Police stepped up their search for a valuable painting which was stolen from a museum in Cairo. The painting taken was a Van Gogh original valued at approximately $55 million. The museum was reported to have had surveillance cameras and an alarm system but these were not functional.
The Mahmoud Khalil museum reported last Saturday that the “Poppy Flowers” was cut out of its frame.
Police say they are taking all means possible and are controlling the air and sea ports in order to grab a hold of the criminal. They are also interrogating the museum staff and have mentioned that state prosecutors have done the same as well.
A police officer told reporters that the cameras and alarm have long been out of order. Museum officials told them that they were trying to canvass some spare parts but haven’t managed to do so.
Abdel Meguid Mahmud, the prosecutor general, confirmed the allegations that the security at the museum was lax. He even called them inadequate and a facade. He says that only seven out of the forty three cameras are working. Even more surprising is that each painting has its own alarm but not one of them is functioning.
Mahmud also reiterated the need to increase the security in properties in Cairo. Last March 2009, nine paintings were stolen from a museum in northern Cairo called Ali Pasha’s palace.
Two Italians were reported to have been arrested on charges of trying to smuggle the painting out but the report was quickly withdrawn as it was said to be a result of inaccurate information.
Art dealers are looking into how they can get one of the most valuable paintings in Wales valued around £40m. The painting by Rembrandt is called Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet and is currently on display in Gwynedd at the Penrhyn Castle in Bangor.
Stephen Somerville, the art adviser to the Penrhyn Settled Estates, said that over the last month he has received three calls regarding the painting.
Three years ago the Dutch Culture Ministry attempted to purchase the painting for an Amsterdam museum but they were unable to come up with enough funds for the high £40m price tag. After negotiating for six months, the museum was forced to pull out with only £26.4m available in funds.
Somerville stated that even though the painting is not actively available on the market as part of his job responsibilities he does pass on interest and inquiries to the Penrhyn Settled Estates Trust. The trust acts for the Douglas Pennant family who originally owned the Rembrant and is its true owners.
The family also owns the castle and trustee and poet Richard Douglass Pennant still lives on the castle grounds along with his wife although the home itself is actually owned now by the National Trust.
Somerville stated that during last month while he was in Italy he received three inquiries about the painting from agents and dealers that stated they wanted to get a client intrigued in purchasing it. As of the moment he added that that nothing had happened any further with the inquiries.
The last painting the Douglass Pennant family sold was the Jan Steen piece, The Burgomaster of Delft.
Almost two years ago Lehman Brothers were the largest victim of the financial fallout when the titan collapsed and fell off Wall Street. Although time has passed, administrators are still sorting through the mess as they are working to start auctioning off the art collection from the company in an effort to pay some of its creditors back.
Christie’s will hold the auction as denoted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and sell off a large amount of precious porcelain, paintings, and sketches that used to adorn its old Canary Wharf headquarters.
Even more as part of an attempt to get as much money as possible out of the auction old cigar boxes, tea caddies, and books from the headquarters will also be listed on the auction.
Those who want a more obvious piece of the company can bid on the building’s front sign predicted to go for anywhere from £2,000 to £3,000.
Back before the credit crisis, Lehman would entertain its top guests and clients by treating to the gallery of the London hallways and then offering them a gourmet lunch.
The auction for the Lehman goods is scheduled for September 29th with 300 lots on the rooster.
Included in the collection will be Gary Hume’s Madonna, which is estimated to fetch anywhere from £70,000 to £100,000 and works by the old masters as well such as Thomas Luny’s Dover Coast expected to fetch from £10,000 to £15,000.
PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Barry Gilbertson stated that there are many people spread out throughout the world that would love to have their hands on a piece of art from the Lehman connection.
Lawrence B. Salander, art dealer, co-owner of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries in New York and confessed fraud and thief who lived very well indeed on his unearned income, was sentenced Tuesday to six to eighteen years in prison and ordered to pay more than $114 million in restitution.
The 60-year-old Salander was arrested on suspicion of grand larceny and fraud in March last year, and was indicted on at least 100 counts of various crimes including perjury, scheming to defraud and forgery as well as grand theft amounting to $88 million and possibly more.
The ‘noted art dealer’ with a highly rated gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side apparently began his nefarious schemes several years ago, according to prosecuting attorneys. Salander was ‘in the habit’ of selling artwork that did not belong to him, and also selling the same item to more than one buyer.
During the final court proceedings on Tuesday, one after another of Salander’s victims rose to call for his conviction, and for a harsher sentence than that handed down by Justice Michael J. Obus.
Included among the number of those who suffered losses due to Salander’s criminal activities were such well-known public figures as tennis star John McEnroe and Robert De Niro Sr., father of the noted actor and an artist himself.
McEnroe said he had paid $162,500 to Salander and the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries that he expected them to use as investment in art that would be sold at a profit, but McEnroe himself never profited. De Niro was one of several noted contemporary American artists whose work was sold by Salander as his own property.
Attorney for the defendant Charles A. Ross told the court that his client was genuinely repentant, and argued for a lesser sentence, but the victims seem to feel that Salander is sorry only because he got caught.
