South Korea prosecutors say artist's 'fake' work is genuine

In this picture taken on December 19, 2016, members of the prosecutors' team hold a copy of the painting "Beautiful Woman" by Chun Kyung-Ja, which has been the focus of a bizarre, decades-long dispute over its authenticity, at the Prosecutors' Office in Seoul. A painting attributed to one of South Korea's most renowned artists has been declared genuine by state prosecutors, despite the insistence of the late artist herself that it was a fake. YONHAP / AFP.

SEOUL (AFP).- A painting attributed to one of South Korea's most renowned artists has been declared genuine by state prosecutors, despite the insistence of the late artist herself that it was a fake. The painting "Beautiful Woman" by Chun Kyung-Ja has been the focus of a bizarre, decades-long dispute over its authenticity, and Monday's announcement by the prosecutors looks unlikely to end the matter, with Chun's family vowing to pursue efforts to have it declared a forgery. Born in 1924 in a small town in the southern part of the Korean peninsula, Chun Kyung-Ja was best known for her paintings of female figures and flowers using vivid primary colours that broke with traditional South Korean styles.

Her works have recently sold at auction for between $700,000 and $1 million. Before her death last year at the age of 91, Chun had repeatedly insisted that "Beautiful Woman" -- a 1971 portrait owned by the South's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) -- was not one of hers. "Parents can recognise their children. That is not my painting," she insisted. The museum was equally adamant that it was, and in April a prosecutorial probe was launched after one of Chun's daughters filed a complaint, accusing former and current MMCA officials of hurting the artist's reputation by promoting the painting as authentic. But in their report on Monday, the prosecutors found in favour of the museum, citing forensic evidence and the opinion of local art experts.

They also clarified the provenance of the painting, saying it was once owned by the former head of the South Korean spy agency and was appropriated by the government after he was executed for assassinating then-president Park Chung-Hee in 1979. "We tried to uncover the truth by using all possible technologies available for authentic assessment of arts," a member of the prosecutors' team said. Chun's family on Tuesday rejected the conclusion and accused the prosecutors of seeking to help the state museum authorities save face.

"The prosecutors conspired with the MMCA to ignore the scientific opinion of a world-class imagery assessment firm and... produced this ridiculous result," the family's lawyer said in a statement. The statement referred to the French imagery analysis firm Lumiere Technology that had earlier estimated the possibility of the painting being authentic at less than 0.0002 percent. "We wonder if the prosecutors... caved in to political pressure," the statement said, adding that Lumiere Technology would hold a press conference in Paris on Wednesday to refute the prosecutors' findings.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/92593/South-Korea-prosecutors-say-artist-s--fake--work-is-genuine#.WFrqUH2k374

French museum employee sold stolen fossils online

ORLÉANS (AFP).- A French employee at the Orleans museum of natural history was found guilty and handed a three-month suspended sentence for stealing hundreds of stones and fossils dating back to the Neolithic era and selling them on eBay. The man was sacked on November 14, after being detained for the theft of 666 archaeological treasures from the museum in the city of Orleans, which is located to the south of Paris.

The 56-year-old museum employee had been a civil servant working for the city of Orleans for 28 years. The stolen stones and fossils were all part of a collection donated to the museum in 1983. Most of the items came from Mauritania. Investigators found 364 items at the employee's home. Another 100 were returned by their buyers -- after they purchased them on eBay for 10 to 20 euros each.

The elaborate scheme was discovered thanks to one of the buyers, who was keen to find out whether the pieces were authentic. Museum staff had noticed that parts of the collection had gone missing, and were able to identify the thief after the buyer contacted them. The museum has been shut for renovation since August 2015.

The man admitted his guilt, and told the judges that his "financial situation had become catastrophic" ever since his divorce in 2013. "I couldn't pay off my debts to the bank. I panicked at the thought of finding myself living on the streets, and of never seeing my children again. I lost my head," he said. While the museum had asked for 10,000 euros ($10,400) damages, the court ordered the employee to pay a symbolic sum of just one euro.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/92472/French-museum-employee-sold-stolen-fossils-online#.WFRW3FMrKUk

Court clears Swiss museum to inherit Nazi-era art hoard!

Christopher Marinello, lawyer representing the heirs of Paul Rosenberg, looking at Henri Matisse’s ‘Femme Assise’ ("Seated Woman") painting on May 15, 2015 in Munich, Germany. The painting, looted by the Nazis and found last year in a flat of Cornelius Gurlitt, son of a Nazi-era art dealer, was handed back to the Rosenberg family today. AFP PHOTO / ART RECOVERY / WOLF HEIDER-SAWALL.

MUNICH (AFP).- A German court Thursday threw out a challenge to the will of collector Cornelius Gurlitt, clearing the way for a spectacular Nazi-era art hoard found in his home to go to a Swiss museum. The superior regional court in the southern city of Munich ruled that collection, including pieces by Cezanne, Beckmann, Holbein, Delacroix and Munch, could be inherited by the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern. Gurlitt died in May 2014 aged 81 and named the museum as the sole heir of the hundreds of works, found in his cluttered Munich apartment and valued at millions of euros.

But a cousin, Uta Werner, challenged the will and staked a claim to the collection, arguing that Gurlitt was not mentally fit to stipulate what would happen with the art. The Munich tribunal rejected her argument. "An incapacity to make a will on the part of the deceased person at the time it was written has not been proved in the opinion of the court," it said in a statement. Gurlitt, described in media reports as an eccentric recluse, hid the paintings, drawings and sketches in his Munich home for decades and another 239 works at a house he owned in Salzburg, Austria.

His father was one of four art dealers during the Third Reich tasked by the Nazis with selling art stolen from Jews or confiscated as "degenerate" works. Although German authorities discovered the collection during a tax probe in 2012, they kept it under wraps for more than a year until it came to light in a magazine article. Gurlitt struck an agreement with the German government in April 2014 stipulating that any works that were plundered by the Nazis would be returned to their rightful owners and the Bern museum said it would honour that wish. But the heirs of collectors stripped of their assets by the Nazis, many of whom would later be killed in the death camps, have complained that restitution has been woefully slow in coming.

German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters welcomed the court's ruling, saying it provided needed "clarity" on the fate of the collection and would allow a planned joint exhibition of the works by the Bern museum and the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn next year to take place. "This decision will help us to continue to clarify the provenance of the trove quickly and transparently," she added.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/92462/Court-clears-Swiss-museum-to-inherit-Nazi-era-art-hoard#.WFRVbVMrKUk

Check out this story: "The mystery of the stolen Klimt." Will it be returned by the 20th anniversary of the theft? We shall see next February!

Click Here: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38242917

"The mystery of the stolen Klimt." By Max Paradiso Piacenza

Stefano Fugazza with Claudia Maga and the Portrait of a Lady before the theft

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38242917

Swiss seize artefacts looted from Syria's Palmyra

This file photo taken on March 27, 2016 shows a view of the remains of Arch of Triumph, also called the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, that was destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in October 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, after government troops recaptured the UNESCO world heritage site from the Islamic State (IS) group. Fifty-five sites out of a total of 1,052 heritage sites around the world, are currently on the UN cultural organisation's list of World Heritage in Danger. Maher AL MOUNES / AFP.

GENEVA (AFP).- Swiss authorities said Friday they had seized cultural relics looted from Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, as well as from Libya and Yemen, which were being stored in Geneva's free ports. The free ports provide highly secured warehouses where basically anything can be stashed tax-free with few questions asked. The confiscated objects, from the third and fourth centuries, include a head of Aphrodite and two funereal bas-reliefs.

Most of the items reached Switzerland via Qatar and were taken by looters, Geneva's public prosecutor said in a statement. They were deposited at the free ports in 2009 and 2010 and the alarm was first raised in April 2013 during a customs inspection, prosecutors added. It was not immediately clear when they were seized. The customs office contacted the cultural authorities in Bern whose expert confirmed the artefacts were genuine, prompting the start of criminal proceedings in February. Three of the pieces came from Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site devastated by Islamic State group jihadists who seized it in May 2015. The Islamists sent shock waves around the world as they systematically destroyed the central city's monuments. Five of the confiscated objects were from Yemen.

