Link to Radio New Zealand's Interview with Penny Jackson, director of the Tauranga Art Gallery and a NZ art crime expert
Here's a link to Radio New Zealand's interview last summer with Penny Jackson, director of the Tauranga Art Gallery and a New Zealand art crime expert. Ms. Jackson was kind enough to provide a list of some of the names of artists and institutions she mentions in this podcast:
Edward Bullmore
James Jacques Joseph Tissot
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Arrowtown
Rotorua Museum
Waiouru Museum
Kermadec exhibition/John Reynolds
Dowse Art Museum
C F Goldie
University of Auckland
Karl Sim
Urewera Mural by Colin McCahon and borrowed by Tama Iti
Sarah Hillary
Dame Jenny Gibbs
Gottfried Lindauer
Waikato Trust
Tainui
Whanau
Robert McDougall Art Gallery
Heather Straka
Ms. Jackson plans to attend the 2014 ARCA conference.
The State of the Arts 2013, Tampa.
Thankfully, Tampa was 2nd in American Styles magazine's art destination web poll, so no one bothered to trumpet that BS over the grim economic wasteland of the arts in 2013.
This was a year of surprises in Tampa. The PODs show at Gasparilla was beset by several problems and flopped, but I am told these are being corrected. I am looking forward to the 2014 version. This satellite show may not seem relevant at this time but I think it could lead to much bigger things.
Danny Olda launched an arts magazine titled Art at Bay. This is a welcome and daring venture, and I wish him luck.
Tracy Midulla Reller took the leap and relocated Tempus up on Florida Ave. Reller remains one of Tampa's best gallerists. Her shows are innovative, beautifully curated and a who's who of academic artists in this city.
The two HCC galleries, Ybor and Dale Mabry, surged as others retreated or hunkered down, rightfully assuming positions of prominence earned via first-rate hard-hitting shows. Directors Carolyn Kossar and Katherine Gibson get Art Taco laurels for getting going when the going got rough, and doing so elegantly. Bravo! I should add that each of these galleries has its own distinct personality. The
Hoffman-Porges gallery, the finest (architecturally speaking) arts space in the area limped along half-heartedly in 2013. A real shame, because with the right curator, this gallery could be a contender. Please do it in 2014.
David Audet, one of Tampa's cultural treasures, put together solid, down to earth shows with minimal resources this year. David remains a little underground and underrated. His cultural contributions to this city have been live-wire and influential. He (along with many others) was responsible for the revitalization of Ybor before the City "fathers" ruined it by cowing to the real powers that be, issuing two dozen liquor licenses. David Audet holds one of the keys to Tampa's future, and he comes with a turnkey crew of some of the best and brightest in Tampa.
Beth Kokol is someone I had overlooked much too long. An influential art teacher and gallerist in South Tampa, Kokol impresses with talent, teaching, curating and marketing abilities. I will be covering more of her gallery's activities in 2014.
Mishou Sanchez converted two trailer/containers into an art gallery out by the Winthrop Center. A self-funded effort, this served notice to anyone who is listening out there that Ms. Sanchez is one of our top visionaries when it comes to urban spaces. If the City resourced its human capital with the slightest bit of wisdom, they would snap up Mishou before someone else does.
The Santaella/West Tampa Center for the Arts seems to be in a state of suspended animation. It has dissipated through the year for a multitude of reasons. Sad to see this grand arts space become a shadow of its former self. It has considerable potential.
Bleu Acier, the gallery of Master Printer Erika Greenberg-Schneider and internationally renowned Dominique Labauvie, has been an unflinching bastion of the arts in Tampa and the Bay area, producing high quality shows, mentoring people, and teaching as well. Recently, Bleu Acier raised the bar with its "First There is a Mountain" show by Greg Perkins, bringing a series of great lecturers to accompany the exhibition.
The Ybor Artists Association, under fresh leadership from Princess Simpson Rashid, opened the Wandering Eye Gallery next to King Corona Cigar Bar, showing members and rotating a featured artist of the month. The artists studios never looked better, and the co-op gallery is finding its identity and providing much higher visibility at street level.
I want to see Tampa government more involved with the arts, apparently conscious of their value culturally and economically, and cognizant of the people we have here who can put Tampa on the map in a way nothing else can.