Californian antique enthusiast Rick Norsigian knew that he wanted when he started sifting through an old garage in Fresno in 2000. He was in search of an old vintage barber’s chair to add to his already unique collection of petrol pumps, telephone switchboards, and aeroplanes propellers.
While the chair turned out to be a waste of time, Norsigian stumbled onto something else that changed his life and pocketbook when he found two antique glass negatives that according to an art appraiser from Beverly Hills were created by Ansel Adams.
In order to get the lot, Norsigian a painter and construction worker, bargained the lot down to a $45 value, however according to the appraiser his find may be worth over £129m.
Arnold Peter, his attorney, stated that a team of experts took a close look at the negatives and decided that there were 65 negatives that were from Adam’s early work taken between the time period of 1919 and the 1930s and were negatives that were rescued from a home fire in 1937. Adams was said to be heartbroken after the fire occurred as it destroyed about a third of his photos.
Adams’ is known for his portraits of the American West in black and white photos that are now easily recognizable from many posters and US greeting cards. His work helped place photography on the same pedestal as music and painting and also helped to drive the US national park movement.
Peter said that there is no direct authority that can determine the authenticity of photos so they decided to look at all the evidence they could from a scientific viewpoint and everything they have found proves the negatives are indeed those of Ansel Adams.
Six proposals have been considered as the next artwork to grace London’s Trafalgar Square on the Fourth Plinth. Two of the prospect ideas came from the duo groups of Cuba’s Guillermo Calzadilla and the US’s Jennifer Allora and the group of Norwegian Ingar Dragset and Denmark’s Michael Elmgreen.
Other artists that are under consideration include Londoner Brian Griffiths, Edinburgh Hew Locke, and Germans Mariele Neudecker and Katharina Fritsch. Mayor Boris Johnson will announce the winner at the beginning of 2011, with the work due for installation in 2012.
Currently Yinka Shonibare’s ‘Ship in a Bottle’ is the occupant of the space. The work was unveiled last May and is a too scale replica of the HMS Victory that commemorates both the 50th year of independence in Nigeria and the Battle of Trafalgar.
The ship took the place of a statue of WWII war hero Sir Keith Park and a project by Antony Gormley that allowed the public to talk to crowds from the plinth.
Scale models of each work to reach the shortlist will be on display at the church next to St. Martin in the Fields starting on August 19th.
Ekow Eshun, the chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group stated that his colleagues were excited by the shortlist which includes many top artists from many different nations.
Two men behind a 2007 controversial Moscow art exhibition were found guilty in a Russian court of inciting hatred. Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev set up the questionable exhibition entitled Forbidden Art in Moscow at the Sakharov Museum. The men were both fined for the exhibit.
The show was condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church and many others for artworks such as one that showed Jesus Christ depicted with a head of Mickey Mouse. In another painting Jesus Christ was painted with a head that was the Order of Lenin medal.
Also within the exhibition was a spoof Coca-Cola ad that had the slogan ‘This is my blood’ painted within it that a visitor could see by looking through peep holes.
The two men, the former director of the museum, Samodurov, and Yerofeyev, an art expert, stated that they put together the exhibition in an effort to fight the art censorship that exists within Russia.
Prosecutors launched a formal investigation after a complaint was filed by an Orthodox group.
Samodurov received a fine of £4,300 and Yerofeyev received a fine of £3,200.
The trial started in April of 2009 and faced criticism not only from the Orthodox church but also those within the art community with 13 renowned Russian artists bonding together to write a letter to the Russian President Dimitry Medvedev asking him to halt the trial explaining a guilty verdict would rock the contemporary Russian art world.
Amnesty International also released a statement last week stating that a guilty verdict would hurt the status of freedom of expression within Russia.
However, the legal action was defended by the Council of People who issued the complaint that spurred the trial.
Hever Castle and The Quilters’ Guild will be hosting their 19th Annual Patchwork & Quilting Exhibition in the castle grounds from 3rd to 5th September.
Members of The Quilters’ Guild from across Kent, Surrey and Sussex will be showcasing their talent with a display of over 200 patchwork quilts and wall hangings. Visitors will be treated to a vibrant array of designs from the traditional to the contemporary, including British and American styles, sampler quilts and wall hangings using innovative techniques in hand and machine work and appliqué. This year Dinah Travis, Pat Salt and the Horsham Quilters have been specially invited to exhibit their work.
Throughout the weekend, members of The Quilters’ Guild will be presenting a full programme of demonstrations on patchwork and quilting techniques, from basic construction to intricate needlework. Visitors will also be able to browse a selection of trade stalls selling designs, equipment, fabrics and haberdashery.
This year, members of The Quilters’ Guild from across the British Isles have been invited to enter the Hever Challenge and take inspiration from the theme of ‘My Favourite Artist’. Awards will be presented for the most outstanding entries and visitors are encouraged to vote for their favourite quilt from the entire exhibition to be awarded the accolade of ‘visitors’ favourite’.
