The Museum Security Mailing List of 10th September attached below carries two significant items of news with international legal implications relevant to museums:
(a) Mr Justice Moses decision in the High Court In London on 9th September to return a 17th Century work of art - looted from Gotha, Germany in 1945 - to the German Government.
(b) Decision by the Austrian Government to restore works of art stolen by the Nazis to their rightful owners.
Antony Anderson
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From: [log in to unmask][SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 10 September 1998 13:06
To: Museum Security Mailinglist
Subject: SEPTEMBER 10, 1998
http://museum-security.org/
SEPTEMBER 10, 1998
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CONTENTS:
- High Court sends looted Old Master back to Germany (Daily Telegraph
London
- 300,000 pictures 'are still missing' (Daily Telegraph London)
- Austria vows to restitute Nazi art loot (Reuters)
- Germany wins court battle for looted painting (Times of London)
(same subject as first article above)
- conference "Art, Antiquity, and the Law: Preserving Our Global
Cultural Heritage"
- Brazil to get art stolen by Nazis
- upcoming conference on stolen art (Jennifer Howard)
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High Court sends looted Old Master back to Germany (Daily Telegraph
London)
By Will Bennett, Art Sales Correspondent
A UKPounds:700,000 PAINTING looted after the Second World War was
returned to the German government by a High Court judge in London
yesterday in a test case with major implications for the art market.
Mr Justice Moses ruled that the 17th-century painting by the Dutch
mannerist artist Joachim Wtewael belonged to Germany rather than to a
Panamanian company, Cobert Finance, which bought it in 1989. Had the
company won the case, the way would have been cleared for a huge
quantity of missing war art to be sold openly, much of it in London,
capital of the art market.
The ruling on Wtewael's The Holy Family with Saints John and
Elizabeth and Angels revealed details of the nefarious trade in art
looted by all sides in the chaotic period at the end of the war.
Convicted Russian art smugglers gave evidence in the case.
Mr Justice Moses said that the painting was eventually taken out of
Moscow in 1987 by Big Mamma, the nickname of Mariouena Dikeni, wife of
the Togo ambassador to the Soviet Union. Mrs Dikeni had previously
smuggled works of art, including icons, out of Moscow.
She was contacted by a man who wanted to get the Wtewael to Berlin
and, after a meeting in an embassy car, she agreed to act as a
courier. She was to be paid UKPounds:28,000 when she handed the
painting over to a man called Fürst in West Berlin. But when she
returned to Moscow she claimed that she had left it with a relative
in Berlin. The painting then disappeared for a time before
resurfacing in London. The judge accused Cobert of lying and said
that Douglas Montgomery, one of its representatives, had been
associated with "the payment of what I regard as a bribe" to a
witness in the case. The 8in by 6in Old Master, painted on copper in
1603, was bought by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg in 1826. By the time of
Nazi Germany's collapse in 1945 it had been given by the duke's
family to the Ducal Foundation for Art and Science in Gotha. It
disappeared after the city was occupied by the Russians.
Cobert said that the picture was given to a Soviet colonel called
Kozlenkov, whose son sold it in Moscow in 1985. After passing through
two other owners it was bought by Cobert, which tried to sell it in
London. It was withdrawn from an auction at Sotheby's in 1992 after
doubts were raised about its provenance.
The German government contended that it had been stolen by Russian
soldiers and taken to the former Soviet Union, where it surfaced in
1986. Cobert argued that, whatever the history of the painting, the
German government had left it too late to claim it back under the 30
years limitation period set by its own laws.
But the judge ruled: "The law favours the true owner of property
which has been stolen, however long the period which has elapsed
since the original theft." He said that it would be against public
policy "to permit a party which admits it has not acted in good faith
to retain the advantage of lapse of time." He could not allow Cobert
"to succeed when, on its own admission, it knew or suspected that the
painting might be stolen".
The judge accused Cobert of having "deliberately and unconscionably
concealed facts" and said that by 1991 Mr Montgomery knew that the
painting had been stolen. He ruled that, in any case, the limitation
period ran only from 1987 when Mrs Dikeni "misappropriated" the
painting. The judge said: "Whether my conclusions will result in a
greater opportunity for those who enjoy Dutch mannerism or wish to
cultivate their antipathies, others will have to decide."
Dr Michael Carl, a German lawyer representing the Bonn government,
said after the hearing: "This is an important test case and such an
extraordinary story that they should make a film of it. I am delighted
at the outcome."
Pamela Kiesselbach, solicitor for Cobert, said: "We have to analyse
the judgment properly, but there is a possibility that we may appeal.
The company has no further comment at the moment."
The painting, which has been stored at Sotheby's while its future was
being decided and where the judge viewed it, will now be put on public
exhibition in Germany.
____________________________________
300,000 pictures 'are still missing' (Daily Telegraph London)
AS many as 300,000 important paintings looted by the Nazis during the
Second World War may still be missing.
