Anish Kapoor sculpture "Dirty Corner" on exhibit in Versailles is Vandalized for the Second Time!

"Dirty Corner", a 2011 Cor-Ten steel, earth and mixed media monumental artwork by British contemporary artist of Indian origin Anish Kapoor. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK.

PARIS (AFP).- British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor has covered anti-Semitic graffiti on a controversial sculpture that was vandalised in France with gold leaf -- but only just. Dabs of white paint could still be seen Wednesday at the edges of the gold leaf placed on the massive, funnel-like sculpture at the Palace of Versailles, which has been dubbed the "queen's vagina" for its sexual overtones.

In an interview with the artnet website, Kapoor said the choice to leave bits of the graffiti visible was deliberate. "I have to transform it. Unravelling, finding an answer to a crime of hate and turn it into something else." The 60-metre (200-foot) long, 10-metre high structure, officially called "Dirty Corner", was first vandalised in June and then cleaned. Then two weeks ago it was covered in white paint with phrases such as "SS blood sacrifice" and "the second rape of the nation by deviant Jewish activism". Kapoor, 61, wanted the graffiti to remain to bear witness to hatred, and France's culture ministry said it was his choice. However a local government official, who saw the phrases as a "grave violation of fundamental rights", objected and a judge ruled on Saturday that the graffiti must be removed.

The scrawlings were covered with black cloth and a team from Kapoor's art studio has laid gold leaf on the rocks around the sculpture, which were also defaced. They said the operation would be completed Wednesday. Kapoor told artnews, in an interview in Moscow, that he was appealing the court's decision. "Culture is a victim of vandalism and hate," said Kapoor. "If vandalism and hate stops public experimentation, we all lose. If we stop that, we might as well live in a fascist state." Kapoor's work is not the first to be defaced recently in France. In October 2014, vandals in Paris's chic Place Vendome deflated a massive sculpture by American artist Paul McCarthy that was shaped like a sex toy.

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Spain banker Jaime Botin accused of trying to smuggle Pablo Picasso painting

Scoundrel Spain banker Jaime Botin

MADRID (AFP).- Courts are prosecuting a prominent Spanish banker accused of trying to smuggle a 26 million-euro Picasso painting out of Spain on a yacht, sources said Friday. Jaime Botin, former head of Spanish lender Bankinter and a member of the family that founded giant lender Santander, has been trying to get the painting out of the country for months. French customs seized the work "Head of a Young Girl", worth the equivalent of about $30 million, on July 31 on board the yacht in Corsica. The Spanish state has taken possession of the painting and handed it to the Reina Sofia modern art museum in Madrid.

Picasso painted it during his pre-Cubist phase in Gosol, Catalonia, in 1906. It was bought in London in 1977. A court in the affluent suburb of Pozuelo de Alarcon is investigating Botin, who has an appeal pending against the judicial procedures, sources close to the investigation said. He had been trying since 2012 to get permission to export the work but Spanish authorities refused on the grounds that it was a unique example in Spain of that period of Picasso's work. It was seized on board the "Adix", a British-flagged yacht.

Botin's lawyers have argued that the artwork counts as property under British law. But the Spanish courts in May ruled he could not export it on board the yacht which was moored in the Spanish port of Valencia. Auction house Christie's had already tried to export the painting to Britain on Botin's behalf in 2012 but the Spanish culture ministry blocked that move. Botin later claimed that the picture was not in Spain after all and that he owned it indirectly through a Panamanian company.

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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.

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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