Last year the UN cultural agency placed two ancient cities in conflict-torn Yemen, Sanaa and Shibam, on its list of endangered World Heritage sites. UNESCO said Sanaa, known for its many Islamic sites and multi-storey rammed earth houses, "sustained serious damage due to armed conflict" between Iran-backed rebels and the beleaguered Saudi-supported government. The Aphrodite relic was from Libya and characterised "the Hellenisation of north Africa" the statement said. While awaiting return to their countries of origin the archaeological contraband is being looked after by the Geneva Museum of Art and History where the relics will be put on public display. Last month French Finance Minister Michel Sapin complained that Swiss, and other, free ports were a "weak link" in countering terrorist financing.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/92148/Swiss-seize-artefacts-looted-from-Syria-s-Palmyra-#.WEWgGLIrKUk

Van Gogh Museum rules out debate over 'lost' notebook

A man leafs through the pages of a book of drawings from Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh at the architecture academy in Paris on November 15, 2016. JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP.

THE HAGUE (AFP).- Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum ruled out Tuesday a public debate over the authenticity of a book of sketches that an art historian has said belonged to the Dutch impressionist. Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, a University of Toronto academic, has declared the apparent find to be "the most revolutionary discovery" in the history of Van Gogh's work. But the Dutch museum says the sketches, said to be from the artist's stay in the French city of Arles, are fake. Welsh-Ovcharov's French publishers Le Seuil reproduced the drawings earlier this month in a book titled "Vincent Van Gogh, the fog of Arles: the rediscovered sketchbook."

The art historian says the drawings came from the Cafe de la Gare in Arles -- where Van Gogh stayed -- which "records that on May 20, 1890 Dr Felix Rey (who had treated Van Gogh's severed ear) visited the cafe on behalf of the artist" and left a large book of drawings. But the museum, which has already sought answers directly from the publisher, said that an open debate would not be helpful. "We will need to have all the hard facts first.

"We therefore call on the publisher and the author to provide a clear and open response to all our comments, to all the issues in need of clarification and to the questions raised," it said. "Until they have, we see no point in a scholarly debate and our contribution to the discussion ends here: we will no longer respond to further questions."

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/92059/Van-Gogh-Museum-rules-out-debate-over--lost--notebook#.WD9AM7IrKUk

Dutch National Museum of Ethnology says ancient Mixtec skull a forgery

The museum bought the piece in 1963 for the equivalent of around $20,000 (19,000 euros) and was seen as a striking example of ancient Mesoamerican art.

THE HAGUE (AFP).- An 800-year-old Mexican skull decorated with turquoise mosaic, for decades believed to have been a masterpiece of Mixtec indigenous art is a forgery, a Dutch museum and media said Saturday. The National Museum of Ethnology in the western university city of Leiden made the shock discovery after an intensive four-year study on the skull, one of only around 20 in existence world-wide. "Radiometric dating showed the skull and the turquoise are from the correct time period and origin and are authentic," the museum said on its website. "But alas: further investigation showed a 20th-century glue was used (to mount the mosaic)," the museum said.

The teeth are also false "as it was too well preserved for a skull that lay underground for centuries," Dutch daily Trouw reported. The museum bought the piece in 1963 for the equivalent of around $20,000 (19,000 euros) and was seen as a striking example of ancient Mesoamerican art. An investigation into possible skull-duggery was launched after the museum's conservator Martin Berger received a telephone call back in 2010 from a French colleague in Marseille, Trouw said.

The colleague told Berger they received a similar skull from a private collection and that person who donated the art had doubts about its authenticity. Berger and his colleagues travelled to a Paris-based laboratory where the Dutch-owned skull was analysed and where "we realised that ours was also a bit more 'modern' than we thought". Berger told the paper he suspected the fake was mounted by a Mexican dentist back in the 1940s or 1950s, when Mexican archeological sites were subjected to large-scale plunder and dealing in artworks like those of the Mixtecs was a lucrative business.

Asked whether he was disappointed by the revelation, Berger told the newspaper: "No." "In actual fact it's given us a bizarre story and that's exactly what museums want to do, to tell stories. "It remains as one of our masterpieces -- except, we've changed the information on the sign board." In any case, said Berger, the skull is only a "partial forgery". "The skull as well as the turquoise are unique archaeological material. Only, the Mixtecs themselves didn't do the glueing," he said. Similar Central American crystal skulls housed in museums in Paris, London and Washington, D.C. believed to have been pre-Colombian, were revealed to be fake in a scientific study published in 2008.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91965/Dutch-National-Museum-of-Ethnology-says-ancient-Mixtec-skull-a-forgery#.WD2ipLIrKUk

Statue of the Virgin Mary, damaged and decapitated by the Islamic State group (IS)

A member of the Iraqi Christian forces Kataeb Babylon (Babylon Brigades), wearing a bandana with an inscription saying "Here I am, O Mary", stands guard carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle by the statue of the Virgin Mary, damaged and decapitated by the Islamic State group (IS), in the Mar Benham Syriac Catholic monastery in the town of Khidr Ilyas, southeast of Mosul, on November 22, 2016. Iraqi fighters battling to oust the Islamic State group from Mosul captured the Catholic Mar Benham monastery on November 20, allowing its priests to return. Dating back to the fourth century AD, the monastery lies just 30 kilometres south of Iraq's second city which became a bastion of the jihadist group which swept across northern Iraq in 2014. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

http://artdaily.com/?date=11/23/2016&bfd=0

Too good to be true? Too Gogh or Not to Gogh?

Experts are currently at war over whether this 'lost' Vincent Van Gogh notebook is real?! Please check out this article link to learn more: http://artdaily.com/news/91646/Experts-war-over-whether--lost--Vincent-Van-Gogh-notebook-is-real#.WCzN67IrKUk

This picture taken on November 15, 2016, shows a book of drawings from Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh displayed during a press conference at the architecture academy in Paris. JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP. Article: by Fiachra Gibbons / with Jo Biddle in The Hague

Sotheby's to offer rediscovered Frida Kahlo painting!!!!

Sotheby’s to offer Niña Con Collar on 22 November. Estimate: $1.5 / 2 million. Photo: Sotheby's.

NEW YORK, NY.- On 22 November Sotheby’s will offer a remarkable Frida Kahlo portrait, the whereabouts of which have been unknown for decades. The only record of Niña Con Collar has been a black-and-white photograph taken by the artist’s friend Lola Álvarez Bravo who documented her early works. That picture was used as the work’s catalogue raisonné entry and has been the only documentation of the painting until now. In the summer of 2016 the work surfaced when Sotheby’s was approached by a former personal assistant of Kahlo’s who had been given the work as a keepsake by Diego Rivera the year after Kahlo’s death in 1954. Niña Con Collar will be offered as part of the Latin America: Modern Art sale with an estimate of $1.5 / 2 million.

Axel Stein, Sotheby’s Head of Latin American Art, commented: “I have known Niña Con Collar since 1988 when I saw the black and white photograph in the newly published catalogue raisonné. I never imagined it would surface and turn out to be such a beautiful and warm painting.”

With the subject’s direct stare from under her spreading monobrow and the rigid symmetry of a frontal pose, Niña Con Collar immediately recalls some of the artist’s most celebrated paintings. Indeed, with those elements as well as her dress and jewelry, Niña con collar is nothing less than the seed of many self-portraits that Kahlo will produce thereafter in her signature style.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91650/Sotheby-s-to-offer-rediscovered-Frida-Kahlo-painting#.WCzN_7IrKUk

Rome in shock as another historic landmark vandalised

A man takes a picture of the Elephant statue. ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP.

