:bbatson@VSLA.EDU])
Does anyone know the trade name of a type of motion
detector that sounds if a patron leans over a barrier or
gets too close to an object on display?
Also, we are planning a map exhibition for next April, and
one of the maps is rather large (63 inches high by 95
inches long). One group wants to either frame the map or
enclosed it in mylar. Another group has suggested hanging
it with a pole through loops at the top, similar to the
method used for hanging quilts and large flat textiles.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Barbara C. Batson
Exhibitions Coordinator
The Library of Virginia
Honduras This Week Online--Special Update on Tropical Storm Mitch
(Jonathan Sazonoff)
Dear Subscribers,
I've been trying to contact an old college professor, to inquire about
the Mayan archaeological site of Copan, in light of the recent floods.
However, before addressing damage to cultural sites and museums, the
welfare of the people of Central America must first be addressed.
The following website outlines the formal Honduran request for aid.
http://www.marrder.com/htw/
Fire Hits Landmark Italian Palace (Jack Sullivan
jacksull@mindspring.com)
ROME (AP) - Fire broke out Wednesday in the attic of the Reggia
palace at Caserta in southern Italy, raising fears for the sumptuous,
sprawling 18th-century landmark. Authorities said they would have to
wait until daylight to determine the extent of the damage.
The fire was discovered late Wednesday and was declared under control
within hours after firefighters were summoned from as far away as
Rome. Smoke and flames were seen at two windows; Italy's ANSA news
service quoted a firefighter as saying the fire had reached at least
four rooms.
Officials said an investigation would start Thursday into the cause
of the fire at the palace, about 30 miles outside Naples.
Charles III commissioned the palace in 1751 to show off the might of
the kingdom of Naples. With five floors and 1,200 rooms, it made the
UNESCO list of World Heritage sites last year.
World leaders met there in 1994 for the Group of Seven economic
summit- a setting that prompted Russian leader Boris Yeltsin to scrap
his usual business suit for a tuxedo.
Austria approves restitution of Nazi art loot
VIENNA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The Austrian Parliament on Thursday
unanimously approved legislation allowing works of art seized by the
Nazis and later incorporated into state museums to be returned to
their rightful owners.
``This cannot make good for what happened, but with this law we want
to demonstrate one more piece of justice,'' Elisabeth Gehrer, minister
of education and cultural affairs, said in parliament.
Hundreds of Austrian Jews lost valuable artworks confiscated during
Nazi rule of Austria between 1938 and 1945 for a second time after the
end of World War Two when the state imposed an export ban on the
items.
Paintings, coins and antiques were extorted from their exiled owners
who received permits to remove their art collections from the country
only if certain objects were ``donated'' to Austrian state museums.
Research in state archives this year showed that several Austrian
museums had called hundreds of objects of doubtful origin their own
for more than 50 years.
estitution is due to begin before the end of this year when art
treasures belonging to the extensive Rothschild collection are
returned to the family's heirs.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.
List Reveals Names of Nazi-Era Art Looters
Reuters Saturday, November 7, 1998; Page C03
NEW YORK, Nov. 6-A Jewish group said today it has found a list of
2,000 people involved in the Nazi looting of art during World War II
and planned to make it public as early as next week.
The World Jewish Congress said its researchers found the list while
searching through recently declassified documents in the National
Archives. The list was compiled by the Art Looting Investigations Unit
of the Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA.
The Nazi looting of art was unprecedented in history. According to
Francis Taylor, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1945,
the value of the stolen art was about $2.5 billion at wartime prices
-- or more than the total value of all the art in the United States.
A WJC spokesman said the group will release the document in
connection with the opening of a State Department conference at the
end of this month on the restitution of Holocaust-era assets. The
list will be accompanied by a biographical index. The spokesman said
the names include people from Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland,
Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Luxembourg, and
some of the most prominent art dealers in Europe are included.
The list could help in tracking down looted art because investigators
could check the names against ownership records of artworks. "If a
work of art contained one of those names as an owner it would raise a
red flag," a WJC spokesman said.
France last year said that more than 200 major works of art in its
museums were looted items that had been returned to their owners.
c Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
UKPounds: 2m Stradivarius stolen from home of violinist
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
A STRADIVARIUS violin said to be worth UKPounds: 2 million has been
stolen from an Italian musician who bought it years ago at an auction
in London.