--- Luis
Bunnies to Bridges, Closing of eve-N-odd gallery
[It is with a deep sadness that I post this press release received from eve N odd gallery about its last show and closing at the end of January 2014. Its director, Jennifer Kosharek, was the Art Taco Person of the Year for her consistently strong first-rate shows at this small but significant gallery in the Crislip Arcade. I count Ms. Kosharek as one of the great gallerists in the Bay Area, and I was not alone. Thank you, eve N odd and Jennifer Kosharek, for your efforts.]
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Bunnies to Bridges, Closing of eve-N-odd gallery
The eve-N-odd will enjoy it's last month on the 600 Block of Central Avenue. We have enjoyed three years of memorable shows with artists from all over the world and those who are your neighbors. I painted murals in the alley, organized the yarn bombing of the block, invited a traveling letter press to visit us, had an international show of cancer survivor women, had group shows such as the one that produced a coloring book!--just to name a few. I don't think I could have tried any harder to put St. Petersburg, FL on the art map of the world. Sometimes I think my international followers valued this gallery more than the city of St Pete. No matter, I will continue to make my own art!
Our last show will be a traditional mail art show with the theme of: Ray Johnson, the father of mail art. "Bunnies to Bridges" will open January11th from 6-10 pm and will be the last show in the gallery.
eve-N-odd gallery, 645 Central Ave. #11, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Show will be up through the end of January
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Show will be up through the end of January
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Thank you!!!!
Jennifer Kosharek
727 433 4981 "Selling Russia's Treasures" writes about the collecting history of Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Adam and Eve" now at The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena
by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCAblog Editor-in-Chief
Santa left a tantalizing art book under my Christmas tree, Selling Russia's Treasures: The Soviet Trade in Nationalized Art 1917-1938 edited by Natalya Semyonova and Nicolas V. Iljine, (MTA Publishing, November 2013), which is of particular interest to me as one of the artworks mentioned is the "Adam" and "Eve" diptych by Lucas Cranach the Elder that resides within a 15-minute walk of my home. This work is the subject of litigation in Marei Von Saher vs. The Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena, which can be heard here from a court hearing in August 2013. These two paintings, purchased by the Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker at an Lepke auction in 1931 and 'purchased' by Herman Göring in 1940 were returned to an heir of the Stroganoff family after World War II and subsequently sold to Norton Simon in 1971. Did Cranach's "Adam" and "Eve" ever belong to the well-documented Stroganov Collection? According to Selling Russia's Treasures:
In addition to paintings from the Stroganov collection, the Lepke auction of May 12-13, 1931, featured two Lucas Cranach paired canvases, Adam and Eve, from the Art Museum of the Ukraine Academy of Sciences in Kiev.
Here are previous ARCA posts about the painting; the Goudstikker collection's 'sale' to the Nazis; the Stroganoff Collection; and the lawsuit.Cranach paintings often included Adam and Eve, but the existence of the canvases put up for the 1931 auction was unknown well into the late 1920s. The paintings had been found under a staircase in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kiev in 1927, then moved to the museum of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (monastery); in 1928, on the initiative of Prof. S. O. Gilyarov, the paintings were given to the Academy museum in Kiev (in 1929 Gilyarov published an article in Ukrainian about the paintings; it included a brief synopsis in French). The newly discovered Adam and Eve were sold in 1931 to Dutch collector Jacques Goudstikker, whose remarkable personal collection numbered more than a thousand old master paintings and about a hundred old master sculptures.
A flaming Swedish Christmas tradition – the annual burning of the Gävle-Goat
by A. M. C. Knutsson
On Saturday the 21st of December the Gävle-Goat was again found in flames after unknown men engaged in a 4 a.m. torching session of this enormous straw creation. The men have yet to be found but the police are searching vigorously for the culprits. If found they would be charged with inflicting gross damage to property.