ROME (AFP).- Police in Rome are examining CC-TV footage in a bid to identify vandals who damaged one of the city's most famous pieces of public sculpture, Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk. The landmark work, tucked away in a little square near the Pantheon, features an elephant carrying the obelisk on its back and was first placed in the Piazza della Minerva in the 17th Century.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini oversaw the sculpture of the elephant, which had the tip of its left trunk broken off in the overnight incident. The elephant was commissioned by the then pope, Alexander VII, to support an obelisk from ancient Egypt that had only recently been excavated. The damage to the Bernini elephant comes after fans of Dutch football club Feyenoord caused outrage in February 2015 by damaging a fountain created by the sculptor that stands at the bottom of Rome's fabled Spanish Steps.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91656/Rome-in-shock-as-another-historic-landmark-vandalised#.WCzOErIrKUk

Austria busts gang selling fake Picassos

Portrait photograph of Pablo Picasso, 1908.

VIENNA (AFP).- Austrian police said Monday that they have busted a gang allegedly trying to sell off forgeries of famous artists such as Pablo Picasso for millions of euros (dollars). The six men were arrested in a hotel room near Vienna airport as they tried to pass off five Picasso paintings for 50 million euros ($55 million), police said. The buyer was in fact a police officer in disguise. Police commandos arrested the five Austrians and one Slovenian "in case they were armed," a statement said.

Subsequent raids in homes and cars found 14 fakes complete with forged artists' signatures and counterfeit certificates of authenticity signed by Picasso's son. Police also recovered 66 other works purported to be by 40 famous artists including Claude Monet and Gustav Klimt at the home of the Slovenian suspect. The arrests took place earlier this year but were only announced on Monday. The men, now on bail, said they believed the works were genuine, police said.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91435/Austria-busts-gang-selling-fake-Picassos#.WCIFrC0rKUk

Pablo Picasso's widow may have hidden artworks from son, court told

Claude Picasso, son of late Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, waits before for the appeal trial of Pierre Le Guennec (not pictured), accused of receiving stolen goods after being found in possession of paintings by Picasso, at the court in Aix-en-Provence, southeastern France on October 31, 2016. Le Guennec, a former electrician, and his wife were convicted to two years suspended sentence for receiving stolen goods regarding some 271 artworks by Picasso which Le Guennec claims were given to him by Picasso and his wife Jacqueline when he carried out work on their villa in Mougins in the 1970's. BORIS HORVAT / AFP. by Andrea Palasciano

AIX-EN-PROVENCE (AFP).- A retired electrician who kept nearly 300 Pablo Picasso artworks in his garage for almost 40 years told a French appeal court Monday that the artist's widow may have wanted to hide the works from his family. "Mrs Jacqueline Picasso had problems with (her step-son) Claude (Ruiz) Picasso," Pierre Le Guennec said in a trembling voice, presenting a new version of events to the court in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence. Le Guennec, convicted last year along with his wife of possessing stolen goods, said that Picasso's widow had asked him to store between 15 and 17 garbage bags containing artworks after the artist died in April 1973.

The 77-year-old said that some time later Jacqueline Picasso retrieved the bags but gave him one of them, saying: "Keep this, it's for you." Le Guennec said "maybe" the widow was trying to prevent the works from an estate inventory, and said he did not tell the truth in the earlier trial out of "fear of being accused, along with madame, of stealing these bags." Le Guennec, who was the Picassos' handyman, had previously testified to being given the drawings while the artist was still alive, in 1971 or 1972.

The couple's lawyer Eric Dupond-Moretti said he had learned the new version of events only a few days ago. Le Guennec said Jacqueline gave him the 271 works -- 180 single pieces and a notebook containing 91 drawings -- as a gift recognising the couple's devotion. He described the works as "drawings, sketches, (and) crumpled paper". Uninterested in the haul, Le Guennec said he put the collection in his garage and rediscovered it in 2009.

'Staggering lie' Claude Ruiz-Picasso's lawyer Jean-Jacques Neuer angrily denounced Le Guennec's testimony as a "staggering lie", saying the case involved the "art market's darkest and most powerful" forces engaged in an "international stolen art laundering" scam. Prosecutor Christophe Raffin asked the court to uphold the couple's two-year suspended sentences meted out in March 2015. A verdict is due December 16. "I don't believe the version that (the drawings) were a gift," Raffin said. "I think it's a theft from an ageing Pablo Picasso and from Jacqueline, more than ever focused on her husband." Addressing the couple, Raffin said: "One could wonder whether what has been presented to us as the truth today is not another lie. Mr and Mrs Le Guennec, you have lied on several points."

The defendants face a maximum jail time of five years and a fine of 375,000 euros ($410,000), or half the value of the pieces, whichever figure is greater, if the conviction is upheld. The collection, whose value has not been assessed, includes drawings of women and horses, nine rare Cubist collages from the time Picasso was working with fellow French artist Georges Braque and a work from his "blue period". Other more intimate works include portraits of Picasso's mistress Fernande, drawings of his first wife Olga and a drawing of a horse for his children.

The works were created between 1900 and 1932. The authorities seized them after Le Guennec tried to get them authenticated in 2010, showing them to Ruiz-Picasso, who represents the artist's six heirs. The Picassos immediately pressed charges, and the works were handed over to Ruiz-Picasso. No works were signed Neuer has pointed out that none of the works in Le Guennec's possession were signed, an unusual occurrence for Picasso who always autographed his work -- whether he gave it away or sold it.

Another lawyer for Le Guennec, Charles-Etienne Gudin, however, has said there were only a dozen works of value and that the rest was "very mediocre," insisting that Picasso never tried to sell them. One of the few plaintiffs to have known Le Guennec when he was employed by the Picasso family, the artist's granddaughter Catherine Hutin-Blay, acknowledged during the trial that the electrician did have a special relationship with the artist. Prosecutor Laurent Robert said Le Guennec was a pawn who was manipulated by unscrupulous art dealers trying to obtain works initially stolen by Picasso's former chauffeur. The investigation did not formally identify a thief or thieves.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91244/Pablo-Picasso-s-widow-may-have-hidden-artworks-from-son--court-told#.WBipXMmk374

Swiss billionaire fined $4 mn over undeclared artwork: reports

In one case detailed in Sunday's articles, he purchased a Giovanno Segantini painting, "Le due madri", for 1.4 million Swiss francs at a Christie's auction in Geneva in 2011, and quickly flew it to Britain, thus avoiding Swiss taxation.

GENEVA (AFP).- Swiss customs authorities have slapped a billionaire with a $4 million fine for failing to properly declare some 200 artworks imported into Switzerland, according to media reports confirmed by officials Sunday. Financier Urs Schwarzenbach has for years been bringing precious artworks by the likes of Yves Klein and Giovanno Segantini into Switzerland without declaring them to customs officials, or reporting their worth at far below their actual value, several Swiss media outlets reported. Suspecting the billionaire of importing artwork illegally, Swiss customs authorities opened an investigation in 2012. The probe concluded earlier this month that he had effectively dodged duties worth 10 million Swiss francs ($10 million, 9.2 million euros), which he was ordered to repay, along with a four million franc fine, the NZZ am Sonntag, Sonntagszeitung and Le Matin Dimanche weeklies reported. Swiss finance ministry spokesman Daniel Saameli confirmed the content of the reports to AFP.

According to the papers, Schwarzenbach has agreed to pay back the 10 million francs, but is contesting the fine. The 68-year-old's lawyers in London told the papers he denied any intentional wrongdoing, and wanted to present his side of the story to the district court in Zurich to clear his name. Schwarzenbach, who is based in Britain and is reportedly a good friend of Prince Charles, had brought at least 123 works of art into Switzerland without declaring them, with some ending up on the walls of his luxury Zurich Dolder Grand hotel, the papers said.

Fake receipts: In one case detailed in Sunday's articles, he purchased a Giovanno Segantini painting, "Le due madri", for 1.4 million Swiss francs at a Christie's auction in Geneva in 2011, and quickly flew it to Britain, thus avoiding Swiss taxation. But the painting reportedly reemerged in his luxurious Villa Meridiana in St. Moritz in the Swiss Alps, without him ever paying duties on it. Other artworks reportedly brought in under the radar include a painting by Russian geometric abstract artist Kazimir Malevich, valued at 16 million francs, and Yves Klein's MG41 (L'age d'or), the papers said. When he did declare artwork, Schwarzenbach, whose fortune was valued last year by Swiss financial magazine Bilanz at 1.25 billion Swiss francs, sometimes reportedly presented fake receipts for amounts far lower than what he had actually paid.

