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December 20, 1998

CONTENTS:

- Museum Security Network and mailinglist two years on line
- Iraq says museum, college came under U.S. attack
- Stolen pictures returned to Ukraine from Britain
- UKPounds:1m Shakespeare folio stolen in university raid
- Suspended term for activist (The Press, New Zealand)
- Doubts raised on Monet plaque (Walter Robinson)
- 1954 The Hague Convention website (John Piper)
- Smithsonian note (Jonathan Sazonoff)
- 25th Annual International Conference on Museum Security (ICMS)


Museum Security Network and mailinglist two years on line

This month two years ago the MSN began it's activities on the WWW. We have seen a continuous growth of the site and the mailinglist. At the moment we have some 550 subscribers. There are very few unsubscribe messages. People seem to appreciate the information offered. Off list I have received numerous friendly supporting e-mails. At the moment the website has some 200 hits per day. We expect to reach the magic 50.000 number before the end of this year. Some of the list's subscribers have been very active the past two years. I would like to mention their names but am afraid to forget anybody.....
All together there are plenty of reasons to continue, and I will! I do hope all of you will stay with us during the last exiting year of this century.
Ton Cremers

Iraq says museum, college came under U.S. attack

08:20 a.m. Dec 18, 1998 Eastern
BAGHDAD, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday that a museum and a pharmacology college in Baghdad were among the targets of U.S.-led military strikes against the capital. ``Buildings of the Natural History Museum and the College of Pharmacology were hit during the uncivilised missile attacks against Baghdad on Thursday night,'' the official Iraqi News Agency INA reported. A source at Baghdad University told INA that U.S. cruise missile strikes had caused ``heavy damage'' against the two buildings and other colleges, a medical centre and female students hostels. The source said the pharmacology college would be closed for several days until debris caused by the attack were cleared. The museum will be also closed, he added. INA said the two buidings were inside a complex belonging to Baghdad University. ``This complex which includes colleges and educational institutions was shelled yesterday,'' Minister of Higher Education Abduljabbar Tawfiq Mohammed told Reuters Television.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

Stolen pictures returned to Ukraine from Britain

06:28 a.m. Dec 18, 1998 Eastern
KIEV, Dec 18 (Reuters) -
Two rare paintings stolen from a local museum have been returned to Ukraine from Britain, thanks to joint action by Interpol and British police, a Ukrainian police official said on Friday. ``Scotland Yard handed over the pictures to officials from Ukraine's culture ministry in London,'' Viktor Krivorochko, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told Reuters. ``The two pictures, painted in 1612 and 1846, returned to Ukraine on Thursday.'' The official DINAU news agency said the works by Dutch and French painters, stolen from a museum in Poltava in eastern Ukraine in March last year, had been discovered in the British city of Manchester. DINAU quoted Deputy Culture Minister Leonid Novokhatko as saying the estimated auction value of the pictures was $1.65 million. ``But the pictures are in fact invaluable as they belong to Ukraine's national heritage,'' Novokhatko said.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.