The burning of the Gävle-goat is a ritual reaching back to 1966, the year when Stig Galvén prompted the first straw goat to be erected in Slottstorget in Gävle, central Sweden. The Yule time straw goat has a long tradition in the Scandinavian culture. It reaches back to pre-Christian days when the god of War, Thor, was said to have a carriage pulled by two goats; Tanngnjost and Tanngrisner.[1] The goat has long been associated with fertility and farming, as such the last wheat sheaf of the year was thought to embody the harvest spirit. As such it could be formed into a goat to boost next year’s crops.[2] As the Nordic countries were converted to Christianity, the goat became increasingly associated with darker powers. None-the-less the Yule goat maintained a prominent role in the Swedish Christmas celebrations. Long before Santa Clause’s arrival at the Swedish shore it was the Yule-Goat who was in charge of distributing gifts to children during the yuletide. He, however, was not quite as jovial as the present day Santa, and parents often threatened unruly children with the Yule-Goat.[3] As late as the end of the 19th Century when Santa Clause finally managed to navigate to the northern countries, it was the Yule-Goat who pulled his sledge. Nowadays there is little left to remind us of the goat but the straw Yule-Goats found in most Swedish homes.
When the Gävle-Goat first appeared in 1966, it was then a symbol recognisable to all Swedes, however its scale was something quite new. The goat was 13 meters (42.6 feet) high and 7 meters (23 feet) long, weighing an impressive 3 tonnes. Since then every year a gigantic straw goat has been installed on Slottstorget around the first of advent. On New Years Eve of 1966, Galvén’s goat was the first of many to feel the power of the flame.[4] As opposed to most other vandals, the first one was caught and charged with inflicting gross damage to property. This was followed by two years of peace for the goat after which it again was torched on New Years Eve 1969. Whilst many forms of vandalism have afflicted the Goat throughout the years the most common by far is arson. When the goat burnt on the 21st of Dec 2013, it was the 27th time the poor beast has met its end by the torch.
In 1985 the goat met with a new level of fame when it was included in The Guinness Book of World Records for its impressive 12.5 meter height, which was later beaten by the 1993 goat, which towered 16 meters above ground. Since 1986 two Yule-Goats have been found in Gävle, as two competing associations have been building them: the Southern Merchants (constructing the Gävle-Goat, the bigger goat, usually targeted by arsonists) and Natural Science Club of the School of Vasa (Constructing the Yule-Goat). Only two years later, the goat had met such repute that English bookmakers took up the challenge of the goat burning and ever since it has been possible to bet on whether or not the goat will burn. As the renown of the goat rose so did the police efforts to secure it. Whilst in 1990 volunteers had guarded the goat, by 1996 the first web cameras had been installed and it was now possible to follow the destiny of the goat online. The fame of the goat was such that in 2001, an American from New Orleans, having taken the burnings of the goat as a permitted tradition decided to torch it. A civilian caught him almost immediately and the police had to rescue him from the wrath of the people of Gävle.[5] The man later received a fine of 100 000 Swedish crowns (approx. $15,000) and a month in jail.[6]
Apart from the attempts at destruction by fire the most notable attack on the goat came in 2010, when two unknown men offered the goat’s guard 50 000 Swedish crowns (approx. $7,500) to leave the goat for a few minutes. The plan was to kidnap the goat and by helicopter bring it to Stureplan in Stockholm.[7]
Whilst flame-retardants have been used for some years, including this year, the goat has burnt to the ground for the last three years. In the Facebook group ‘Vi som vill bränna Gävle-bocken’ ('We who want to burn the Gävle-goat'), a comment appeared just a day before its destruction. “All who have guessed that the goat would burn today, maybe it is time to take matters into your own hands?”[8] A few hours later the goat was in flames. From its twitter account the Gävle-Goat announced “I'm so sad my friends that I have to leave you now! Thank you for this year! Take care and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”[9]
[1] "Mytologi (Nordisk)". Nordisk familjebok, 1913. Read 23 December 2013
[2] Karin Schager, Julbocken i folktro och jultradition, (1989)
[3] Caroline Lagercrantz, http://www.popularhistoria.se/artiklar/julbocken-i-maskopi-med-morka-makter/, (26 Jan 2007), Read 23 December 2013
[4] http://www2.visitgavle.se/sv/se-gora/a548364/gavlebockens-historia/detaljer
[5] Dennis Larsson, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article10249963.ab (24 Dec 2001), Read 23 December 2013
[6] Josefin Karlsson & Niklas Eriksson, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article18065246.ab (21 Dec 2013), Read 23 December 2013
[7] http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/gavlebocken-skulle-kidnappas_5814757.svd (17 Dec 2010), Read 23 December 2013
[8] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vi-som-vill-br%C3%A4nna-G%C3%A4vle-bocken/207011407840, Read 23 December 2013
[9] https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken, Read 23 December 2013
Further Reading:
"Mytologi (Nordisk)". Nordisk familjebok, 1913. Karin Schager, Julbocken i folktro och jultradition, (1989)
Karlsson, Josefin & Niklas Eriksson, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article18065246.ab (21 Dec 2013)
Lagercrantz, Caroline, http://www.popularhistoria.se/artiklar/julbocken-i-maskopi-med-morka-makter/, (26 Jan 2007)
Larsson, Dennis, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article10249963.ab (24 Dec 2001)
The YouTube video above is from Gävlebocken 2012.