On June 16, 2012 he is alleged to have presented Gottardo Segantini's "Paysage alpin" to Swiss customs officials along with a receipt for just 10,000 francs. That is less than a tenth of the 105,000 euros he actually paid for the piece, the papers reported. In all, the case concerns more than 200 works of art, with a combined value of at least 130 million francs, they said.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/91062/Swiss-billionaire-fined--4-mn-over-undeclared-artwork--reports#.WA4dTy0rKUk

Two busts whose faces were hammered away by Isis members at Palmyra's Museum

A picture shows a part of two busts whose faces were hammered away by Isis members at Palmyra's Museum in Syria, as part of an exhibition called "Rising from Destruction Ebla, Nimrod, Palmyra" presented at the ancient Colosseum, on October 6, 2016 in Rome. ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP

http://artdaily.com/?date=10/10/2016&bfd=0

Dutch city of Hoorn celebrates as five stolen masterpieces return home

Musicians in period costumes perform as two employees carry a big box with paintings during a ceremony in which five paintings, stolen from the Westfries museum in Friesland, northwest of the Netherlands, return from Ukraine in Hoorn on October 7, 2016. Olaf KRAAK / ANP / AFP.
by Jan Hennop

HOORN (AFP).- The Dutch city of Hoorn erupted with joy Friday as it welcomed back five masterpieces recovered from a "criminal group" in Ukraine after being snatched from the town's museum in 2005. "After 4,320 days... yes we counted the days... they are back!" an emotional museum director Ad Geerdink told hundreds of citizens who gathered at the Westfries Museum as the 17th and 18th-century paintings were unloaded from a truck. "Our heritage has returned to the museum where they belong, back in the city where they belong," Geerdink said as the crowd cheered and clapped. The five paintings were among 24 Dutch Golden Age masterpieces and 70 pieces of silverware stolen from the museum in the northwest city on January 9, 2005. At the time of their disappearance, the 24 paintings were valued at a total of around 10 million euros ($11 million).

One of the recovered works, Isaak Ouwater's 1784 piece entitled "Nieuwstraat in Hoorn", valued at around 30,000 euros, was handed back by an unsuspecting Ukrainian art buyer in May. But details over how the painting came into his possession remain vague. The four other retrieved paintings, which were also found in Ukraine, are: "A Peasant Wedding" by Hendrick Boogaert, "Kitchen Scene" by Floris van Schooten, "Return of Jephta" and "Lady World" by Jacob Waben.

'Terrible condition' The museum has now launched a crowdfunding campaign to restore the five works, as spokeswoman Christa van Hees said they "have suffered a lot" in the past decade and "are in a terrible condition." Two of the paintings had been put back in frames, with lines clearly visible where they have been folded, an AFP reporter saw. The other canvases were still rolled up, but showed signs of cracks and paint was flaking off. "I can't say how long it will take, but the aim is to have all of the paintings hanging in the museum within half a year," Ronald de Jager, who is tasked with the restoration, told AFP.

After the theft there was an intensive police investigation, but it was not until mid-2015 that the museum heard five paintings might be in Ukraine. Two men claiming to represent a pro-Kiev group said they had found them in a villa in war-torn eastern Ukraine, where Kiev's forces were battling pro-Russian separatists. Art historian Arthur Brand, who played a major role in the paintings' return, said the men initially priced the works at 50 million euros and then wanted five million euros for them. "We were only prepared to give then 50,000 euros, which is a finders' fee," Brand told AFP. So the negotiations collapsed.

Details remain unclear about the next moves, but after intense behind-the-scenes work involving Brand and the Hoorn municipality, Ukraine announced in April it had recovered four of the paintings. It did not specify how the works were retrieved, saying only they had been "in the possession of criminal groups". "What's more important is that we at least have some of them back," the museum's ticket sales manager, Karin van Hoorn, told AFP. "When I saw them for the first time, a short while ago I was so overwhelmed I almost started crying." The search continues for the works still missing. "We are doing everything possible to get the other 19 paintings and our silverware back too," said Hoorn city council member Judith de Jong.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/90668/Dutch-city-of-Hoorn-celebrates-as-five-stolen-masterpieces-return-home#.V_1qMsmk374

Naked Trump leaves NY in giggles until demolished

A passerby has a picture taken with a statue depicting republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco, United States. Anarchist collective INDECLINE has created five statues depicting Donald Trump in the nude and placed them in five U.S. cities on Thursday morning. The statues are in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP.

NEW YORK (AFP).- A naked statue of Donald Trump, complete with bulging belly and elaborate yellow hair, caused laughter and merriment in New York Thursday until it was ripped up by park wardens. Hands clasped across ample belly, the sculpture was unveiled in Union Square, gazing out across the busy street with an engraved plaque saying "The Emperor Has No Balls," witnesses said.

Indecline, a California-based company, released a video on their website showing a naked statue of the controversial Republican presidential nominee being made. But New York's department of parks and recreation was unimpressed. Wardens ripped the statue from its base, then used spades to smash its feet and foam base to smithereens, and pry its metal platform from the ground. "Parks has removed the sculpture," a spokesperson for the city's department of parks and recreation told AFP. "The installation of any unapproved structure or artwork in a city park is illegal."

Throughout the morning, passers-by stopped to take photographs, pose for selfies or laugh at the depiction of the New York billionaire. "It was funny. Everybody was just over here laughing and taking pictures," said Rahshawn Gilmore, 22, who works in a nearby store. "It was amazing." Gilmore said he did not find it offensive, but admitted some might given that children were "roaming around." "You could see his personal bits," he explained. "That was great craftsmanship, because they're having a hard time taking that apart," he added, breaking into giggles.

Peri Fisher, 48, a representative for an electronics company, said she was pleased to see a male politician "for a change" being judged on his appearance and criticized the decision to break it up. "Personally I think Trump is insane and not fit to be president, not that (Democratic rival) Hillary Clinton really is either, but she's the lesser of two evils," she said. "Right or wrong people have the right to put it up there. He's a public figure -- public figures are open to mockery. This was a mockery. It's just part of the American way of life," Fisher added.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/89632/Naked-Trump-leaves-NY-in-giggles-until-demolished#.V7ciq6LN774

US places import restrictions to protect Syrian artifacts

The Islamic State group has ravaged ancient archeological sites under its control in Syria and Iraq. AFP PHOTO / JOSEPH EID.

WASHINGTON (AFP).- The United States announced emergency import restrictions Wednesday on Syrian artifacts in response to looting of the country's cultural heritage in the midst of a brutal civil war. The Islamic State group has ravaged ancient archeological sites under its control in Syria and Iraq, along with local looters. Among the worst incidents was the destruction by IS of temples in the famed ancient city of Palmyra, which provoked international outrage. "These import restrictions are intended to reduce the incentive for pillage to better preserve Syria's cultural heritage and to combat profiting from the sale of these artifacts by terrorists and criminal organizations," the US State Department said. "Preserving the cultural heritage of Syria will be a vital component in shaping a future for the country based on reconstruction, reconciliation and building civil society."

The restrictions were published by US Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department. They apply to any cultural property "unlawfully removed" from Syria from March 15, 2011, when the conflict began. This includes objects of stone, metal, ceramic, clay and faience objects, wood, glass, ivory, bone and shell, plaster and stucco, textile, parchment, paper and leather, paintings and drawings, mosaic and writing.

In the IS group's extreme interpretation of Islam, statues and shrines amount to idolatry and must be destroyed. But the group is also believed to have benefited from the trafficking of antiquities seized from sites under its control. In Syria, more than 900 monuments and archeological sites have been affected, damaged or destroyed by the regime, rebels or jihadists since the conflict began in March 2011, according to the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archeology. Between 2014 and 2015, Syria's antiquities department moved some 300,000 objects and thousands of manuscripts from across Syria into storage in Damascus.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/89610/US-places-import-restrictions-to-protect-Syrian-artifacts#.V7XjeKLN774

500-year-old German engraving by Albrecht Durer surfaces at French flea market

A retired French archaeologist noticed the work on a bric-a-brac stand in Sarrebourg in eastern France, after the seller cleared it out of a house in the town.

