Lawsuit Says Over $100 Million Art Collection is Largest Holocaust Art Claim

WASHINGTON, DC.- Heirs to the Herzog Collection, the largest private art collection in Hungary prior to World War II, filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia late yesterday to seek the return of artworks illegally held by Hungary since the Holocaust. The heirs are also demanding a full and transparent inventory of looted art from the Herzog Collection held by Hungary, marking the first time a request of this nature has ever been made [...]

Vermont Man Jailed in Vandalization of Cow Sculptures

BURLINGTON (AP).- You’ve heard of cow tipping? It really happens: A community art project that installed 37 fiberglass cows in and around Vermont’s biggest city has been plagued by vandalism, leaving four men charged, one injured — the cow he tipped broke his foot — and sponsors beefing up security. In all, six of the 600-pound sculptures have been targeted by vandals since being installed in May. “These aren’t quickie, random acts of stupidity,” said Tom Torti, president of organizer [...]

Mexican Authorities Recover 144 Original Pre-Columbian Pieces and Colonial Religious Works

MEXICO CITY.- The largest recovery of cultural property that had been illegally removed from churches and archaeological sites in the country, some for the last nine years, was unveiled today by officials of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH-Conaculta) and the Attorney General the Republic (PGR). These are 14 colonial religious art works and 144 original pre-Columbian pieces, plus another 36 that are false. A selection of cultural artifacts rescued was presented to the media at the National [...]

Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí Wins Case Against Self-Named Dalí Museum in Berlin

BARCELONA.- In early 2009, the German company Dalí-Museum Berlin GmbH announced the opening, in February 2009 on Berlin’s Leipziger Platz, of a show entitled “DALÍ – DIE AUSSTELLUNG” (DALÍ – THE EXHIBITION) displaying graphic works and sculptures attributed to Salvador Dalí. The presentation of this eminently commercial exhibition of mainly serial works gave rise to confusion, mainly on account of the use of the definite article (“THE exhibition”) which appeared to indicate a special, unique official event. The company name [...]

Portinari Painting Stolen from Brazil Museum

SAO PAULO (AP).- Police say a painting by Candido Portinari, one of Brazil’s best-known painters, has been stolen from a museum. Inspector Manoel Martins says the 1959 painting “O Enterro,” or “The Burial,” is worth about 1.5 million reals ($850,000). Guards noticed it missing Wednesday from the Contemporary Art Museum in the northeastern city of Olinda. Martins said Thursday that police have no suspects. The museum, which has no internal security cameras, houses some 4,000 works of art including seven [...]

Two Russian Curators Plan Appeal Against Art Conviction

MOSCOW (REUTERS).- Two leading Russian art curators found guilty of extremism for an exhibition that angered Orthodox Christians said on Tuesday they would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. Moscow’s Tagansky court on Monday imposed fines of around $6,500 and $4,900 on Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev for their 2007 Forbidden Art exhibition, which mixed religious icons with sexual and pop-culture images. Among the exhibits were works depicting an Orthodox icon adorned with Mickey Mouse, a [...]

Moscow Curators Say their Trial is Political

MOSCOW (AP).- Two prominent Moscow art curators facing the prospect of three years in prison for an exhibit that offended the Russian Orthodox Church said on Thursday their trial has been a political show. Andrey Yerofeyevis seen in Moscow, Russia, in this photo dated Monday, July 5, 2010 The 2007 exhibit “Forbidden Art” set up by Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev featured paintings with images of Jesus Christ. In one, Christ appeared to his disciples as Mickey Mouse. In another [...]

Moscow curators face 3 years in prison

MOSCOW — One painting depicted Jesus Christ as Mickey Mouse, another as Vladimir Lenin. The 2007 exhibit was part of an effort to fight censorship of the arts, but the Russian Orthodox Church was horrified. Now, after a 14-month trial, the two prominent Moscow art curators who put on the show are facing the prospect of three years in prison. Artists and rights activists have appealed to the Kremlin to put a stop to the prosecution of Yury Samodurov and [...]

Prison Term for Monet Painting Thief in Poland

WARSAW (AP).- A court spokeswoman in western Poland says a man convicted in the theft of a Claude Monet painting valued at $7 million (euro 5.7 million) has been handed a three-year prison term. Agnieszka Weichert-Urban said that the regional court in Poznan sentenced the 41-year-old man on Thursday for cutting “Beach in Pourville” from its frame 10 years ago at the city’s National Museum and replacing it with a cardboard copy. The man has admitted the theft. The verdict, [...]

Caravaggio’s Judas Kiss stolen in Odessa two years ago likely found in Germany

Odessa.– A painting by Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo de Caravaggio The Taking of Christ or Judas Kiss stolen in Odessa is likely found in Germany. On June 25, three Ukrainian residents were detained there with the stolen painting. Today, the question of their extradition and the painting’s return to the museum is being settled, Ukrainian media told on Sunday evening with the reference to sources in the regional Ministry of Interior. Meanwhile, the Ministry’s regional administration and Odessa museum have [...]

Leading Tibetan Art Collector Gets 15 Years in Jail

BEIJING (REUTERS).- A Chinese court in the far western region of Xinjiang has sentenced a leading Tibetan collector of antiquities and environmentalist to 15 years in jail for robbing graves, his lawyer said on Friday. Karma Samdup was sentenced on Thursday for excavating and robbing ancient tombs, a charge brought and dropped in 1998, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang said. “He is innocent. They did not provide any evidence. It is a miscarriage of justice,” Pu told Reuters by telephone. The lawyer [...]

City and h’ART of BC Board Announce Plans to Protect Sculptures

Binghamton, New York.- City officials and the h’ART of BC Board this morning announced plans to protect the 22 sculptures recently installed around downtown Binghamton in honor of the late Johnny Hart, author of the “B.C.” cartoon strip. “The recent vandalizing of these sculptures has been very disappointing, but we won’t let the acts of a few ruin what should be a very positive experience for our entire community,” said Mayor Matt Ryan. “Since working closely over the last several [...]

United States Returns 7 Stolen Ancient Cambodian Sculptures

PHNOM PENH (AP).- The United States returned seven sculptures from the great Angkorian era on Thursday that had been smuggled out of Cambodia. Cambodian Buddhist monks blessed the artifacts during a handover ceremony at the port of Sihanoukville, said John Johnson, a U.S. embassy spokesman. The sandstone sculptures were recovered by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during an 2008 raid in Los Angeles. They arrived in Cambodia aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy on Tuesday, Johnson said. The Mercy [...]

Thieves steal one of Banksy’s famous rodents

Usually when a piece of graffiti is removed from a street, the residents are only too delighted to see the back of it. But when the urban painting is by “guerrilla artist” Banksy, it’s a different matter. Several years ago, when he was unknown, Banksy stencilled a black silhouette image of a rat bouncing a beach ball beneath a “No Ball Games” sign on a wall in Gloucester Gardens, Paddington. As his fame grew, the witty painting became a popular [...]

Early Mondrian Painting Stolen in Netherlands

AMSTERDAM (AP).- Police say a portrait painted by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian early in his career has been stolen from a museum in the Netherlands. Thieves apparently forced the doors at the Freriks Museum in the eastern town of Winterswijk in the early hours of Tuesday morning and took the painting, police say in a statement. The piece, Portrait of Arda Boogers, is dated to around 1908. It is a naturalistic portrait of a young woman, far different in style [...]