Much of the art confiscated from Jews was shipped to the private
collections of German leaders such as Goering, but Impressionist
paintings, which the Nazis regarded as degenerate, were sent to
Switzerland and sold or exchanged for other works.
The Allies also looted art in Germany at the end of the war. Some
paintings were taken by American and British troops, but their
offences were minor compared to the mass theft undertaken by the
Russians. Individual Russian soldiers helped themselves to whatever
they could, but the large scale looting was done by special Red Army
"trophy brigades" ordered by Stalin to strip Germany.
The High Court hearing in London was told that one train in Leipzig
in eastern Germany was filled with 200 tons of paintings, books and
silver by a team of 60 Russian soldiers working for 10 days. Some of
the art taken by the Russians had been stolen from occupied western
Europe by the Germans earlier in the war.
But nobody knows exactly how much art is still missing, either hidden
in Russia or in private collections. The paintings which have never
been recovered include works by Titian, El Greco, Monet, Manet,
Renoir, Rubens and Van Dyck.
__________________________________________
Austria vows to restitute Nazi art loot (Reuters)
By Karin Taylor
VIENNA, Sept 9 - Austria said on Wednesday museums that
house hundreds of art works seized by the Nazis and not given back
after World War Two will return the objects to their rightful owners,
most of whom are Jews.
Most of the thousands of works of art confiscated by Hitler's regime
after Austria was annexed by the Third Reich in 1938 were restituted
in the post-war years.
But some were silently incorporated into Austrian museums or extorted
from their -- mainly Jewish -- exiled owners on grounds they could not
be shipped out of the country.
``The clear and determined political will is there to give back those
works of art that were held back because of the export ban (on art),''
Elisabeth Gehrer, Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs, told
reporters.
``We can say we are dealing with about 400-500 catalogue numbers,
whereby a number can also be a coin collection.''
Apart from paintings and coins, the objects in question include
sculptures, antique furniture, glassware, musical instruments and
weapons.
Research in museum archives show that Vienna's showcase Museum of the
History of Art has called 915 objects of doubtful origin its own for
over 50 years.
The Austrian Gallery Belvedere -- famous for its collection of
paintings by turn-of-the-century masters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele
-- also took its share of the pickings.
The gallery's possessions include 17 art works extorted from the
legendary Rothschild family after 1945, museum director Gerbert Frodl
told Reuters.
``Owners were not permitted to export their possessions. Museums said
owners could remove their collections if particular art works were
'donated,''' Frodl said.
``That was not exactly morally highstanding.''
Gehrer said authorities side-stepped a later restitution law which
stipulated that the export ban should not be applied to works of art
confiscated by the Nazis.
A draft law enabling the restitution of suspected objects of art will
be submitted to the government on Thursday for discussion.
``We want to document that at the end of the historically burdened
20th century we want to clear things up once and for all,'' said
Gehrer.
Parliament is expected to approve the law by the end of October,
enabling Austria to push ahead with restitution this year. Before
anything can be returned the claimant has to prove that he or she is
the legal heir of the rightful owner.
A full report on suspected art acquisitions in all 10 state museums
as well as the National Library is due within two months.
Austria launched an investigation into its state collections after
two paintings on loan to the Museum of Modern Art in New York from
the Leopold Foundation were confiscated by U.S. authorities in
January.
The two canvases by expressionist Egon Schiele, worth about 70
million schillings together, were claimed by the heirs of victims of
Hitler's Nazi regime.
The claims were rejected by a New York judge in May, but the case is
still pending and the controversy prompted Austria to take a critical
look at the acquisition of its museum exhibits and archives.
Frodl said the restitution process should get into swing as soon as
possible, although it would hurt to part with two particular baroque
reliefs in the Gallery Belvedere.
``The baroque reliefs are part of our permanent exhibition and would
leave a hole, but it would not be the end of the world.''
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.
______________________________________
Germany wins court battle for looted painting (Times of London)
A DUTCH Old Master looted from a German art gallery in the final
days of the Second World War must be returned to Germany, more than
50 years after it was stolen by the Red Army, the High Court ruled
yesterday.
The Holy Family with Angels and Saints by Joachim Wtewael, worth
UKPounds:700,000, was one of thousands of artworks stolen as war
trophies and distributed throughout the Soviet empire.
Yesterday's judgment was seen as a landmark decision with
far-reaching consequences for the international art market. Michael
Carl a solicitor who has worked on stolen art cases for 30 years,
said that dealers and auction houses would have to apply much
stricter legal standards when selling objects.
The story of how Wtewael's masterpiece of Dutch Mannerism made its
journey from a castle in Thuringia in 1946 to a Sotheby's art sale in
1992 has all the ingredients of a John le Carré novel.
The characters include a forerunner of the former KGB; "Big Mamma",
an ambassador's wife with a sideline in art smuggling; a
mafia-controlled Russian icon art ring; and a secretive
Panamanian-registered company, Cobert Finance SA, accused of
concealing vital information about its dealings.