BERLIN (AFP).- Long-dead German artist Albrecht Durer is causing a stir after a collector donated a lost work, bought for a few euros on a French flea market, to a Stuttgart museum. The bronze engraving titled "Mary crowned by an angel" dates back to the year 1520, Anette Frankenberger of the Staatsgalerie art museum told AFP on Friday, and is in "very good condition". A retired French archaeologist noticed the work on a bric-a-brac stand in Sarrebourg in eastern France, after the seller cleared it out of a house in the town. Alerted by his keen eye, he quickly bought the piece -- only to find the stamp of the Staatsgalerie on its back and decide to donate it anonymously.

The man came "personally with his wife" to return the engraving, which had been missing since the end of World War II, Frankenberger said. The museum spokeswoman added that the piece had likely been wrapped in paper for some of the intervening decades, keeping it in good condition. It was owned by a former deputy mayor of Sarrebourg before ending up at the second-hand stall, she said. The museum has not yet decided how to put the engraving on display. "We have to find the right setting to present it in," Frankenberger said. Durer was born in 1471 in the southern German city of Nuremberg and travelled through Italy, becoming one of the first artists to introduce the Renaissance in Germany and northern Europe.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/89294/500-year-old-German-engraving-by-Albrecht-Duerer-surfaces-at-French-flea-market#.V6jvWaLN774

At ancient Syria site, IS discovers then destroys treasures

A picture taken on August 3, 2016 shows the Tal Ajaja archeological site in Syria's northeastern Hassakeh province. When the Islamic State group captured Tal Ajaja, one of Syria's most important Assyrian-era sites, they stripped it of millenia-old statues and cuneiform tablets that even archeologists had not uncovered. Ayham al-Mohammad / AFP. by Ayham al-Mohammad

TAL AJAJA (AFP).- When the Islamic State group captured Tal Ajaja, one of Syria's most important Assyrian-era sites, they discovered previously unknown millennia-old statues and cuneiform tablets, and then they destroyed them. The extremist group, which has ravaged archeological sites under its control in Syria and Iraq, was chased from Tal Ajaja in northeastern Hasakeh province in February by Kurdish fighters. But the destruction IS wrought there over two years remains. Perched on a large hill around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Iraqi border, the site is now a vision of desolation, riven with long tunnels. Fragments of broken artifacts are strewn throughout and large holes dug by looters pockmark the ground. The Assyrian empire, with its capital in Nineveh in modern-day Iraq, flourished in the first millennium BC. It produced celebrated artifacts, particularly bas-reliefs often depicting scenes of war. "Tal Ajaja, or ancient Shadikanni, was one of the main cities of Assyria," said Cheikhmous Ali of the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archeology.

Most of the known treasures of Tal Ajaja, discovered in the 19th century, had long been removed and placed in museums in Syria or abroad. But the jihadists, as well as local looters, dug up artifacts that archeologists had not yet uncovered, destroying or trafficking priceless pieces. "They found items that were still buried, statues, columns. We've lost many things," lamented Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of Syria's antiquities department.

'Barbarians' "More than 40 percent of Tal Ajaja was destroyed or ravaged by IS," added Khaled Ahmo, director of the antiquities department in Hasakeh. "The tunnels that were dug destroyed invaluable archeological strata" that would have revealed the economic, social and political history of the era, he told AFP. In IS's extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols and shrines amount to recognising objects of worship other than God and must be destroyed. But the group is also believed to have benefited from the trafficking of antiquities seized from sites under its control.

In 2014, photos emerged of sledgehammer-wielding jihadists destroying Assyrian statues from Tal Ajaja dating back to 2,000-1,000 BC. "These barbarians have burnt pages of Mesopotamia's history," said Abdulkarim. "In two or three months, they wiped out what would have required 50 years of archeological excavations," he added. In 2014, the antiquities department on its website published a series of photos of items from Tal Ajaja that had been destroyed, including cuneiform tablets and bas-relief depictions of the lamassu -- the famous winged Assyrian deity. The lamassu is a creature from Mesopotamian mythology, often depicted with a human head, the body of a lion or bull, and the wings of an eagle. Though traditionally considered protectors and placed outside temples to guard them, the lamassu of Tal Ajaja were unable to escape IS's ravages.

'Cultural cleansing' "IS turned the hilltop into a military zone," said local resident Khaled, who spoke on condition a pseudonym be used because he still fears IS might return. "No one was allowed to enter the site without authorisation," he added. "Hordes of armed men came in, along with traffickers of archeological objects," added another resident, Abu Ibrahim. Tal Ajaja was also known by the name Tal Araban in the Islamic era. But "even the upper strata dating back to that era were razed," said Ahmo. Abdulkarim said numerous artifacts from the site were smuggled to neighbouring Turkey and on to Europe, adding that he had alerted Interpol in a bid to retrieve some of the items. Since its rise in 2014, IS has ravaged numerous archaeological sites in Iraq, including the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, provoking outrage. The UN cultural organisation has described the jihadists' actions as "cultural cleansing".

In Syria, more than 900 monuments and archeological sites have been affected, damaged or destroyed by the regime, rebels or jihadists since the conflict began in March 2011, according to the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archeology. Among the worst incidents was the destruction by IS of temples in the famed ancient city of Palmyra, which provoked international outrage. Between 2014 and 2015, Syria's antiquities department moved some 300,000 objects and thousands of manuscripts from across Syria into storage in Damascus. But Abdulkarim has watched in horror as sites are laid waste by war and looters. "Our heritage is hemorrhaging."

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/89351/At-ancient-Syria-site--IS-discovers-then-destroys-treasures-#.V6ixuKLN774

Art Loss Register announces work with 100 auction houses

Last year the ALR helped in the recovery of this 18th century Aubusson tapestry which is of great national importance. The item was stolen in France in 1982 and identified at auction in 2015 by the Art Loss Register. The piece measures 4.3m by 2m, and it is estimated at £7,000-£9,000. After more than three decades it is now returned to its original home and hangs in a château in Normandy.

LONDON.- The Art Loss Register announced that, as of this week, they are working with 100 auction houses across the world who make use of their due diligence services. This represents an increase of 50% in the number of auction houses checking their catalogues with the Art Loss Register in the last three years, reflecting the growing importance for art market professionals to carry out checks and due diligence. The Art Loss Register’s scope is worldwide, with subscribers based in the UK, USA, France, Norway, Austria and Holland, and with growing numbers from Germany, Switzerland and Italy. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of smaller and regional auction house subscribers. The Art Loss Register checks 400,000 items offered on the international art market each year, the majority of which are in auction catalogues.

The key benefit for auction houses of searching items with the Art Loss Register is that it significantly reduces the risk of selling items that are stolen or subject to a claim, and the reputational and financial risks associated with this. For the victims of theft and insurers, the increase in the number of auction houses working with the Art Loss Register means that their chances of recovery are significantly improving. Last year alone, the Art Loss Register located stolen items ranging from artworks by Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Keith Haring and Anish Kapoor, to Rolex watches, tribal art, English furniture and Roman antiquities in the sale catalogues of auction houses. James Ratcliffe, General Counsel and Director of Recoveries at the Art Loss Register said, “It is fantastic to see the huge increase in subscribing auction houses over the last three years. This is testament both to the hard work and skills of the whole team here at the ALR; and also the increasing recognition across the market of the need to carry out a recognised standard of due diligence on transactions. As a result, it is becoming more and more difficult for thieves to profit from the theft of art.”