Christos Tsirogiannis Interviews Marc Balcells in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
Dear Reader,
I would like to introduce you to my colleague at ARCA, the new co-editor the Journal of Art Crime, Marc Balcells.
Marc started paying attention to art and cultural heritage crimes in 2009, when he moved to New York City, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship. Never, in his wildest dreams, he would have imagined that, as a criminologist, his research interests would have led him there. However, the more Marc reflects about how things unfolded in his career, the more he realizes it were meant to happen.
First of all, Marc studied Law in his city, Barcelona. In the several Criminal Law courses he took there was no mention to art crimes whatsoever, even though the Spanish Criminal Code punishes this form of crime in several of its articles. By 2001, after four years of law school, and being twenty one, he specialized in Criminal Law, but again, there was no mention of cultural heritage crimes in that Masters program. No art thieves in his list of prosecutions, either.Christos Tsirogiannis is a Greek forensic archaeologist. He studied archaeology and history of art in the University of Athens, then worked for the Greek Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2008, excavating throughout Greece and recording antiquities in private hands. He voluntarily cooperated with the Greek police Art Squad on a daily basis (August 2004 - December 2008) and was a member of the Greek Task Force Team that repatriated looted, smuggled and stolen antiquities from the Getty Museum, the Shelby White/Leon Levy collection, the Jean-David Cahn AG galleries, and others. Since 2007, Tsirogiannis has been identifying antiquities in museums, galleries, auction houses, private collections and museums, depicted in the confiscated Medici, Becchina and Symes-Michaelides archives, notifying public prosecutor Dr. Paolo Giorgio Ferri and the Greek authorities. He received his Ph.D. last October at the University of Cambridge, on the international illicit antiquities network viewed through the Robin Symes-Christos Michaelides archive.
You may finish reading this interview in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime. Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
This Christmas weekend, Dec 23rd - 29th.
It's too late to be good, but it never hurts to try, or so I am told. Years ago, I was Santa, so maybe he'll make allowances for my tresspasses. As we descend into the Christmas vortex, events are sparse, but take the family/friends/loved ones out of the house and spend some time together. Life is short, always shorter than we think (this was driven home again last week when a relative almost passed away). Forgive, let bygones be, and savor the greatest gift: Time with those you love.
(geez, sooo sentimental!)
Thursday, Dec 26th 2013
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Sale at MFA Gift Shop
Take up to 75% off select items during the Museum of Fine arts annual After Christmas Clearance Sale including; jewelry, home accessories, tchotchkes, toys and games, and much more.
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Saturday, Dec. 28th, 2013
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Recovery...go see a movie, or the sunset at the beach...over by the Don Cesar...hit a few sales...enjoy!
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(geez, sooo sentimental!)
Thursday, Dec 26th 2013
___________________________________________
Sale at MFA Gift Shop
Take up to 75% off select items during the Museum of Fine arts annual After Christmas Clearance Sale including; jewelry, home accessories, tchotchkes, toys and games, and much more.
________________________________________________________
Saturday, Dec. 28th, 2013
___________________________________________________________
Recovery...go see a movie, or the sunset at the beach...over by the Don Cesar...hit a few sales...enjoy!
Bleu Acier's experiment: First There is a Mountain. The Talks.
Master Printer Erika Greenberg Schneider and her husband, sculptor Dominique Labauvie took a bold step forward with the Greg Perkins "First There is a Mountain" show.
This exhibit marked the gallery's tenth Anniversary. Erika introduced the show in a fairly conventional fashion at first, then shifted gears, culminating with a reading of Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince", the part where he meets the Little Prince and draws sheep for him. In the context of the art show, this was quite a parable.