Police in Rome specialising in fine art thefts said yesterday that
they had alerted police forces around the world after the violinist,
Luigi Bianchi, reported its disappearance. The violin, made by
Antonius Stradivarius in 1716 in the heyday of his Cremona workshop,
is known as the "Colossus" because of its size. Mr Bianchi, 53, a
leading violinist who once played regularly with the late Spanish
cellist Pablo Casals, said he bought the violin at Christie's in 1987
for UKPounds: 550,000.
He said he noticed the Colossus, which is insured with Lloyd's of
London, had vanished when he returned home after slipping out for a
few hours last week. He said: "I had wanted to play it but then I
remembered that I had certain chores to which I had to attend. I put
the violin back in its case but left out the foam rubber casing."
The thief left no sign of a break-in and had come to get "the violin,
and the violin alone", police said. Il Messeggero, a Rome newspaper,
suggested that the violin might have been a bone of contention during
the unofficial separation several months ago between Mr Bianchi and
his wife, an art dealer who, the report said, had claimed that it was
she who had bought the Colossus. Mr Bianchi told the newspaper that
they bought it together.
Police said that a priceless viola had been stolen from Mr Bianchi in
1980, when he left it inside a parked car in Milan. Apparently a
ransom demand was made, but the instrument never turned up.
(Miami Herald) FBI seizes painting from auction house
CLEVELAND -- (AP) -- FBI agents have seized a Camille Pissarro
painting from an auction house, acting on a tip that the work by the
French impressionist was stolen from a collector 20 years ago.
The 1902 dock scene, Bassins Duquesne et Berrigny a Dieppe, Temps
Gris, is valued at $400,000 to $600,000 and is considered an
important example of Pissarro's late work.
The painting, which agents seized last week at Wolf's Auction
Gallery, will be stored at the Cleveland Museum of Art until a judge
can determine who owns it, FBI agent Robert Hawk said.
Federal agents believe the painting belongs to Helen Stoddard, who
reported it stolen along with nine other artworks on June 22, 1978,
from her home in Worchester, Mass.
Hawk and Michael Wolf, president of the auction house, declined to
identify who consigned the painting to Wolf's for sale on Saturday.
Wolf said he first learned about the painting's troubled history
Wednesday. He said his gallery had not found any problem when it
researched the painting.
``That's life in this world,'' Wolf said. ``Of course we're
disappointed. We don't collect a big commission. But nobody wants to
deal in stolen art.''
The impending sale caught the eye of New York art dealer William
Beadleston, who learned that the painting was reported stolen after
talking to Joachim Pissarro, the artist's great-grandson, who is a
curator at the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Conn. Beadleston then
contacted federal agents.
Stoddard, who is 94 and in poor health, was ``overwhelmed'' to hear
that the painting had been recovered, said Warner Fletcher, an aide
who answered the phone at her home.
Among the other items stolen from Stoddard's home were two oil
paintings by Renoir, a watercolor by Pissarro and a Ming vase. The
total value in 1978 was set at $250,000. None was ever recovered.
(Russia Today) Missing Chagall Works Puzzle Belarus
VITEBSK, Belarus, Nov. 09, 1998 -- (Reuters) Belarus faces a fresh
and embarrassing challenge -- how to explain the disappearance of
works by Marc Chagall.
Reviled during the Soviet era, the Jewish painter is now, belatedly,
revered in the town and country of his birth.
But a hometown museum devoted to Chagall, who died in 1985, cannot
account for the whereabouts of 15 of his works.
"News of the disappearance was a big surprise for us," said Deputy
Culture Minister Valery Gedroits.
"We were informed of this by a curator from Switzerland. But no one
in Belarus has seen these works. They have not been in the museum and
there is no record of them being sold or presented as a gift."
The missing works were supposed to be displayed in Vitebsk -- a
picturesque town in eastern Belarus near where Chagall was born in
Moishe Segal in 1887 -- alongside 20 other works as part of a gift
from Chagall's granddaughter, Meret Meyer Graber.
"Belarus will take steps to trace these works of our most famous
compatriot if Western donors will offer to act as witnesses,"
Gedroits said.
"The chances of finding them are probably limited."