The Art Loss Register, established in 1990 and based in London, is the world’s largest private database of stolen, missing and looted art, antiques and collectibles. The Art Loss Register also holds records of fakes and forgeries, items which are subject to a dispute, and items against which a loan has been secured. The Art Loss Register also offers a pre-loss registration service for museums and large permanent collections. There are currently half a million items listed on the database. The range of items is considerable and includes paintings, sculptures, antiquities, watches, clocks, jewellery, musical instruments, furniture, books and coins.

http://artdaily.com/news/89233/Art-Loss-Register-announces-work-with-100-auction-houses#.V6NiyqLN774

Dali and Lempicka paintings stolen from museum 'found after seven years'

Dali's 1941 surrealist work "Adolescence" featuring the Catalan artist and his beloved nanny and Lempicka's sensual 1929 tableau "La Musicienne" have been tracked down, detective Arthur Brand said via his Twitter account.

THE HAGUE (AFP).- Two renowned paintings stolen from a Dutch museum seven years ago, one by Salvador Dali and the other by Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, have been recovered, a specialist art detective said Wednesday. Dali's 1941 surrealist work "Adolescence" featuring the Catalan artist and his beloved nanny and Lempicka's sensual 1929 tableau "La Musicienne" have been tracked down, detective Arthur Brand said via his Twitter account. "We recovered the #Dali and the #DeLempicka, stolen in 2009 from Scheringa museum," he wrote in a Tweet, posting two pictures of himself with the paintings. The two works of art were snatched from the Scheringa Museum of Realist Art in the northern town of Spanbroek in a daylight armed robbery on May 1, 2009.

Several masked men threatened staff and visitors with a gun and then drove off in a car with the two tableaux, police told AFP at the time. Brand said the two paintings had then been given to a criminal gang in lieu of payment -- a transaction which is common among criminal groups. But "this organisation did not want to be found guilty of the destruction or resale of art works," Brand told the Dutch daily De Telegraaf, and had contacted him through a go-between. Brand said he had handed the paintings over to British police at Scotland Yard who are in contact with the rightful owners, whose identities have not been revealed.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/89055/Dali-and-Lempicka-paintings-stolen-from-museum--found-after-seven-years-#.V5o4OaLN6sk

Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet paintings seized in Malaysia graft probe

A member of staff poses with a painting entitled 'Nympheas avec reflets de hautes herbes' by French artist Claude Monet at Sotheby's auction house in central London. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT.

GENEVA (AFP).- Switzerland has seized a painting by Vincent Van Gogh and two others by Claude Monet as part of the global investigation into Malaysia's scandal-tainted sovereign wealth fund, an official said Friday. The works were seized following a request from the United States, one of several countries probing alleged massive fraud at the Malaysian state fund 1MDB, said Swiss justice ministry spokeswoman Ingrid Reyser. "The operation is over and we confiscated the three paintings," Reyser told AFP in an email. She declined to comment on where the paintings had been kept or the individuals involved.

Earlier this week, the US justice department filed lawsuits seeking to reclaim more than $1 billion in assets linked to stolen or laundered 1MDB funds. Artworks by Monet and Van Gogh were among the assets listed in the lawsuit filed at a California federal court. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing mounting pressure over the scandal. Authorities in the US, Switzerland and Singapore are probing claims that the prime minister, his relatives and associates syphoned off enormous sums of public money.

The assets targeted for US seizure include royalties from the 2013 financial crime caper "The Wolf of Wall Street" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The film, directed by Martin Scorsese, was produced by a company owned by Najib's stepson Riza Aziz, using more than $100 million diverted from 1MDB, according to the US justice department. Both Najib and 1MDB have consistently dismissed allegations of wrongdoing as political attacks by his opponents.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/88941/Vincent-Van-Gogh--Claude-Monet-paintings-seized-in-Malaysia-graft-probe#.V5jkWaLN6sk

Masterpieces replaced by fakes in six national galleries in treasure hunt

Giles Coren and Rose Balston at Guildhall Art Gallery © PA / Doug Peters.

LONDON.- A top secret operation saw millions of pounds worth of priceless masterpieces removed from the collections of galleries and museums around the UK. In a further twist, the seven paintings – all by celebrated British artists – have been switched for copies.

The heist has been coordinated by Sky Arts, with permission from the galleries, to launch a month-long national art competition for a new TV series called Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge. Only the museum curators, the production team from IWC Media, and presenters Giles Coren and art historian Rose Balston, know which pictures are real and which have been replaced.

Throughout July, members of the public of all ages and experience are invited to use their detective skills to spot the seven copies hiding in plain sight on the walls of six galleries in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London and Manchester. All seven displays also are available for investigation online, via the competition website: skyartsfake.com

Those with a keen eye, who manage to correctly identify the ‘fakes’, stand the chance of being invited to take part in the series finale. The finalists will compete to win a specially commissioned copy of their very own.

“You don’t have to be an art historian to have a go at this,” says Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, “all you need is a sense of curiosity and an eye for detail. We wanted to tell the story of British Art with a sense of fun, and in a way that would encourage us all to take a closer and more critical look at the works of great British Artists.”

Each programme in the series will shine a light on a particular period of British Art, featuring interviews with specialist curators from each gallery and the contemporary artists who have been commissioned to secretly recreate the masterpieces from scratch. During the competition, curator-led tours of these collections are available at each gallery.

• at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, the fake has been hidden in a display on ‘The Art of The Stuart Courts’, including portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, James I and Charles II.
• at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Wirral, the copy has been placed amid a collection of ‘Golden Age English Portraiture’ by the likes of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and George Romney.
• at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the copy has been hidden amongst paintings of ‘Animal and Sporting Art’ from the 18th and 19th centuries.
• at the National Museum Cardiff, the copy has been made of a ‘British Landscape’ amongst masters such as J.M.W Turner and Richard Wilson.
• at the Guildhall Art Gallery in London, the imposter hides amongst the collection of ‘Victorian Narrative Painting’
• Manchester Art Gallery’s popular display of ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ paintings with works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt hides one masterpiece which is not all that it seems
• Manchester Art Gallery also created a special display of paintings of the city by LS Lowry and Adolphe Valette; one of which is a copy
• the final of the television series will be hosted at the world’s oldest public museum, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where the competition will reach its climax

This is the first Sky television series to be presented by Giles Coren, award-winning critic and columnist for The Times, following his debut on Sky Arts in an episode of My Failed Novel. His other broadcast appearances involved the hit BBC Back in Time for... series and the landmark Supersizers series with Sue Perkins.

The series is the television debut for Rose Balston, an Edinburgh-educated art historian and writer who lectures for the V&A and founded her own company, Art History UK, to run bespoke guided tours of art and architecture both in Britain and abroad.

Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge will be recorded throughout July and August and screened on Sky Arts in the new year, when the identity of the seven ‘fakes’ and the artists who have been commissioned to copy them will be revealed. The seven originals paintings will return to the galleries once the competition has ended in August. http://artdaily.com/news/88819/Masterpieces-replaced-by-fakes-in-six-national-galleries-in--treasure-hunt#.V40T66LN6sk

Nazi-seized Degas drawing sells for 462,500 euros

The drawing was confiscated in August 1940 from the Paris home of Maurice Dreyfus, a doctor.

PARIS (AFP).- A drawing by Edgar Degas that was seized by Nazi Germany in 1940 and returned to its rightful owner in May fetched 462,500 euros ($511,000) at auction on Sunday, organisers said. An Italian collector purchased the 1898 drawing, titled "Trois Danseuses en Buste" by telephone, according to the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau near Paris. The work had been valued at between 350,000 and 450,000 euros.

The drawing was confiscated in August 1940 from the Paris home of Maurice Dreyfus, a doctor. It was found in 1951 in a closet of the former German embassy in Paris, and given to the Louvre Museum before it was identified as the property of the Dreyfus family. "We received a gift from heaven when we learned that they found the Degas drawing," Dreyfus's daughter Viviane told AFP. "It's as if my father gave us a gift from beyond the grave. We are very moved."