This was followed by the first talk, a presentation by Architect and Urban Designer Petra Kampf, an extraordinary exploration into the nature and history of the way we perceive physical (and other types of) space, a multifaceted approach that rambled over a lot of ground while remaining tight conceptually. I had the privilege of talking with Ms Kampf after her presentation for a bit. The topic of space happens to be one of my favorites.
The 2nd talk was by Alison Powell, writer and Curator of Books at Oxford Exchange. Her personal experiences training in the Sierra Nevada mountains -- and rock climbing, seamlessly mixed with the iconology of mountains in literature (as mountain-themed music played in the background).
The third talk was by Donald Morrill, poet and Dean at UT. Titled "Then there is a mountain", in relation to poetry. Starting with the Romantic "Mont Blanc", by Shelly, Morrill explored the topic to the present through changes in consciousness.
Last, Aaron Walker took the approach from a documentary he has been working on about the internment camp at Heart Mountain where 10,000 souls spent their WWII in spartan accomodations in a cold and desolate place with one very odd mountain dominating their horizon and many of the photogeaphs taken in the camp.
These talks demanded the audience pay attention and engage as listeners just to follow the threads of thought. No concessions, no dumbing-down, only lean, hardcore ideas that form a conceptual holographic frame and successive recontextualizations for Greg Perkin's very good post-photographic show.
Bleu Acier continues to be an influential wellspring for the arts in the area.
---- Luis
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This exhibit marked the gallery's tenth Anniversary. Erika introduced the show in a fairly conventional fashion at first, then shifted gears, culminating with a reading of Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince", the part where he meets the Little Prince and draws sheep for him. In the context of the art show, this was quite a parable.
This was followed by the first talk, a presentation by Architect and Urban Designer Petra Kampf, an extraordinary exploration into the nature and history of the way we perceive physical (and other types of) space, a multifaceted approach that rambled over a lot of ground while remaining tight conceptually. I had the privilege of talking with Ms Kampf after her presentation for a bit. The topic of space happens to be one of my favorites.
The 2nd talk was by Alison Powell, writer and Curator of Books at Oxford Exchange. Her personal experiences training in the Sierra Nevada mountains -- and rock climbing, seamlessly mixed with the iconology of mountains in literature (as mountain-themed music played in the background).
The third talk was by Donald Morrill, poet and Dean at UT. Titled "Then there is a mountain", in relation to poetry. Starting with the Romantic "Mont Blanc", by Shelly, Morrill explored the topic to the present through changes in consciousness.
Last, Aaron Walker took the approach from a documentary he has been working on about the internment camp at Heart Mountain where 10,000 souls spent their WWII in spartan accomodations in a cold and desolate place with one very odd mountain dominating their horizon and many of the photogeaphs taken in the camp.
These talks demanded the audience pay attention and engage as listeners just to follow the threads of thought. No concessions, no dumbing-down, only lean, hardcore ideas that form a conceptual holographic frame and successive recontextualizations for Greg Perkin's very good post-photographic show.
Bleu Acier continues to be an influential wellspring for the arts in the area.
---- Luis
Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me...
Well folks, it's that time of year where we all pack in work for a while and pack in food/drink instead. We at DUFI are no different. We have already enjoyed Christmas dinners (Al 3 v Fin 1) and they continue tonight with the annual DUFI and GLASSTORM Christmas do/don't...
Have been working very hard this year and we will be glad to have the break. No doubt the creative juices will carry on fermenting over the coming weeks (a bit like Al's berry vodka...)
This has been our busiest year so far with some really interesting as well as challenging projects and we look forward to 2014 when some of these will end and new ones begin.
To all our clients out there who have entrusted us with various responsibilities we send a big thank-you.
To all our friends and the people we love we send hugs and kisses.
We wish you all a Merry and Blessed Christmas together with a Happy New Year. - FIN
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Have been working very hard this year and we will be glad to have the break. No doubt the creative juices will carry on fermenting over the coming weeks (a bit like Al's berry vodka...)
This has been our busiest year so far with some really interesting as well as challenging projects and we look forward to 2014 when some of these will end and new ones begin.
To all our clients out there who have entrusted us with various responsibilities we send a big thank-you.
To all our friends and the people we love we send hugs and kisses.
We wish you all a Merry and Blessed Christmas together with a Happy New Year. - FIN
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Guest Blog by Jay Herres: "Less is More"
[This is a generous contribution to Art Taco by painter and gallerist Jay Herres...]