Visitors can also take the opportunity to indulge themselves in the calm and elegant surroundings of the beautifully renovated Guthrie Pavilion Restaurant. Situated in the Italian Gardens with delightful views across the lake, the resplendent Guthrie Pavilion now has a multi-vaulted ceiling letting in natural sunlight, stylish furnishings and an oak floor. Outside, stone columns and an English oak pergola – using wood locally sourced from the castle’s estate – perfectly complement the sandstone-paved terrace. Visitors can choose between light refreshments in the café area or enjoy a relaxed table service in the restaurant.
Event Details
Normal rates of admission apply. No extra charge for this event. Exhibition open 11am – 5pm
Gardens open at 10.30am; Castle opens at 12pm. Last admission 5pm; final exit 6pm.
Admission: Castle & Gardens – Adults £13.00; Seniors £11.00 Children £7.00; Family ticket £33.00
Gardens only – Adults £10.50; Seniors £9.00, Children £6.50; Family ticket £27.50
The National Gallery opened a new exhibit that will help educate visitors on how to spot the difference between fakes and real paintings. The gallery will show the use of new technology to help prevent mistakes made in the past when dupes were purchased.
Called ‘Close Examination- Fakes, Mistakes, and Discoveries,’ the highlights techniques that are used to prevent and detect art fraud by conservators, scientists, and art historians.
One painting on display as a fraudulent purchase is ‘A Man with a Skull’ which when was purchased was thought to be painted by Hans Holbein. The painting was purchased in mid 19th century but tree ring dating showed that the painting was from after Holbein died.
The gallery also made a mistake when they purchased two Botticellis from the estate of Alexander Barker only to find that one of the paintings was in fact not a Botticelli.
Even though in the present day modern methods such as X-ray images and infrared imaging have helped identify paintings, fakery is still a large problem throughout the art world.
Marjorie Wieseman, exhibition co-curator, stated that it is now very hard to sell a fake because the art world is getting better at identifying forgers, but art is getting more expensive therefore the temptation and rewards for forgers is getting higher.
The art exhibition also shows how over time pieces of art are altered to fit the current standards of the time.
For example, ‘Woman at a Window,’ a painting from the 16th century was first painted with blonde hair and a sultry appearance, but she was altered during the Victorian ages to meet the more restrained tastes.
The always glorious art-nut Charles Saatchi has decided to offer his art gallery to the state by renaming the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea on King’s Road the Museum of Contemporary Art London. To top it off, the collector is going to offer 200 pieces of his own collection to the museum.
The gift is valued at £25m and will include some of the top highlights of his collection such as the Chapman brothers’ mannequins, Tracey Emin’s My Bed, and the installation of Richard Wilson titled 20:50.
The aim of Saatchi apparently is to leave a legacy behind him although the name will not be changed until 2012 and to create a museum that will live on according to the words of Rebecca Wilson the gallery director.
Given his name has always been a sensation, Saatchi is showing a lot of generosity by taking his name off of the marquee although most question if he can really explain the true meaning of contemporary art.
Also questionable is if MOCAL will be able to grow in a more formidable direction than the one that Saatchi founded or if the notable millionaire will continue to mandate the direction by his every whim and request.
While the contribution is quite generous, it is yet to be seen if it will be as ambitious of a donation as it seems at first.
Art dealers are looking into how they can get one of the most valuable paintings in Wales valued around £40m. The painting by Rembrandt is called Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet and is currently on display in Gwynedd at the Penrhyn Castle in Bangor.
Almost two years ago Lehman Brothers were the largest victim of the financial fallout when the titan collapsed and fell off Wall Street. Although time has passed, administrators are still sorting through the mess as they are working to start auctioning off the art collection from the company in an effort to pay some of its creditors back.
Lawrence B. Salander, art dealer, co-owner of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries in New York and confessed fraud and thief who lived very well indeed on his unearned income, was sentenced Tuesday to six to eighteen years in prison and ordered to pay more than $114 million in restitution.
Californian antique enthusiast Rick Norsigian knew that he wanted when he started sifting through an old garage in Fresno in 2000. He was in search of an old vintage barber’s chair to add to his already unique collection of petrol pumps, telephone switchboards, and aeroplanes propellers.
Six proposals have been considered as the next artwork to grace London’s Trafalgar Square on the Fourth Plinth. Two of the prospect ideas came from the duo groups of Cuba’s Guillermo Calzadilla and the US’s Jennifer Allora and the group of Norwegian Ingar Dragset and Denmark’s Michael Elmgreen.
Two men behind a 2007 controversial Moscow art exhibition were found guilty in a Russian court of inciting hatred. Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev set up the questionable exhibition entitled Forbidden Art in Moscow at the Sakharov Museum. The men were both fined for the exhibit.
The National Gallery opened a new exhibit that will help educate visitors on how to spot the difference between fakes and real paintings. The gallery will show the use of new technology to help prevent mistakes made in the past when dupes were purchased.
The always glorious art-nut Charles Saatchi has decided to offer his art gallery to the state by renaming the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea on King’s Road the Museum of Contemporary Art London. To top it off, the collector is going to offer 200 pieces of his own collection to the museum.