German recluse goes on offensive launching a legal bid for the return of the masterpieces

BERLIN (AFP).- A German recluse at the centre of a high-profile case involving artworks suspected to be Nazi loot has gone on the offensive, launching a legal bid for the return of the masterpieces. Cornelius Gurlitt’s team has also launched a website to tell his side of the story about the long-lost works by the likes of Picasso, Matisse and Chagall. The spectacular “Gurlitt find” of around 1,400 long-lost works in a Munich flat has placed pressure on Germany to speed up [...]

Have you seen this painting? FBI opens case on long-lost Mead masterwork

AMHERST, MASS.- This week marks an unusual anniversary for Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum: it’s the thirty-ninth anniversary of a crime that the Mead, in collaboration with the FBI, is redoubling its efforts to solve, and in which members of the public have the chance to play a heroic role. On the night of February 8, 1975, in response to an anonymous tip received at Massachusetts State Police Barracks in Northampton, Amherst College Police made an alarming discovery: tracking footprints still visible [...]

German recluse Cornelius Gurlitt’s ‘Nazi art trove’ bigger than first thought; Pieces found in Salzburg

MUNICH (AFP).- Around another 60 artworks, including pieces by Monet and Renoir, have come to light at the Austrian home of an elderly German recluse whose earlier discovered art hoard is suspected to contain Nazi-looted works. The latest pieces were found at the property in Salzburg belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt, his spokesman said Tuesday, just months after the art world was rocked by news of a spectacular trove of more than 1,400 works unearthed at his German home in 2012. A first [...]

Dads’ rights activist jailed for defacing queen portrait at Westminster Abbey last year

LONDON (AFP).- A British man who defaced a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II to highlight the plight of fathers who are denied access to their children was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail. Father-of-two Tim Haries smuggled a can of purple spray paint into Westminster Abbey on June 13 last year and wrote “help” on a large oil painting by Australian artist Ralph Heimans. Haries, an activist with the Fathers4Justice campaign group, said his action was aimed at highlighting the “social [...]

Actor Ryan O’Neal wins trial over ex-lover Farrah Fawcett’s Andy Warhol painting

LOS ANGELES (AFP).- A US jury on Thursday found in favor of veteran actor Ryan O’Neal in a dispute over an Andy Warhol painting of his ex-lover Farrah Fawcett, saying it rightfully belonged to him. The six-man, six-woman panel rejected a claim by the University of Texas, where the late “Charlie’s Angels” star went to college, that she left the valuable portrait to her alma mater. The actor’s sons Redmond and Patrick welcomed the verdict, which came after two days of jury [...]

Actor Ryan O’Neal wins trial over ex-lover Farrah Fawcett’s Andy Warhol painting

LOS ANGELES (AFP).- A US jury on Thursday found in favor of veteran actor Ryan O’Neal in a dispute over an Andy Warhol painting of his ex-lover Farrah Fawcett, saying it rightfully belonged to him. The six-man, six-woman panel rejected a claim by the University of Texas, where the late “Charlie’s Angels” star went to college, that she left the valuable portrait to her alma mater. The actor’s sons Redmond and Patrick welcomed the verdict, which came after two days of jury [...]

Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi’s assistants defrauded $1.1 million court hears

LONDON (AFP).- Two personal assistants of British television chef Nigella Lawson and her art dealer husband Charles Saatchi said they were treated “worse than Filipino slaves” despite defrauding the couple of more than $1.1 million, a court heard Thursday. Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo face fraud charges in a trial that has already featured allegations that so-called “domestic goddess” Lawson hid a long-term cocaine and cannabis habit. Saatchi, 70, arrived at court but there was no time for him to give [...]

Works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne posted on Nazi-looted art website www.lostart.de

BERLIN (AFP).- German authorities Thursday published more than 100 additional works from the likes of Picasso, Cezanne and Degas believed to have been looted by the Nazis on an official provenance website. The latest batch of priceless artworks come from a trove discovered in a Munich flat in February 2012 which only came to light this month in a magazine article. A task force appointed to research the origin of the more than 1,400 works found stashed in the home of 80-year-old [...]

Romanian who admitted Dutch art heist to get reduced sentence because he acknowledged his guilt

BUCHAREST (AFP).- A Romanian who admitted stealing seven masterpieces from a Dutch museum will get a reduced sentence because he acknowledged his guilt, a local court ruled Thursday. The court accepted Radu Dogaru’s request to benefit from an article in Romania’s penal code stipulating that a sentence can be reduced by a third if the suspect admits guilt. Dogaru, the alleged brain of the spectacular three-minute heist, faces a maximum 20-year jail sentence if found guilty of “aggravated theft”. On Tuesday, he [...]

Jewish heirs demand restitution of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze amid extortion claims

VIENNA (AFP).- The family of a former Jewish art collector is demanding the restitution of a Gustav Klimt masterpiece that it claims was acquired by Austria after World War II under extortion. The family’s lawyer Marc Weber told the Austria Press Agency (APA) Wednesday that the heirs of Erich Lederer, the previous owner, had filed a restitution request with the Austrian culture ministry. The ministry confirmed to AFP that it had received the claim. A famed example of Jugendstil art, the 34-metre-long [...]

The other toll in Syria: International Council of Museums releases list of cultural gems stolen or looted

NEW YORK (AFP).- Besides killing more than 100,000 people, Syria’s civil war is exacting another irreparable toll as historic sites and artworks are looted or destroyed in the fighting. An emergency list of endangered artworks was released Wednesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The initiative stems from the International Council of Museums, in collaboration with UNESCO and the US State Department. “Major Syrian sites have been destroyed or damaged in two years. In Apamea, a Roman city in [...]

New York art dealer Glafira Rosales pleads guilty to hawking fake Pollocks, Rothkos

NEW YORK (AFP).- An art dealer acknowledged Monday in New York that for nearly 15 years she sold counterfeit paintings to two of the city’s top galleries, which earned more than $80 million for them. Glafira Rosales, 57, pleaded guilty before a federal judge in a court saga that has played out for nearly two years. Between 1994 and 2009, Rosales sold 63 previously unknown works that she claimed were by such artists as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, [...]

Romania court adjourns Dutch art heist trial; Suspect offers to return paintings

BUCHAREST (AFP).- A Bucharest court on Tuesday adjourned the trial of six Romanians charged with a spectacular theft from a Dutch museum, including masterpieces by Monet, Picasso and Gauguin that are now feared to have been burned. Immediately after opening proceedings, the court president postponed the trial to September 10 to allow more time for legal issues to be examined, including bail requests. It took less than three minutes for the thieves to take seven works by some of the world’s most [...]

Romanian art expert Mariana Dragu was key witness in Dutch art heist probe

BUCHAREST (AFP).- A Romanian art expert said Monday she helped police identify the suspects of a spectacular heist from a Dutch museum after she was asked to appraise two paintings in 2012. In an interview with Romanian daily Adevarul and Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Mariana Dragu of Romania’s National Art Museum said she “felt she had to do something” when she realised that the paintings she had seen were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. A total of seven masterpieces including [...]

Six Romanians accused of huge art heist at the Kunsthal museum go on trial Tuesday

BUCHAREST (AFP).- The trial of six Romanians accused of being behind one of the most spectacular art thefts ever begins in Bucharest on Tuesday amid fears that masterpieces by Monet, Picasso and Gauguin may have been burned and lost forever. The mother of the main suspect told police she had destroyed the paintings by torching them in a stove, a statement she later retracted. The fate of the paintings remains unclear. It took less than three minutes for the thieves to take [...]