Guggenheim relatives lose French court case over art treasures in Peggy Guggenheim museum

Peggy Guggenheim died 36 years ago, used her inherited fortune to amass an impressive collection of contemporary art.

PARIS (AFP).- The descendants of heiress and art collector Peggy Guggenheim lost their case in a French court Wednesday over her extensive collection of works housed in an 18th century palace on Venice's Grand Canal.

The French branch of the family launched legal action against the New York-based Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, which manages the collection. The relatives are angry at the way the collection of paintings by artists including Picasso, Miro and Matisse are displayed and have called for it to be restored to its original configuration.

One of Peggy's grandsons, Sandro Rumney, and other family members complain that works from other collectors are now being displayed at the Palazzo, diluting the quality of the collection. In the original hearing in May, lawyer Olivier Morice said the family felt moved to take the action "to respect the wishes of Peggy Guggenheim to see the collection intact". But the Court of Appeal in Paris rejected the family members' case and ordered them to pay 30,000 euros ($33,500) in legal costs.

Peggy Guggenheim built up the collection with the enormous wealth she inherited at the age of 13 when her metal tycoon father Benjamin went down on the Titanic. She came to live in Paris in the 1920s, befriending many of the artists whose works are in her collection. She died in 1979 at the age of 81.

The Guggenheim Foundation hailed the court's decision, saying in statement it is "proud of having honoured the wishes of Peggy Guggenheim for more than 30 years, by keeping her collection intact in the restored Palazzo museum and by contributing to the knowledge of modern and contemporary art in Italy."

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© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

FBI announces return of painting by Krzysztof Lubieniecki believed looted by Nazis during WWII

"Portrait of a Young Man" by Polish painter Krzysztof Lubieniecki.

COLUMBUS, OH.- Special Agent in Charge Angela L. Byers of the Cincinnati Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today that the painting Portrait of a Young Man by Polish painter Krzysztof Lubieniecki has been returned to officials with the government of Poland. The work of art is believed to have been looted by Nazi soldiers from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. “We are honored to return this painting to the Polish government and the National Museum,” stated Special Agent in Charge Byers. “This was truly a cooperative effort among the U.S. government and our international partners to ensure this work of art was returned to its homeland.”

The painting Portrait of a Young Man is purported to have been taken by the Nazis along with other artwork from the National Museum in Poland in October 1944. From there, the Nazis reportedly took the artwork to a palace in Austria. The Portrait of a Young Man was apparently later discovered by a U.S. serviceman while in Austria. The soldier is believed to have brought the artwork to the United States after his service abroad. Years after the former serviceman’s death, the painting was sold to innocent purchasers in the Columbus, Ohio area, where it remained for many years. In recent years, a relative of the former serviceman who was conducting family genealogy research came across photos of the painting. Upon further research, it was learned that the painting was taken from the National Museum and the relative made efforts to contact Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Upon learning of the historic rights of the painting, the possessors agreed to return the work to Poland.

During a brief repatriation ceremony in the FBI’s Columbus Resident Agency, the painting was turned over to officials with the Polish Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage. The Ministry’s Division for Looted Art works to gather information on cultural property lost as a result of World War II. The agency also searches for and recovers this lost cultural property when it is located in Poland and abroad. The painting, entitled Portrait of a Young Man, was created around 1728 by Polish artist Krzysztof Lubieniecki (1659-1729). Lubieniecki was a Polish Baroque painter and engraver active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. SAC Byers thanked the FBI’s Warsaw Legal Attaché and the FBI’s Art Crime Team, including Special Agents assisting from the Chicago Field Office, for their work locating this piece of art and determining its historical significance.


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Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier charged in France with stealing Picasso works of art

Rybolovlev is considered the world's 160th wealthiest person according to Forbes, with a fortune estimated at $8.5 billion (7.6 billion euros). AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHE.

PARIS (AFP).- Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier was charged Monday by a Paris court with stealing paintings by Pablo Picasso, a charge he categorically denied. The 52-year-old, under investigation for repeated theft, must hand over 27 million euros ($31 million) in caution money -- the sum said to have been paid by Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev for two Picasso masterpieces, including "Woman with Fan", and 58 drawings.

The investigation was opened after a complaint in March by Catherine Hutin-Blay, the iconic painter's step-daughter. She claimed, after a Brazilian restoration expert raised the alarm, that several artworks that belonged to her had been stolen.

Two years earlier, the expert had been commissioned to restore and prepare artworks by Picasso for use as murals using a technique known as marouflage. The artworks he was told to restore were part of a collection owned by 68-year-old Hutin-Blay, who believed they were in storage in Gennevilliers near Paris since 2008. But once they were restored, the paintings were taken to a Swiss company owned by Bouvier to be put on show and sold to Rybolovlev -- the majority owner and president of French football club AS Monaco.

