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June 26, 2011

History of Art Vandalism: The 1985 Destruction of Rembrandt's "Danaë" at The Hermitage Museum

Rembrandt's Danaë, Oil on Canvas, 185x202.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum
by Kirsten Hower, ARCA Blog Contributor

While Greek mythology may not claim her as the most beautiful woman in the world, she is certainly one of Rembrandt’s most beautiful women: Danaë. Voluptuous and naked, she reclines across the eight-by-ten canvas, looking into the distance beyond the frame of the painting. This painting may not be Rembrandt’s most famous work or even his most famous painting of a female, but the Danaë has certainly drawn attention from scholars and vandals alike.

While scholars may be fascinated by the beauty and technique of Rembrandt’s peculiar but stunning Danaë, there are others that are not quite as fond of this painting. On June 15, 1985, while hanging on the walls of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Danaë was attacked by Bronius Maigys, then 48 years old, who threw sulfuric acid on the painting and attacked it with a knife.  Maigys was later judged insane, and some say targeted the Hermitage as a symbol of Russian state power.  Maigys spent six years at the Cherniachovsk psychiatric hospital in the Kaliningrad Region. While museum staff attempted to take quick action, (the Hermitage’s restoration staff were not on duty at the time) the painting had been badly damaged and to this day is not the same. Conservators struggled with the ethics of repainting the damaged parts of the painting but decided against full restoration (meaning repainting the parts that had been damaged) because it would mean that the painting was no longer a true Rembrandt:
In the resulting painting, ‘some parts are 100 percent Rembrandt, some are 50 percent Rembrandt, and some had to be redone,’ Mr. Gerasimov [a staff member of the Hermitage] said. ‘The left thigh is slightly restored. The right arm was 90 percent damaged but is now back to normal. The pearls were intact, but the jewels needed work. What the visitor sees is not ‘the original,’ and we would never put it forward as such. But the spirit of Rembrandt is intact.’

Classical mythology tells us the story of Danaë, daughter of King Acrisius of Argos who was told of a prophecy that his grandchild would kill him. To keep this from happening, Acrisius had his daughter locked in a tower in which no one could get to her. However, he had not considered the infamous lust of Zeus, who was thoroughly in lust with Acrisius’ beautiful daughter. The god of thunder changed himself into a golden rain and fell on Danaë, impregnating her with a son who would become as famous as his mother: Perseus.

The part of the story depicted in Rembrandt’s painting is not entirely clear. Danaë’s upraised hand, as if she is warding someone off or welcoming them forward, suggests that there is someone beyond our field of vision. Even the older maid, partially hidden behind the curtains of Danaë’s luxurious bed, is looking in the same direction of Danaë. Did Rembrandt defer from the traditional story and imply the appearance of Zeus in another form to Danaë in her confinement? Is that the scene that the two women are looking towards?

The appearance of a maidservant is not traditionally a part of the story either. However, realistically, her appearance is not all that surprising: even in confinement a princess would be likely to have a maidservant to take care of her. While there is this practicality to her appearance, she also serves a second purpose which is to emphasize the beauty of Danaë. The wrinkled, leathery skin of the maid is a perfect foil for the soft, pale beauty of Danaë who is almost entirely exposed to the viewer. Only her lower legs are hidden from view, creating a sensual figure moments before seduction.

The appearance of the cupid above Danaë’s head is also interesting, though not unusual. Both Titian and Correggio depicted their Danaës accompanied by angels as the golden rain fell upon them. However, this golden cupid, with a tortured expression upon his face, is completely gold and could be interpreted as representing the golden rain which impregnated Danaë. His expression is a bit troublesome though unless it is meant to allude to the fact that Danaë was impregnated without her consent. If not for this reason, then what reason is there for his tortured expression?

While she may not be the same Danaë that Rembrandt painted, the essence is still there—despite being attacked by a ‘madman’ with undisclosed motives. Was it the nudity that inspired some religious-driven attempt to destroy a woman representative of tales of pagan lust? We may never know.

Source:
John Russell, "Healing a Disfigured Rembrandt's Wounds," The New York Times, August 31, 1997.