UKPounds:1m Shakespeare folio stolen in university raid

By Nigel Bunyan and Will Bennett
A RARE 17th-century edition of Shakespeare's first folio, regarded by academics as the most important book in the English language, has been stolen from a library within the grounds of Durham University. The goatskin-bound edition, published in 1623 and valued at around UKPounds:1 million, was one of seven books stolen from the Bishop Cosin Library, which stands a few yards from the city's cathedral. Under normal circumstances it would have been retained in the library's strongroom. However, since August it had been displayed in a glass cabinet as the focal point of an exhibition of English literature. Although night security is rigorous, during the day researchers are allowed free access to the library. Security staff do not search visitors and none reported anyone behaving suspiciously as they left. Police believe the removal of all seven books from a research reading room may have gone undetected for several days, since those responsible used light-protective cloths to cover up the two cabinets they had broken into with a jemmy. The English literature exhibition had been due to close on Friday of last week but was extended until Tuesday evening to allow delegates at a visiting conference to view it. Staff noticed the thefts only on Thursday, when they began to clear the exhibition in time for the Christmas break. Beth Rainey, who has looked after the collection for the past 30 years, said yesterday: "I am devastated. The Shakespeare folio is an extremely significant book for the North-East and for the country. It has been in single ownership since it was published and bought by John Cosin, the Bishop of Durham, between 1660 and 1672. It is irreplaceable." Miss Rainey, 55, the university's sub-librarian for special collections, said she could think of no legitimate market for the book. "It may be that someone wanted a very great book, or else that whoever has stolen it doesn't really know what they've got. We will obviously have to have a major review of our security. There is always a tension between security and use. We have a duty of curation, but at the same time books are for use. People do not normally walk around with a jemmy." The first folio is the definitive anthology of Shakespeare's plays, thereby providing the base for all subsequent collections. Dr Christopher de Hamel, director of Western manuscripts at Sotheby's, described it as "the most important printed book in the English language". He estimated that between 200 and 300 copies survived around the world, with more than 80 of these in Washington's Folker Shakespeare Library. The other books stolen were an early handwritten translation of the New Testament, completed in the late 14th or early 15th Century; a 15th-century manuscript that includes two handwritten stanzas of a Chaucer poem to the Blessed Virgin; two works by the 10th-century poet Aelfric, printed in 1566 and 1709; an 1815 edition of Beowulf; and a 1612 book of maps and poetry. Det Insp Andy Summerbell, of Durham Police, said his officers were pursuing a number of lines of inquiry. He added: "While it is possible that the crime was committed by local thieves it is very likely they would have identified a buyer for such a specialist haul." Antiquarian booksellers and collectors have been alerted to the theft, and police are issuing further appeals via the Internet. Last night a group of anonymous benefactors offered a UKPounds:5,000 reward for information leading either to the conviction of the thieves or the safe recovery of the books. Keith Seacroft, a spokesman for the university, said it was hoped that whoever had the books would realise they were be "virtually impossible" to sell on and would therefore hand them in to somewhere safe. Mr Seacroft said university staff were "shocked and distressed" by the theft. Mr Seacroft said: "These books are landmarks in the history of English literature, and we were obviously very shaken and upset to discover they had been taken. They were in a working area of the library, so we believe the thieves must have taken advantage of a few minutes when the room was not otherwise occupied." Ed Maggs, managing director of Maggs Bros, the leading London antiquarian book dealers, said: "These are the Crown Jewels of books and manuscripts. The scale of this is so big and the importance of these so great." The last Shakespeare first folio to be sold fetched UKPounds:1.2 million as part of a larger set of books in New York in 1989. But the folio alone would have probably sold for about UKPounds:900,000. Many of the surviving Shakespeare first folios are in museums and libraries and a copy in good condition is today worth about UKPounds:1 million.

Suspended term for activist (The Press, New Zealand)

AUCKLAND -- The Maori activist who admitted his role in the theft of the $1.2 million Colin McCahon painting Urewera Mural has been given a suspended prison sentence. Te Kaha, 40, appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday after admitting his role in the theft. Judge Stan Thorburn also ordered the Tuhoe activist to pay $10,000 towards the cost of the prosecution, to undertake 200 hours of community service, and to pay the $5326 cost of the painting's restoration by 4pm yesterday. The judge ordered that his 15-month prison term be suspended for two years. Te Kaha admitted breaking into the Department of Conservation's Aniwaniwa Visitor Centre at Lake Waikaremoana, in Hawkes Bay, and stealing the painting in June last year. Another Tuhoe man jointly charged with the theft, Laurie Davis, has denied a role and will stand trial in February. The damaged painting was restored at the Auckland Art Gallery, where restoration staff said that they were pleased with the result. The painting was scratched and dirty and had some creases which gallery staff hoped would flatten after it had been rehung for some time. Last month the head of the police team investigating the theft, Detective Inspector Graham Bell, said the police still believed a third man was involved. --NZPA