Seems almost every critic, artist and celebrity says this as if it is the undisputed truth. The reality is less may be more, or less may be simply less. There have been many great Masters over the centuries for whom less was not more. In fact, it could be said that more was not enough.
The birth and popularity of Minimalism in the late sixties and early seventies seemed to enforce this as the unquestionable truth. This "indisputable" way of thinking has stripped endless works of art from their lifeblood. Some of the finest galleries are filled with hollowed out works like bodies without skeletons and houses without foundations. Many artists have seemingly become indifferent to, or abandoned the very elements and skills that artists have strived for over the centuries.
Design in many cases has become 'old hat', color harmonies, who needs them? Drawing skills? forget about it! The artistic blood trail abounds and marketing and name recognition have become the only Gods. The new art is thrown into the feeding trough and gobbled up by the well-heeled uninformed.
--- Jay Herres
[Thank you, Jay Herres, for your Guestblog. Art Taco welcomes guest blogs on almost any topic related to the arts. Please send submissions to art.taco@hotmail.com
Please send in HTML. ]
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Seems almost every critic, artist and celebrity says this as if it is the undisputed truth. The reality is less may be more, or less may be simply less. There have been many great Masters over the centuries for whom less was not more. In fact, it could be said that more was not enough.
The birth and popularity of Minimalism in the late sixties and early seventies seemed to enforce this as the unquestionable truth. This "indisputable" way of thinking has stripped endless works of art from their lifeblood. Some of the finest galleries are filled with hollowed out works like bodies without skeletons and houses without foundations. Many artists have seemingly become indifferent to, or abandoned the very elements and skills that artists have strived for over the centuries.
Design in many cases has become 'old hat', color harmonies, who needs them? Drawing skills? forget about it! The artistic blood trail abounds and marketing and name recognition have become the only Gods. The new art is thrown into the feeding trough and gobbled up by the well-heeled uninformed.
--- Jay Herres
[Thank you, Jay Herres, for your Guestblog. Art Taco welcomes guest blogs on almost any topic related to the arts. Please send submissions to art.taco@hotmail.com
Please send in HTML. ]
Marc Balcells Introduces Christos Tsirogiannis in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
I would like to introduce you my colleague at ARCA, the new co-editor of The Journal of Art Crime, Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis (University of Cambridge).
Christos owes his passion for fighting looting to his parents, Perikles and Athena. They were the ones who, as early as 1977, presented him with images from the discovery of Phillip II tomb, Alexander's the Great father, in Northern Greece, Macedonia. They were the first who indicated to young Christos the scale of the destruction that could have been made if the looters had come first...
You may finish reading this interview in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime.Since that day, Christos has known that he would become an archaeologist. Working as a specialized excavation technician throughout his undergraduate years at the University of Athens, he first acquired a B.A. in Archaeology and History of Art. With several years of excavation experience, he started working as an archaeologist at the ancient Agora of Athens, before becoming a reserve officer for the Greek Army. Even there, archaeology continued to be part of his life, as he discovered two ancient settlements (in Crete and on the Greek-Albanian borders) and an ancient cemetery in Macedonia. Delivery the antiquities and indicating their find spots to the Greek Archaeological Service, Christos Tsirogiannis was awarded with a medal from the Greek Army and a contract to continue his career as an archaeologist, after the completion of his army service.
Marc Balcells is the Associate Editor of The Journal of Art Crime. A Spanish criminologist, he holds degrees in Law, Criminology and Human Services, and masters both in Criminal Law, and the ARCA Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection. A Fulbright scholar, he is currently completing his PhD in Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, CUNY. His research revolves around criminological aspects of archaeological looting, though he has also written about other forms of art crime. He has taught both Criminal Law and Criminology courses as an associate at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain) and is a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the Political Science department at John Jay College. He is also a criminal defense attorney whose practice is located in Barcelona.
Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
Ilaria Dagnini Brey's "The Venus Fixers" and Robert Edsel's "Saving Italy" Reviewed in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime.
Associate Editor Marc Balcells reviews Ilaria Dagnini Brey's The Venus Fixers and Robert Edsel's Saving Italy in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime.