WSJ Reports on "The Barnes Foundation's Art: The $25Billion Art Move"

The June 24th Wall Street Journal online published a story, "The Barnes Foundation's Art: The $25 Billion Art Move", about the move after the Fourth of July of the art in the Barnes Foundation at the museum in the outskirts of Philadelphia to downtown. The Barnes Foundation has been involved in a long legal battle to accomplish this move and now it's here. ARCA's founder Noah Charney comments on museum security. You can read the article here.  The new museum will open in May 2012.

June 25, 2011

LA Times' Jason Flech on "Can Whitey Bulger help solve biggest art heist in U. S. History?"

Los Angeles Times reporter Jason Flech has written an article, "Can Whitey Bulger help solve the biggest art heist in U.S. history?", which talks about why robbing the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990 would not have been the type of crime Bulger would have committed; the hope that Bulger does know who did the theft; and what publicity could do to recover the paintings. Jason Flech is the co-author of "Chasing Aphrodite", the story of The Getty, stolen antiquities, and the fall of Marion True.

Image to the left copied from the article as published by The Los Angeles Times online.

The Business of Art Authentication

After reading the ARCA blog post about the Picasso Foundation's authentication of an electrician's hoard of Picasso art, John Daab, contributor to the Journal of Art Crime, sent a link to a series of his articles, Art Authentication Boards: Another Element of Chaos in the Fine Art Industry.

Dr. Daab writes in his introduction:
As technology takes many industries to the heights of efficiency, effectiveness and control, the fine art industry seems to be moving to greater levels of disorganization, inefficiency, and chaos. We observe works deteriorating and on the verge of collapse and disintegration being purchased for millions of dollars, families of artists being allowed to create and sign works of the dead, and art authentication boards offering authentication conclusions only to recant their original conclusions after buyers purchase the works. The consequences of the above processes result in law suits unnecessarily costing millions of dollars and rendering such works as specious and of questionable value. This article examines art authentication boards, how they operate, and how they could be made more efficient, and transparent.
Tom Flynn, an ARCA lecturer on the practices in the art market, recently wrote about "The Wildenstein Era will end and the art market will benefit."

June 24, 2011

Friday, June 24, 2011 - , No comments

Missing Farrah Fawcett Portrait by Andy Warhol Seen in Ryan O'Neal's Television Show

Farrah Fawcett by Andy Warhol
by René M. Du Terroil, ARCA Blog Contributor

Update: ARTINFO.com has a column on the Andy Warhold Farrah Fawcett shown on O'Neal's reality television show.

A well-known portrait of Farrah Fawcett by Andy Warhol may have been found at the home of the late actress' longtime boyfriend, actor Ryan O'Neal. The photograph, which Fawcett had willed to the University of Texas, had been missing since her death in 2009. Investigators and friends noticed what appears to be the image hanging above O'Neal's bed in his new show Ryan & Tatum: The O'Neals. O'Neal, who was not named in Fawcett's will, is alleged to have been attempting to control the actress' estate, but insists there was no wrongdoing on his part. For more intrigue, watch the full story in the video below:


In Less than 10 Minutes, FBI's "Most Wanted" James "Whitey" Bulger Agreed to be Held Without Bail and to Be Sent Back to Boston

Assistant U. S. Attorney Robert Dugdale speaks to the press
 after the arraignment of James "Whitey" Bulger
 and his girlfriend Catherine Grieg.
by Catherine Schofield Sezgin,
 ARCA Blog Editor-in-chief

LOS ANGELES, CA - In the U. S. District Court Arraignment Room 341, it took only six to seven minutes for James "Whitey" Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Grieg, to agree to be held without bail and to be sent back to Boston to face criminal charges he had fled more than 15 years ago. In addition, the fugitive who was thought to be living off of millions of dollars and who was once, albeit briefly, considered to be behind the world's largest art theft (the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum involving Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Storm of Gaililee), filled out the paperwork to get a court-appointed public defender.

Camera trucks lined along Judge John Aiso St.
 just south of the Edward Roybal Federal Building
 in downtown Los Angeles.
The hearing, which began fairly promptly at about 2 p.m. was over by 2:14 p.m. Only 22 seats in room 341 had been allowed and journalists had a problem getting in, lining outside the hearing room, corralled by the U. S. Marshalls. One woman sitting on a bench outside the arraignment room, complained loudly on her cell phone that she had been waiting since 9:30 this morning to enter the room, but that she and her friend had been excluded from those let into the hearing room. She was one of the many family members waiting for the others regularly scheduled to see the judge (after Bulger and Grieg had seen the judge, the family members were counted by the U. S. Marshalls and told to go sit back down until they were called again, apparently to be seated after the media had vacated the court room).