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/88631/Nazi-seized-Degas-drawing-sells-for-462-500-euros#.V4Uu_6LN6sk

Three Irish paintings recovered in County Wicklow to be offered at Sotheby's London

Jack Butler Yeats, The Fern in the Area, oil on board. Painted in 1950. Estimate £20,000-30,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- This September, Sotheby’s will offer at auction three Irish paintings recovered in County Wicklow in 2015. The works – Jack Butler Yeats’ The Fern in the Area, Paul Henry’s Landscape with Cottage, and Sir John Lavery’s Portrait de femme au chapeau – come to sale following their theft from a house in Wicklow in 2014 and the subsequent transferral of ownership of the paintings to insurance company Chubb on their recovery last year. With a combined estimated of £47,000-70,000, they will be offered in Sotheby’s Irish Art sale in London on 13 September 2016.

Charlie Minter, Sotheby’s Irish Art Specialist, said: “The remarkable recovery of these paintings has ensured that their fate looks immeasurably brighter and we look forward to finding new homes for them. The Lavery and Henry passed through our doors fifteen years ago and we’re thrilled to be able to offer them at auction again.”

Jack Butler Yeats The Fern in the Area oil on board Painted in 1950 Estimate £20,000-30,000 The art of Jack B. Yeats, arguably the greatest Irish painter of the 20th century, is that of Ireland, and the two are irrevocably entwined. His mature style reached its fullest spate in the 1940s and 1950s, when he was at the height of his powers. The Fern in the Area was painted in 1950 when the artist, although nearing the end of his career, was also at his most prolific, producing some of his most expressive and energetic works. By this time, Yeats had discovered the possibilities of paint as an expressive medium in its own right; his handling was more loose and liquid, and his palette dramatically richer. When turning to pure landscapes without the inclusion of a figure, Yeats’ paintings were often pushed to their most abstract. Although the title hints at the subject – a fern seen by the lower edge – the other details, including the specific location, remain vague, and fused with a rhythm of colour and brushstroke. Such works show Yeats at his freest; rarely working from sketches, he preferred to paint directly and spontaneously onto the surface and to employ an adventurous use of colour, particularly with the primaries, as seen here in the blue, red and yellow.

Paul Henry Landscape with Cottage oil on board Dated 1929-34 on stylistic grounds Estimate £20,000-30,000 Landscape with Cottage dates to circa 1929-34 and exemplifies Henry’s atmospheric portrayal of the West of Ireland for which he is celebrated. A thatched white cottage sits nestled in the hills while voluminous cumulus clouds roll above. The compositional device of devoting the majority of the painting to the sky was a technique favoured by Henry, allowing him to evoke the sense of space and tempestuous weather that defines this rugged landscape. Landscape with Cottage demonstrates Henry’s skill in encapsulating the relationship between the Irish people and their land. The cottage points up the isolation of the rural communities, while their reliance on the land is signified by the turf stack in the foreground. During the late 1920s the artist’s output was dominated by the use of dark umbers and olive greens, colours that convey a sense of the landscape’s solidity. Distinctive of this work is the more varied palette, notably the variations of mauve and yellow, and the more heavily worked surface with strong passages of impasto.

Sir John Lavery Portrait de femme au chapeau oil on panel Estimate £7,000-10,000 Portrait de femme au chapeau dates from the late 1890s, a period when Lavery was travelling regularly to Germany to execute portrait commissions and exhibit at the Eduard Schulte Gallery in Berlin. During this time he would often dedicate and present small sketches to clients, and in some instances, these lively portrait studies were favoured over their more finished versions. As one of the most fashionable painters of the Edwardian and post-war beau monde, Lavery made his name and fortune with his elegant portraits. In this work –showing a sitter set against a dark background – the fluid, confident brushstrokes and subtle, understated colour modulations demonstrate an artist in masterful command of his medium.

http://artdaily.com/news/88374/Three-Irish-paintings-recovered-in-County-Wicklow-to-be-offered-at-Sotheby-s-London#.V3FJ3aLN6sk

Looted Ancient Sarcophagus

Egyptian Museum staff present the bottom of a looted ancient sarcophagus lid during a ceremony after its repatriation from Israel on June 21, 2016 at the Egyptian Museum in the capital Cairo. Two sarcophagus lids -- one dated to between the 16th and 14th centuries BC and the other between the 10th and 8th -- were delivered to Egypt's ambassador to Israel on May 22, 2016 and returned to Egypt on June 21, 2016. Egypt said the ancient artifactshad have been illegally imported after they were smuggled out of their homeland through a third country.
MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP

http://artdaily.com/?date=06/23/2016&bfd=0

'Argentine' splurges at Nazi relics auction: report

BERLIN (AFP).- A buyer who said he came from Argentina spent over 600,000 euros on Nazi memorabilia, including one of Adolf Hitler's uniform jackets, at a controversial auction in Germany, a report said Monday. The mystery buyer, dressed in dark clothes and wearing a baseball cap, spent 275,000 euros ($312,000) on the jacket alone and 3,000 euros for a set of Hermann Goering's silken underwear, among over 50 items he purchased, reported Bild daily. Using the number "888", the man outbid others on most items and dominated the Munich auction, reported Bild, which had sent an undercover reporter to the event that was formally closed to the press following a public outcry. The number evokes the neo-Nazi code "88" that marks the eighth letter of the alphabet and stands for the banned greeting "Heil Hitler".

Last week the Central Council of Jews in Germany had appealed to the auction house Hermann Historica to cancel the event, charging it was "scandalous and disgusting" to make money with Nazi relics in such an auction. Bild reported that the room was filled with "young couples, elderly men, and muscular guys with shaved heads and tribal tattoos". The top bidder also bought the brass container that Goering, the founder of the Gestapo secret police and air force chief, used to kill himself with hydrogen cyanide two hours before his scheduled execution in 1946 in Nuremberg.

When the Bild reporter asked the top bidder who he was, the man reportedly replied in Spanish-accented English that he came "from Argentina" and had bought the items "for a museum", but declined to give his name. The items -- sold under the theme "Hitler and the Nazi grandees - a look into the abyss of evil" -- were formerly owned by the late US army medic John K. Lattimer, who was in charge of monitoring the health of Nazi war criminals on trial in Nuremberg. German law prohibits the open display and distribution of Nazi objects, slogans and symbols, but not their purchase or ownership, for example by researchers and collectors.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/88253/-Argentine--splurges-at-Nazi-relics-auction--report#.V2lfUKLN6sk

After 30 years "hidden in plain sight," still life painting is identified as a Gauguin; artwork is highlight of sale

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903), Fleurs D’Ete Dans Un Gobelet, 1885, oil on canvas, 13 x 9¾ inches (sight), initialed at lower right ‘PG,’ shown in Gauguin catalogue raisonee, authenticated by Wildenstein Institute, est. $800,000-$1.2 million.

LITCHFIELD, CONN.- It’s a scenario every art appraiser and auctioneer dreams of – exploring the contents of a long-held collection and discovering an artwork that is much more important than even its knowledgeable owner initially believed. That was the case when Nick Thorn, president of Litchfield County Auctions & Appraisals, was asked to evaluate estate property that had been amassed over a lifetime by a Manhattan antiques dealer. Within the eclectic selection of artworks, French Empire pieces and midcentury furniture was an appealing little French school still life in an ornate gilt frame.

“It had been quietly displayed on a wall in the owner’s home since the mid-1980s. It was unsigned and had a hard-to-decipher monogram. I was intrigued by it, but the painting wasn’t for sale at the time, so I didn’t spend a lot of thought on it,” Thorn said.

Months later, Thorn was contacted by the painting’s owner and asked if it would be possible to include the artwork in Litchfield’s April auction. The consignment deadline had long since come and gone, but the owner had some enticing new details to share. Upon removing the painting from the wall, he had noticed some labels from Sotheby’s Parke Bernet in Paris that indicated the work was by second-tier Impressionist Paul Signac. Potentially, it could be worth $50,000 to $100,000 at auction.

However, there was a problem – it looked nothing like a Signac and did not appear in the artist’s catalogue raisonne. So Thorn asked his father, Weston Thorn, founder of Litchfield County Auctions; and the company’s other art expert, Tom Curran, to weigh in with their opinions. Upon closer scrutiny, Weston Thorn noticed that the frame was too large for the painting and that it had been fitted with a liner. His opinion was that the identification labels on the frame probably had nothing to do with the painting.