Belarus has been largely lukewarm toward Western-style economic and
political reforms, and President Aleksander Lukashenko has earned a
reputation abroad as an authoritarian ruler.
Chagall Revered Now but Long Vilified
Chagall studied in Paris before World War I and initially welcomed
the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, serving for a time as a commissar for
fine arts and producing work for the thriving Moscow Jewish theater.
But like many cultural figures shocked at the brutal, intolerant
nature of Communist rule, he left the Soviet Union in 1922, settling
first in the United States and eventually in southern France.
As an emigrant, his name was systematically vilified by a Soviet
leadership determined to promote "socialist realism" in art and
literature and unwilling to give too much prominence to a figure who
so openly identified himself with Jewish themes.
For years, not a single painting hung in Belarussian museums and
Chagall was referred to in Soviet reference books as a French artist.
Chagall's Works Draw on Vitebsk Images
His dream of returning to his native town, 250 km (155 miles) east of
the capital Minsk, without going through the humiliating process of
securing a Soviet visa was never realized before his death in 1985,
the year Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.
Many of Chagall's works illustrate the daily lives and traditions of
Jews in Vitebsk, including vividly colored canvases in which the
dividing line is blurred between reality and fantasy.
He often tried to depict daily life as seen through the eyes of
devout Jews. Synagogues, weddings and rural scenes abound.
Chagall was lionized in many Western countries, with his works
featuring in the Paris Opera House and the Grand Metropolitan in New
York.
With the advent of Gorbachev's perestroika reforms and the eventual
collapse of Soviet rule in 1991, the artist's mastery gradually
became recognized in his homeland.
In Vitebsk, that took the form of setting up a museum dedicated to
his work and the opening to the public two years ago of the home
where he spent most of his early years.
Both the museum and his old home are located in what was once a
thriving Jewish quarter of old wooden houses and cobbled streets.
"With the advent of the museum and his home we now get plenty of
visitors, people who are interested in seeing his works," said museum
director Ludmilla Khmelnitskaya.
But as for the missing pieces, she said she had never even set eyes
on them. ( (c) 1998 Reuters)
France publishes catalogue of art Nazis stole
PARIS, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The French foreign ministry published on
Monday a catalogue of 171 Dutch and Flemish paintings, including works
by Rubens and Rembrandt, that were stolen by the Nazis during World
War Two and never recovered.
The catalogue, issued three weeks before a conference in Washington
on the restitution of Holocaust-era assets, featured black-and-white
pictures of the Schloss collection reputed to be one of the best of
its kind in France.
Art patron Adolphe Schloss ammassed a collection of 333 paintings
which ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret called ``the last of the
great collections of Dutch art assembled in France in the 19th
century.''
Left to his wife Lucie at his death, the collection was stored in a
country chateau for safe keeping after she died in 1939. Soon after
Germany occupied France in mid-1940, German agents began searching
for the paintings to transfer them to the giant art museum Hitler
wanted to build in Linz.
SS and Gestapo agents finally found the paintings in 1943 and
prepared to send them to Germany. The Louvre museum was able to retain
49 pieces and 22 others were sold to a collector named Buittenweg who
was never traced after the war.
Most of the remaining works were sent to Linz, where some were
recovered after the war.
The foreign ministry said experts were examining several paintings in
museums outside France to see whether they were among the missing 171
paintings.
``The catalogue of the unrecovered works serves a two-fold purpose --
to aid heirs in their search for lost works and also prevent any
future purchasers from unwittingly buying stolen goods and being
confronted with legal problems,'' the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry has printed 5,000 copies of the catalogue, which will be
distributed to art museums and galleries around the world, and will
soon be reproduced on the ministry's World Wide Web site, it said.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.
From: "Ken V." Kenmtb1@email.msn.com
To: securma@xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: Security, query about motion detector (Barbara
Batson)
-----Original Message-----
From: securma@xs4all.nl securma@xs4all.nl
To: Museum Security Mailinglist securma@xs4all.nl
Date: Sunday, November 08, 1998 4:42 AM
Subject: NOVEMBER 8, 1998
- Security, query about motion detector (Barbara Batson)
Reply from Ken Vail:
An electric eye beam or light curtain arrangement with a local alarm
might work, depending upon the physical layout & arrangement of the
exhibit. I assume that there is a guard/security response that will
investigate upon alarm notification.
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