One male journalist from ABC actually left the hearing room before it began to give up his seat for other print journalists. He explained to the line of journalists against the wall that his company already had radio and TV representatives in the room. Another journalist along the wall was told that if he was seeing giving a stare down again, he'd be removed from the building.

A reporter for Channel 7 in Boston left the hearing room and phoned in his observations: Bulger had been 'unfazed'... his 60-year-old girlfriend looked 75 even with her unlined surgically altered complexion because her hair was so white and she looked so thin...Bulger was unrecognizable ... Bulger answered the questions clearly. He agreed to be immediately "forthwith" transported by the U. S. Marshall Service back to Boston to face charges.

The U. S. Magistrate Judge was John McDermott and he was from Los Angeles as were all the personnel involved with the case. However, many of the press had boarded an early morning flight in Boston to arrive in Los Angeles for the afternoon hearing.

On the street, credit was given to the FBI for publicizing the image of Bulger's girlfriend on television shows purportedly of interest to women who might frequent beauty salons and other places that Bulger's girlfriend would visit -- the FBI played to the tendency for women to pay attention to how other women look.

Here are some updated links:

according to ABC, Whitey Bulger has lived in Santa Monica since 1996;

and Channel 7 in Boston filed it's report here online;

and to the Financial Times for how the FBI advertised for a fugitive's girlfriend.

Judge Arthur Tompkins, one of our ARCA Lecturers, just send me an email highlighting an anecdote in The New York Times about the lifestyle of a fugitive:
Janus Goodwin, 61, who lived on the same floor as Mr. Bulger and Ms. Greig, came to know the couple in 1999. She said Mr. Bulger rarely left the apartment. 
“When I would be invited in, he would always be lying on the sofa, watching TV,” Ms. Goodwin said. “He was very proud of his little art pieces, which were cheap knockoffs of Monet and Van Gogh.”
Judge Tompkins writes: "Makes you wonder, in an idle moment, if he had a stray but genuine Rembrandt or Vermeer lurking around somewhere ..."

Osama Bin Laden is dead, James "Whitey" Bulger has been captured, it would be nice if the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum found its stolen paintings.

June 23, 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011 - , No comments

James "Whitey" Bulger Scheduled to Appear in the Federal District Court (Central District) at 2 p.m. in Los Angeles

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief

James "Whitey" Bulger will appear at 3 p.m. today in the Federal District Court (Central District) in Los Angeles. The Irish-American gangster is rumored to have attended mass at  Saint Monica Catholic Church, the most popular parish for the Westside of Los Angeles and a place of worship for many politicians and law enforcement.

This is the FBI's press release -- quite understated -- released today:

FBI Agents have arrested Top Ten Fugitive, James J. "Whitey" Bulger, and his companion, Catherine Greig, in California.

Recent publicity produced a tip which led agents to Santa Monica, California, where they located both Bulger and Greig at a residence early this evening.
Bulger and Greig were arrested without incident. Both are currently scheduled for an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California (downtown Los Angeles) on Thursday.
Here are some more links on the story, highlighting the FBI's successful publicity campaign to find the fugitive and his beauty-salon loving girlfriend: 





Thursday, June 23, 2011 - No comments

ARCA Job Announcement

ARCA (The Association for Research into Crimes against Art) is seeking to hire a full-time Chief Executive Officer. This is an exciting new position within the organization to sustain ARCA’s recent growth and facilitate future plans for expansion. As a small, virtual organization, ARCA is looking for a dynamic and proactive individual with adaptable skills that can handle all aspects of the organization—from writing strategic plans to posting envelopes. Reporting directly to the Board of Trustees, the CEO has first-line responsibility for the administration and general management of ARCA and its projects, as well as, organizational development and fundraising. The CEO is expected to broaden and diversify the sources of financial support and substantially increase annual revenue.