Add to this allegations made in court that a key witness was paid
$10,000 (UKPounds:6,000) at a shady meeting in the foyer of the Savoy
Hotel in London last February and you have what Mr Justice Moses
understatedly described yesterday as a "very stimulating case".
During the three-week hearing, the High Court heard how the disputed
masterpiece - painted on copper in 1603 and measuring 8in by 6in - was
bought by Cobert Finance in 1989. It was put up for sale by Sotheby's
in 1992 but withdrawn when doubts were raised about its provenance.
The picture's pre-war history is not in dispute. From 1826, it was
owned by the dukes of Saxe-Coburg Gotha until the family was deposed
in 1918 and the picture transferred to a muncipal Foundation for Art
and Science. Historians who gave evidence concluded that the picture
was most likely removed from Thuringia in 1946 by a Russian trophy
brigade led by a Major Professor Alexeyev under the authority of
Soviet counter-intelligence.
In the mid-1980s the picture resurfaced on Moscow's thriving black
art market and at this point, accounts diverge.
Cobert Finance initially claimed that the picture was given to a
Latvian colonel in the Russian Army by a German family in return for
food. His son, they said, took it to Moscow in 1985 before selling it
to a Mr Sunguza who sold it in Berlin to a Mina Breslav who, finally,
sold it privately to Cobert in London in 1989. However, on the first
day of the trial, Cobert conceded that it had not acquired the
painting in good faith.
The Federal Republic of Germany gave a very different account of the
picture's tortuous progress across Europe, based on the evidence of
two Russian art smugglers. One, Alexander Makhin, told how he had
first seen the painting at the Moscow flat of two icon smugglers.
Makhin contacted a German, Helmut Fürst, who smuggled works of art
from the former Soviet Union. Makhin then said he had set up a meeting
in an embassy limousine between Furst and Mariouena Dikeni, the wife
of the Togo Ambassador in Moscow. Mrs Dikeni, also known as "Big
Mamma", agreed to act as courier but later claimed to the cultural
attache to the German Embassy in Togo that she had lost the picture to
the Berlin dealer who was selling it.
Mr Justice Moses said that thieves should not be able to prosper by
hiding behind European laws that put time limits on reclaiming stolen
property: "The law favours the true owner of property which has been
stolen, however long the period which has elapsed since the original
theft."
____________________________________
(ICOM-CC)
From: Become Allconf <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Conference on Cultural Property
Apologies for cross-posting.
Announcement: International Conference
"Art, Antiquity, and the Law: Preserving Our Global Cultural
Heritage" October 30 - November 1, 1998
The conference "Art, Antiquity, and the Law: Preserving Our Global
Cultural Heritage," to be held at Rutgers University in New Jersey on
Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1, 1998, will address major and
timely issues regarding the ownership and preservation of the
monuments, sites, artifacts, and works of art that comprise our
worldwide cultural heritage.
Speakers and panelists will include more than forty of the premier
international experts on cultural property, including archaeologists,
museum administrators, attorneys, art dealers, conservators, and
representatives of national and international agencies.
Cultural property specialists from Bosnia, China, Mali, Italy,
Mexico, the Ukraine, and the Middle East will present their problems
and successes in protecting the cultural heritage of their "art-rich"
nations. In addition, panels will consider the following topics:
Working Within/Working Without UNIDROIT; The Changing Role of
Museums; Theft, Forgery, and Illicit Traffic: Preventative
Strategies; Restoration, Reconstruction, Education; and Ethics Across
the Board: Toward Common Ground.
Admission is free of charge, but space is limited, and
pre-registration is required. For a registration form, or for more
information, please visit our web site at www.rci.rutgers.edu/~allconf
or contact Henriette Cohen, Global Programs, Rutgers University, phone
(732) 932-7263, fax (732) 932-6723, e-mail [log in to unmask]
Alison Poe
Rutgers University
[log in to unmask]
__________________________________
Brazil to get art stolen by Nazis
FOUR works of art, including paintings by Monet and Picasso, believed
to have been stolen by the Nazis, will be handed over to the Brazilian
government, according to a local newspaper. The daily Globo said rich
families in Sao Paulo would give up the paintings, valued at more than
UKPounds:3.5 million, to the Justice Ministry on Thursday.
The paintings are thought to have been taken to Brazil from Europe
after the Second World War, then sold. The Jewish World Congress,
which is investigating Nazi gold and art thefts, was involved in the
find, the newspaper said. Jeremy McDermott, Latin America
Correspondent
_____________________________________
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 14:48:15 -0400
Subject: Re: SEPTEMBER 6, 1998
Hello--
Does anyone know any details on the upcoming conference on stolen art
that's supposed to be held in Washington, DC this fall? When it's
being held, who's sponsoring it, etc.? Any details welcome. Thanks
very much. Jennifer Howard [log in to unmask]
__________________________________
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