Now their focus shifted to the faint “PS” monogram. Searching through various art databases, the auction-house sleuths could not find any other painters with those initials who painted in that style. “But what if it’s not ‘PS’ at all?” Weston surmised. “What if that ‘S’ is an elongated ‘G’ and it says ‘PG’ – as in Paul Gauguin?” At that point, Curran started looking up Gauguin still lifes and concluded that their painting did, indeed, have a similar look.

After a few months of research – first locating the painting in Gauguin’s catalogue raisonne, then having it authenticated by the Wildenstein Institute – Litchfield County Auctions could confirm without question that they had in their possession a genuine 1885 Paul Gauguin still life. After ensuring the work was not listed in any lost or stolen-art registry, Nick Thorn notified its owner that the painting, which is titled Fleurs D’Ete Dans Un Gobelet (Summer Flowers in a Goblet), would be the centerpiece of their June 29-30 auction.

An exciting discovery, the Gauguin painting has been given an auction estimate of $800,000-$1.2 million. It will share the spotlight with other prestigious consignments: a select grouping of Picasso ceramics, a top-tier collection of European furniture and decorative art; a well-refined collection of religious icons, reliquaries and Russian icons; tribal art, and a collection of antique occupational shaving mugs. Examples of 18th-century Queen Anne furniture include a mahogany and walnut highboy, est. $2,000-$4,000, and an oak dressing table, $800-$1,200. Also, a Victorian papier-mache terrestrial globe that would enhance any traditional study or office was produced in London in 1842 and is entered with a $1,500-$2,500 estimate.

Leading the Asian decorative art highlights is a pair of stunning 19th-century Chinese bottle-shape porcelain vases that have been repurposed as lamps, as was the fashion in the early 20th century. The lamps are offered as one lot with an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.

A collection of five pieces of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) pottery includes several designs collectors seek but do not often encounter in the auction marketplace. A 1954 pitcher in the form of a woman’s head crowned with flowers could realize $10,000-$15,000; while two lots are entered with individual estimates of $8,000-$12,000. They are: a 1954 “Scene de Tauromachie” bowl, and a 1948 “Three Sardines” rectangular dish. A 1955 “Femme” earthenware pitcher that was illustrated in Alain Ramie’s respected reference Picasso: Catalogue of the Edited Ceramic Works 1947-1971 is expected to make $8,000-$10,000.

A single-owner collection of religious icons, reliquaries and effigies features a Russian icon of Christ in the temple in Jerusalem with three archangels watching from above, $2,000-$3,000; and several French 19th-century Santibelli saint figures offered in small groupings. Among the many three-dimensional depictions are The Virgin of Marseilles, St. Christopher with the Christ Child, St. Philomena with an anchor, and St. Agnes with a palm branch. Each of the lots is estimated at $600-$900.

Litchfield County Auctions’ Wed./Thurs. June 29-30, 2016 auction will start at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on both days. The gallery is located at is located at 425 Bantam Rd., Litchfield, CT 06759. The preview will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 24-28, inclusive. For additional information on any item in the auction, call 860-567-4661 or email sales@litchfieldcountyauctions.com.

All forms of bidding will be available, including absentee or live via the Internet through www.LiveAuctioneers.com. http://artdaily.com/news/88218/After-30-years--hidden-in-plain-sight---still-life-painting-is-identified-as-a-Gauguin--artwork-is-highlight-of-sale#.V2gRNKLN6sk

Picassos settle sculpture custody battle in New York

The sculpture in question, the 1931 "Buste de Femme (Marie-Therese)," was last seen in public at New York's Museum of Modern Art earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AFP).- An international custody battle for a Picasso sculpture worth more than $100 million has been settled in favor of a New York billionaire, forcing the artist's family to pay agents of the Qatari royal family. The out-of-court deal required Pablo Picasso's heirs to make an undisclosed payment to London-based agents Pelham Europe, who initially negotiated to buy the sculpture for $47 million on behalf of their Qatari clients. A family dispute prompted the Picassos to renege on the deal and sell the sculpture to New York art dealer Larry Gagosian for more than $100 million instead. The Gagosian Gallery then sold it to billionaire Leon Black for an undisclosed sum.

The sculpture in question, the 1931 "Buste de Femme (Marie-Therese)," was last seen in public at New York's Museum of Modern Art earlier this year. The tortured legal dispute involved courts in France, Switzerland and the United States, exposing a damaging breakdown in communications and bitter rivalry among the descendants of one of the 20th century's greatest artists. The parties said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they were "pleased" to have reached "a good faith global settlement" resolving the dispute in all courts for good.

The Gagosian Gallery said the settlement was "a complete vindication" of its position and that Black would now receive his sculpture. "The Gagosian Gallery purchased and sold this sculpture in good faith and without any knowledge of Picasso and Pelham's prior dealings, as we have said all along," it said in a statement. Pelham Europe had gone to court seeking damages from Gagosian and Picasso's granddaughter Diana Widmaier-Picasso. The agents' lawyers confirmed Wednesday that Maya Widmaier-Ruiz Picasso, Picasso's daughter whose mother is depicted in the sculpture, had settled. "The amount of the payment is confidential, but Pelham and its client are very happy with the settlement," they said in a statement. They had claimed that Maya agreed to sell the sculpture to Pelham in November 2014 for $47 million to go on public display in a Qatar museum. But she pulled out of the deal days before the final payment was due.

Pelham alleged that her daughter, Diana, had objected to the deal and negotiated the Gagosian sale in May 2015. The settlement heads off a trial scheduled for September. Forbes magazine estimates Black, a private equity magnate, to be worth $4.7 billion. He reportedly bought Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which fetched $120 million at auction in 2012, a world record at the time.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/88132/Picassos-settle-sculpture-custody-battle-in-New-York#.V2L09qLN6sk

Hundreds of ancient Artifacts that were traded without a license were seized during a raid

In the coming days an indictment will be filed against the store owner who is suspected of illicit trade in antiquities.

JERUSALEM.- Bronze arrowheads, coins bearing the names of the Hasmoneans rulers, special vessels for storing perfumes and hundreds of items that are thousands of years old were offered for sale in a store in the Mamilla Mall, which was not licensed to trade antiquities. All of these items were seized yesterday (Tuesday) during an operation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery. The raid took place after the store, which was under surveillance, sold ancient artifacts to undercover Antiquities Authority investigators.

New regulations have been in force since March 2016 requiring that Israeli antiquities dealers manage their commercial inventory using a computerized system developed by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The move, which will allow the tracking of the items, is designed to prevent antiquities dealers from "laundering" illegal artifacts that are the product of antiquities robbery, namely the illicit excavation of archaeological sites that eradicate knowledge about the country’s and the world’s cultural heritage solely for the purpose of profit. The souvenir shop was selling antiquities at the prestigious mall even though it had not obtained a license to do so.

According to Dr. Eitan Klein, supervisor in charge of the antiquities trade, at the IAA, “Prior to enacting the regulations the situation with the ancient market was nothing short of miraculous, whereby there was always an abundance of finds on the shelves. Yet the dealers were constantly bemoaning the fact that sales were extremely weak. These reports raise questions about the remarkable survival of these stores for decades. In practice, it was abundantly clear that in order to supply the merchandise antiquities sites in Israel and around the world were being plundered and history was sold to the highest bidder. The activity we carried out in the Mamilla store is just part of much broader effort being made in the antiquities market that is aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of the State of Israel, which belongs to all of its citizens, and preventing the "laundering" of stolen antiquities by manipulating the commercial inventory of authorized antiquities dealers ".

In the coming days an indictment will be filed against the store owner who is suspected of illicit trade in antiquities.

http://artdaily.com/news/88135/Hundreds-of-ancient-Artifacts-that-were-traded-without-a-license-were-seized-during-a-raid#.V2LUMqLN6sk