ARCA is a non-profit organization which researches contemporary issues in art crime and cultural heritage protection. ARCA’s mission is to serve as a resource of knowledge and expertise necessary to increase the security and integrity of all art and cultural works. As an interdisciplinary group, ARCA aims to bridge the gap between the practical and theoretical elements of this global issue. ARCA’s main activities include: running the Postgraduate Certificate Program in International Art Crime and Cultural Property Protection in Amelia, Italy; publishing the Journal of Art Crime and other relevant publications; hosting the Annual Art Crime Conference; and sponsoring lectures and other educational programs.

For the specific duties, responsibilities, and candidate requirements please view the full job announcement. (View the full job description and details here).

To Apply: please email a cover letter and resume to jonifincham"at"gmail.com with the subject line: "ARCA CEO Application" by Friday, July 22, 2011.


Spoiler Alert: FBI's Most Wanted James "Whitey" Bulger Has Been Arrested in Santa Monica, CA

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-chief


UPDATE: The New York Times reported that Bulger and his girlfriend Catherine Greig were arrested at a private residence.  The FBI had launched a specific campagin to find Greig who frequented places offering teeth cleaning, beauty salons and plastic surgery.

The Los Angeles Times reported at 8:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time that the FBI arrested James "Whitey" Bulger this evening in Santa Monica, California. The former FBI informant and Boston criminal has been a fugitive since 1994. Bulger became the most wanted after the death of Osama Bin Laden. A $2 million reward was offered for information leading to his arrest.

The FBI has not yet released an official press release but their website for their "Ten Most Wanted" shows "Captured" under Bulger's photo.

In Ulrich Boser's book, The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft, the author reports that at the time of the 1990 theft of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, that "Bulger was one of the most powerful gangsters in Boston, the head of the infamous Irish-American mob, the Winter Hill Gang, and during the 1970s and '80s, Bulger controlled the New England underworld with savage brutality."

Basically, although Bulger was not thought to have orchestrated the largest art theft in American history, such a crime could not have happened in Boston without him knowing about it. Maybe the 81-year-old Bulger would be willing to exchange information about the location of the paintings in exchange for leniency?

We can only hope.

Image of James "Whitey" Bulger above is from the FBI website.

June 22, 2011

The Electrician, 271 Picasso Artworks and the Picasso Foundation: Gift or Theft?

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-chief

Under the headline "La succession Picasso sous tension", Veteran journalist Vincent Noce reported in  Libération that 271 works by Pablo Picasso were 'discovered' when a retired electrician and his wife asked Claude Picasso, the administrator of the Picasso Foundation, for certificates of authenticity for the artwork in their possession.

Noce reports that Claude Picasso, the artist's son by his mistress Françoise Gilot, received a letter on January 14, 2010, from Pierre Le Guennec requesting certificates of authenticity for 26 previously unpublished photographs of works by Picasso. Le Guennec sent another 39 photographs of artworks by Picasso in March and another 30 in April. Noce reports that none of these images matched any previously known works by Pablo Picasso and that Claude Picasso said he could not issue any certificates of authenticity based upon images of the artworks.

So, on September 9, a couple in their 70s from the Côte d'Azur brought a suitcase to the offices of the Picasso Administration on rue Volney in Paris' 2nd arrondissement (just a couple of streets north of the Ritz at the Place Vendôme). For three hours, Noce reports, Claude scrutinized contents of the luggage. The works were allegedly from the period of 1900 to 1932, the years after the artist arrived from Barcelona and had his celebrated first great retrospectives. The artworks had not been included in the inventory of the Picasso estate: nine "cubist collages" worth 40 million euros alone, "these "proverbs in painting" of which the founder of Dada and essayist Tristan Tzara talked about, made in 1912, very fragile, and of which were believed to have been destroyed when Picasso's studio in Montrouge flooded. Also there was a watercolor from Picasso's Blue Period, gouaches, some studies for oil paintings, that we can report to his essays of summer 1920 in his own handwriting, 30 lithographies he had done that year, and more than 200 drawings of his first wife Olga, the arabesques of 15 for the Study of the Three Graces from 1923; a dogfight, a crucifixion, satyrs, and rare landscapes. The fragile cubist collages from 1912, described as "painted proverbs", were thought to have been lost when Picasso's studio in Montrouge was flooded.