Doubts raised on Monet plaque

French 'whitewash' past, Zakim says

By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 12/19/98
The World Jewish Congress charged yesterday that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts used ''misleading'' language in a special label it applied a week ago to a Monet waterlily after the disclosure that the painting had probably been looted by the Nazis from the collection of a French Jew. The MFA was eager to add more complete information to the label, only to have the wording vetoed by the French government, which had loaned the artwork to the MFA for its ''Monet in the 20th Century'' exhibition, according to Leonard Zakim, the New England director of the Anti-Defamation League. Zakim, who was consulted by the MFA on the issue, said the language that the French deemed acceptable ''whitewashes history.'' He said a more detailed flier that the MFA produced separately contains language that is ''acceptable.'' Among the issues is a claim in the special label that the French had exhibited and loaned the painting over the years ''in order to facilitate its identification.'' As the Globe has reported, the French government took virtually no steps over several decades to seek the owners of - or even publicize - the Monet and about 2,000 other artworks that were recovered from the Nazis after World War II and returned to France. The artworks have long since been scattered among France's public museums, and the French government has refused to open its classified files on the artworks. When the MFA exhibition opened in September, the only clue to the painting's fate was the notation, on its label, that it had been ''recovered after World War II.'' The Globe disclosed on Nov. 30 that the Monet was part of the plundered collection of French dealer Paul Rosenberg, and that it spent the war years in an illicit art collection maintained by Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. That week, Rosenberg's heirs filed a formal claim in Paris seeking return of the Monet. Elan Steinberg, the executive director of the World Jewish Congress, complained in a letter sent yesterday to MFA director Malcolm Rogers that the new label is ''misleading and incomplete.'' While the label notes that France made restitution on 45,000 artworks to their owners after the war, Steinberg wrote, it omits the fact that 13,000 other artworks were auctioned by the French government, which kept the money. ''Most troubling, however, is the statement that the Monet had been lent out `in order to facilitate its identification,''' Steinberg wrote. ''Indeed, if identification were the real purpose, why didn't the MFA simply indicate originally that the painting had been stolen by the Nazis and [the MFA was] displaying it `in order to facilitate its identification.''' Kelly Gifford, an MFA spokeswoman, said Rogers was traveling and had not seen the World Jewish Congress letter. But she said that the Anti-Defamation League had agreed to the wording on the label. Zakim, however, said Gifford was wrong. Instead, he said he and other members of the ADL board, at a meeting with Rogers two weeks ago, proposed more complete language. ''Malcolm Rogers didn't take two breaths before he said `Yes,''' Zakim said late yesterday. ''We found the MFA totally receptive and responsive.'' But the French government objected. ''They refused to agree to the more detailed language that included the historical context,'' Zakim said, and the MFA informed him the French had the final say. As a result, ''the plaque doesn't quite make it. It is most noteworthy for its omissions. It whitewashes history from the French side,'' Zakim said. Last night, Gifford again contradicted Zakim, insisting that while the French government was consulted on the wording, the final decision on what to say rested with the MFA. Steinberg, in his letter, urged Rogers to make changes in the label, even though the exhibition closes Dec. 27. ''I am sure you agree that the historical record of these traumatic events - the greatest assault and dislocation of Western cultural objects ever undertaken - demands no less,'' he wrote. In an interview, Steinberg said the labels, both the original and its replacement, are ''disgraceful, incomplete and, in part, false.'' A casual reader of the new label, he said sarcastically, ''would want to applaud the fine job the French Ministry of Culture and the MFA have done.'' Zakim, for his part, said the MFA has been cooperative, and has even signaled its interest in an ADL suggestion that it host a conference on Nazi-looted art next year. ''The real onus here is on the French to come clean,'' said Zakim. The French, he said, have been rightly criticized for a lack of due diligence on the homeless artworks. After the Monet exhibition concludes, it is scheduled to travel to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Although Rosenberg's heirs have agreed to allow its exhibition in London, the French government has decided to have the painting returned to France amid expectations that its appearance in London would be a further embarrassment to France.
This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 12/19/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.

From: J Piper JPIPER3@compuserve.com
Subject:

1954 The Hague Convention

I have just published a web page on the 1954 The Hague Convention and the United States failure to adopt it. It contains a resource page with on-line links and bibliographic resources on cultural property for anyone conducting research in that area. This is my first attempt at a web page and may be rough, but the information is very useful.
The page's address is
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/5697/
if anyone on the list is interested. If you have any questions about the site or subject feel free to email me at jpiper3@compuserve.comand I will be glad to get back on it.
Happy Holidays to all,
John Piper

From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject:

Smithsonian note

Dear Subscribers,
Just returned from Washington D.C. The trip allowed me an opportunity to visit with the Smithsonian Institution's staff. Thousands of employees, millions of objects, and so many facilities, it's an impressive operation. Indeed without a "US Ministry of Culture" the Smithsonian has taken on much of that mantel. Their Office of Protective Services is equally impressive. Armed officers, US Marshals included, stand watch over the national collection. We seem to be in good hands. My thanks to David Liston (Smithsonian & ICOM) for his hospitality and insights. He has edited a valuable book for the field - Museum Security and Protection, a handbook for cultural heritage institutions (see Museum Security Network - Publications also found at Barns And Noble Booksellers) http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2IBX0IB3LQ&mscssid=LLP29VNLJNSH2PBE00LHRV18M8W6NXPW&pcount=&isbn=0415075092
Also, as a side trip, I saw the National Gallery's Van Gogh Exhibit. The staff was gracious but the mob scene of "blockbuster shows" made me pine for the days of smaller crowds (yes, I was a museum guard years ago). Again, thanks to all those who so warmly received me.
Jonathan Sazonoff
Pres. Saz Productions Inc.
www.saztv.com

http://www.getty.edu/gateway/99securityconf/

25th Annual International Conference on Museum Security (ICMS)

Cultural Property Protection from the Ground Up

March 7-11, 1999
Los Angeles, California
Hosted by the J. Paul Getty Trust
Premier conference for cultural property security professionals. Plan now to attend ICMS '99 held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriot. Session topics focus on art loss, physical security, threat assessment, and more. Meet cultural security professionals from all around the world.
See the latest security products and services at the Technology Trade Show.
Enjoy security tours and special evening receptions at the Getty Center and Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, Chairperson's Dinner.


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