In a statement on Monday Bouvier denied any wrongdoing, and said he handed over to the court proof that the artworks he sold to Rybolovlev had been "bought from a trust presented as being that of Catherine Hutin-Blay". The name of the art dealer whom Bouvier claims sold him the Picasso paintings and drawings "has been transmitted to the judge Rich-Flament, but won't be publicly released by Yves Bouvier", the statement said.

Hutin-Blay challenged Bouvier's defence, claiming in a statement she "never consented or received payment for the sales of 'Woman's Head', 'Woman with a Fan' or the 58 drawings". She added that she does not know Bouvier. Bouvier earlier this year had millions of euros worth of assets frozen after he was sued for fraud by none other than the Russian tycoon Rybolovlev.

Singapore's highest court unfroze Bouvier's assets in August, with the dealer rejecting allegations he had inflated the price of 38 artworks. Bouvier operates vaults in Singapore and Luxembourg where wealthy clients can store their art and other valuables.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

Islamic State group publishes images of Palmyra's Baal Shamin temple destruction

Smoke rises from an explosion that destroyed the Temple of Baalshamin in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra.

BEIRUT.- The Islamic State group on Tuesday published images showing the destruction of the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's Palmyra, after international condemnation of the act. The series of images showed militants placing barrels and small containers, presumably containing explosives, into the temple, as well as similar containers placed on parts of its columns. The images, which appeared to be screenshots from a video, also showed a large explosion apparently as the temple was blown up, and then a pile of rubble at its former location.

The temple was reportedly destroyed on Sunday and news of its demolition sparked international condemnation. The head of the UN's cultural watchdog, Irina Bokova, called the act a "new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity." Palmyra ancient ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site and IS's capture of the town on May 21 raised concerns the group would lay waste to it as it has done with heritage sites under its control elsewhere.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

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Italian "Flowers" painting damaged in Taiwan could be a fake: Expert Sean Hu

Organisers said the "Flowers" painting, which forms part of a collection of 55 artworks in Taipei, was by Italian artist Paolo Porpora and dated back to the 1600s.

TAIPEI (AFP).- Doubts emerged Wednesday over the authenticity of an Italian painting supposedly worth $1.5 mn, which hit headlines after a 12-year-old boy punched a hole through it as he tripped and fell during an exhibition in Taiwan. Organisers said the "Flowers" painting, which forms part of a collection of 55 artworks in Taipei, was by Italian artist Paolo Porpora and dated back to the 1600s. But a report in Taiwan's Apple Daily said the painting seemed identical to an artwork entitled "Composizione con vaso di fiori," a 17th-century piece by Mario Nuzzi, which was listed in the 2012 catalogue of the Della Rocca Casa d'Aste auction house, with a guide price of 25,000 to 30,000 euros ($28,700-$34,000). The work went unsold.

David Sun, head of TST Art of Discovery Co which sponsored the Taiwan exhibition, insisted that the two paintings were different, without going into details. His defence of the show, however, has failed to quell suspicions from professionals and the media. "From a professional's perspective, if the paintings are so old and expensive, they should not have been exposed to an environment without constant temperature and humidity," curator Sean Hu of Taipei-based Hu's Art Company told AFP. "There are too many questions about it.... No one knows if the paintings are genuine or fake."

Video footage released by the organisers shows the boy on Sunday tripping over a platform in front of the artwork and then bracing himself against the painting to break his fall. He then looks around helplessly before walking away. The 200-centimetre painting was restored on site Monday and is now back on display. The organisers decided not to seek damages from the boy's family, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. A self-portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci worth 200 million euros ($231 million) is also on display, according to the exhibition's website.

© 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking: FBI warns Dealers, Collectors about Terrorist Loot

Satellite imagery of Dura Europos, a 150-acre site in Syria dating to 300 B.C., shows as it appeared in 2014 covered by looters’ pits.

WASHINGTON, DC.- The FBI is alerting art collectors and dealers to be particularly careful trading Near Eastern antiquities, warning that artifacts plundered by terrorist organizations such as ISIL are entering the marketplace. “We now have credible reports that U.S. persons have been offered cultural property that appears to have been removed from Syria and Iraq recently,” said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, manager of the FBI’s Art Theft Program. The Bureau is asking U.S. art and antiquities market leaders to spread the word that preventing illegally obtained artifacts from reaching the market helps stem the transfer of funds to terrorists.