Noce asks if these works could be brilliantly executed fakes but reports that those experts who saw the works claim that it would be impossible to reach such a degree of control in so many different techniques. In addition, some of the works are numbered. In 1935, Picasso, in considering a divorce from Olga, had asked his art dealer, Paul Rosenberg, to inventory his work. The boxes remained in the apartment on the Rue La Boetie that Rosenberg had found near his gallery for Pablo and Olga until they were moved to the villa that Picasso bought in Cannes in 1955 where they remained until his death in 1973. Pierre Le Guennec worked as an electrician for Picasso during the last three years of his life, including installing alarm systems.

Pablo Picasso's six heirs filed a complaint on September 23, 2010, against Le Guennec and his wife for concealment, or basically holding stolen property. On October 5, L'office central de lutte contre le trafic des biens culturels (OCBC) [in English it's known as the Central Office for Fighting Against Trafficking in Cultural Property], led by Colonel Stéphane Gauffeny, went to the home of Le Guennec in Mouans-Sartoux (Alpes-Maritimes) and seized the collection of Picasso artworks and put them in the vault of the OCBC in Nanterre.

Noce reports that the Picasso family does not believe that Picasso or his wife Jacqueline would have given the artworks to the electrician. Picasso is said to have repurchased some of his own artwork, since as the first painting he had done of a bullfighter when he was eight years old.

Noce writes that the Picasso family is prepared to engage in a great legal battle to protect the legacy of Pablo Picasso. The question Noce asks is why was this treasure kept in solitary confinement for four decades. Noce wonders if keeping these artworks quiet was a way to avoid criminal prosecution (a limit of three years) or civil liability (a limit of 30 years).

Le Guennec was taken into custody by the police, then released, and sometime soon will have to go to court to explain how he came into possession of these artworks.

After the recent coverage of this story in ARTINFO, "Picasso's Electrician Indicted for Harboring Allegedly Stolen Cache of the Master's Art," I contacted a family friend, a retired French bank employee living in Nice, and asked him about his thoughts on the case.  I found them interesting, and with his permission, I publish them now:
First reaction: for what possible reason would anyone keep stolen property for 40 years without trying to sell it? Theft is for gain. But not always monetary gain. There are those who steal to increase a collection (a story about 10 years back of a man who had been robbing a museum for years to increase his collection) but that doesn't appear to be the case here. 
Secondly, the presumption of innocence in France is a legal obligation, and it is highly unlikely that a court would leak to the press a presumption of guilt. So the article covering the event is slanted. I wonder why? 
Thirdly, if nobody knew these works existed, how can you prove they were stolen? And by whom? The electrician? Obviously not for gain, or he would probably have tried to sell them quietly one at a time. 
What is important, and what will never be known, is what he artist himself thought of the works. 
Example. I write music. From time to time I dig up a piece written years ago - and find it is sonic rubbish. So I rewrite it or throw it away. If by chance I had left the score of one of those pieces with someone, would that person be accused of theft 40 years after my death? (If by chance I have left an unfinished concerto at your place, either blow your nose with it, or stick it in the loo in case you run out of paper.) But suppose I became famous. Would the art world accept my opinion of the said rubbish, or would it become priceless just because it was composed by me? Imagine that an unpublished and unknown score by Mozart were discovered. Musicians would quzuz up to play it, regardless of its musical value. (And no, not everything that Wolfie wrote was a work of genius). What gives value to a work is the signature. If you visit the Picasso museum at Antibes you will find a room of decorated plates. And even if you proved that one of the plates was the work of 7 year old Georges Dupont, the art world would ignore you or disbelieve you. 
It seems that not all the works bore the signature of the artist. 
Suppose the electrician is telling the truth, and Picasso, or more likely his late wife gave away the works, considering them as sub standard. Or even possibly as thanks for an unsubmitted invoice. In that case, is someone currently trying to appropriate the works without paying the owner a fair market price? 
It is easy to pick holes in someone's evidence about a long past event. Can anyone clearly and concisely describe a 40 year old event in his or her life? Put yourselves in the place of this electrician and his wife being grilled by the police. Their word is being doubted. Nobody has informed us of what the electrician and his wife thought of the artistic value of the works. Suppose they considered them merely as keepsakes or mementos of a kind old employer. And if they really had stolen the works would they be stupid enough to ask the potential owners what they were worth? The couple state that in view of their age, they are just trying to put their estate in order for the benefit of their children. 
There just isn't enough information in this affair to come to any conclusion. So the only thing that is talking is money. And if it talks loud enough, sometimes it silences justice.