In a single-page document titled ISIL Antiquities Trafficking, the FBI asks leaders in the field to disseminate the following message: · Please be cautious when purchasing items from this region. Keep in mind that antiquities from Iraq remain subject to Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions under the Iraq Stabilization and Insurgency Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 576). · Purchasing an object looted and/or sold by the Islamic State may provide financial support to a terrorist organization and could be prosecuted under 18 USC 233A. ·Robust due diligence is necessary when purchasing any Syrian or Iraqi antiquities or other cultural property in the U.S. or when purchasing elsewhere using U.S. funds.

In February, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2199, which obligates member states to take steps to prevent terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria from receiving donations and from benefiting from trade in oil, antiquities, and hostages. As part of a broad U.S. government response, the Department of State this spring published satellite imagery showing industrial-level looting at Syrian and Iraqi archaeological sites. In a May raid against the now deceased ISIL finance chief Abu Sayyaf in Syria, U.S. Special Operations Forces recovered a significant cache of archaeological and historical objects and fragments. According to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, “The cache represents significant primary evidence of looting at archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, theft from regional museums, and the stockpiling of these spoils for likely sale on the international market.”

The looted materials, which were returned to the Iraq National Museum, included coins, pottery, glass, ivory, stone, jewelry, figurines, bowls, and manuscripts. Types of objects subject to looting appear in the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) Red Lists of antiquities at risk posted on the State Department website. Here, collectors and dealers can view and learn to recognize the kinds of objects that have been looted from cultural sites, stolen from museums and churches, and illicitly trafficked. Syria and Iraq each have emergency Red Lists. The significance of valuable cultural antiquities as currency to ISIL was brought into sharp relief earlier this month in Palmyra, Syria—a UNESCO World Heritage site dating to the second millennium B.C.—with the public execution of a Syrian art scholar who reportedly refused to reveal to ISIL the location of valuable antiquities.

In the U.S., meanwhile, buyers may want to consult the Red Lists and should pay special attention to an object’s origin. Buyers should ask many questions such as: Where did this come from? When did it come into the country? Does it have an export license from the country of origin? “Check and verify provenance, importation, and other documents,” said Magness-Gardiner. “You have to be very careful when you’re buying. We don’t want to say don’t buy anything at all. There’s a lot of legitimate material circulating in the marketplace. What we’re trying to say is, don’t allow these pieces that could potentially support terrorism to be part of the trade.”

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Famed Russian art 'at risk' after Uzbek museum head Marinika Babanazarova fired

Staff say her firing was "illegal" signing an open letter of protest that was posted on Facebook which alleges Babanazarova was forced out and flatly denying allegations that she had stolen works from the collection.

ALMATY (AFP).- A world-renowned collection of avant-garde Russian art housed in a remote museum in Uzbekistan may be at risk after the director was abruptly fired on allegedly trumped-up charges of theft, staff say. The alarm was raised by staff working at the Savitsky Karakalpkstan Museum who claim the director, Marinika Babanazarova, was forced to resign over allegations she had stolen works of art. But the staff insist that nothing has been stolen from the state-run museum, which is located in the remote city of Nukus some 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Tashkent and houses more than 50,000 pieces of Soviet-era avant-garde art.

They claim the move to oust Babanazarova, which has not been confirmed by the Uzbek authorities, is part of a ploy by officials to seize control of its valuable collection which has won world renown. Among the artists included in the collection are the famous cubo-futurist and suprematist Lyubov Popova, and other celebrated avant-garde painters from the first half of the 20th century such as Alexander Shevchenko and Robert Falk. Staff say her firing was "illegal" signing an open letter of protest that was posted on Facebook which alleges Babanazarova was forced out and flatly denying allegations that she had stolen works from the collection.

They said the allegations had been laid out in an anonymous letter published by the Uzbek media. And they insisted the collection was untouched. "The whole collection is intact and safe," the letter said. "It seems there are people for whom it is profitable to shame the good name of the director of the museum and her staff, now that the collection of the Savitsky museum has obtained worldwide fame," the staff wrote, demanding an investigation by the culture ministry.

The museum's founder, Russian artist Igor Savitsky, settled in Uzbekistan in the 1950s and began amassing works of art that ran contrary to state-endorsed Socialist Realist art, largely using funds from the local authorities. He opened the museum in 1966. The museum's remote location meant that its collection was largely forgotten for decades but it was rediscovered in the post-Soviet era and has become a must-see for art lovers. When Savitsky died in 1984, Babanazarova took over as director of the museum, which maintained its independence despite officially belonging to the Uzbek state. It is not the first time Babanazarova has been targeted before by the Uzbek authorities. Four years ago, they prevented her leaving to attend the screening of a documentary on the Savitsky collection in the United States.

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