Following the steps of many other books depicting the loss of cultural heritage during World War II (whose examples include Lynn Nicholas' The Rape of Europa or Harclerode and Pittaway's The Lost Masters, among others), Ilaria Dagnini Brey's book traces the fate of Italian works of art that suffered during the armed conflict. An Italian journalist herself, Mrs. Dagnini Brey traces, with a complete array of documentation, the history and the impact of World War II of Italy, especially in its cities, filled with monuments, museums, historical buildings and archives. The book covers only particular cities: of course writing a book with the vast amount of information on cultural heritage in every corner of Italy would be a work fit for an encyclopedia, and not just a single volume.
Of Robert M. Edsel's Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (W.W. Norton & Company, May 2013), Balcells writes:One of the assets of the book is its establishment of a very solid base setting the scene: path of Italy's entrance to the war is clearly delineated. But instead of giving only a historical account of the events, the author establishes, from the very beginning, the links to cultural heritage and the policies taken to prevent the possible damage. In order to do so, the main characters are carefully introduced, and the main cities that configure the book's landscape are clearly laid from the very beginning (Padua, Rome, Florence...). Out of these characters, for the reader who has previous knowledge of the subject, the Allied Monuments Men will echo from others (mostly Edsel's two previous books, Rescuing Da Vinci and The Monuments Men). However, without downplaying their role, the book also abounds with Italian characters who have been mostly unacknowledged, and are fully explored in it.
Followers of Robert Edsel's previous books can rejoice, as a new one has appeared on the market: after Rescuing Da Vinci and The Monuments Men, Saving Italy follows his previous books related to World War II and the destruction of cultural heritage, and the task that the Monuments Men conducted in order to save, in this case, Italy's cultural heritage.
This book relates much to its predecessor, The Monuments Men (Rescuing Da Vinci follows a mostly illustrated, coffee table book format), as it traces the work of the Allied officers from England and the United States into Italy, as the German forces retreated. The book follows a chronological order in four parts: the inception, struggle, victory and aftermath of the Monuments Men.
Marc Balcells is the Associate Editor of The Journal of Art Crime. A Spanish criminologist, he holds degrees in Law, Criminology and Human Services, and masters both in Criminal Law, and the ARCA Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection. A Fulbright scholar, he is currently completing his PhD in Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, CUNY. His research revolves around criminological aspects of archaeological looting, though he has also written about other forms of art crime. He has taught both Criminal Law and Criminology courses as an associate at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain) and is a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the Political Science department at John Jay College. He is also a criminal defense attorney whose practice is located in Barcelona.
You may finish reading this book review in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime. Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
Editorial Essay: Suzette Scotti writes about "Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You: the Axum Obelisk" in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
In an editorial essay, Suzette Scotti writes about "Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You: the Axum Obelisk" in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime:
In October of 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in accordance with his plan to resurrect the ancient Roman Empire and restore dignity and prosperity to the Italian people. Emulating his imperial predecessors, who crowned their military victories by looting and plundering the sacred treasures of the conquered peoples, Mussolini personally ordered the removal of one of the monumental obelisks of Axum to Rome as war booty. The mammoth 1,700 year old monument, a potent symbol of Ethiopian independence and national identity, was inextricably linked to the Ethiopian's heritage, a cherished symbol of a sophisticated civilization that had once rivaled that of Rome. Mussolin's appropriation of this emotionally charged symbol unequivocally conveyed his message to the world that Ethiopia was now Italian. While Italy was soon forced to relinquish its brief "place in the sun" with the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945, the looted obelisk would remain in Rome for another sixty-eight years, an unsettling reminder of Italy's fascist past and an ongoing insult to Ethiopian sovereignty. Delays over its restitution spawned a controversy that was only resolved in 2005, when the last segment of the obelisk was finally returned to its homeland. The saga of the restitution of the Axum obelisk reflects current debates over repatriation of artifacts seized as war booty by colonial powers, and provides an encouraging example of how, after years of injustice, the fabric of peace and friendship can be rewoven when countries respect each other's cultural heritage.
Suzette Scotti teaches Art History at Leeward Community College, a campus of the University of Hawaii. She serves on the Board of the Hawaii Museums Association and is a docent at the Honolulu Museum of Art and Bishop Museum. She taught for a decade in Rome, indulging her passion for Italian art, as well as in Spain, Switzerland, and Japan. She speaks fluent Italian, French, and Spanish. Suzette earned a B.A. in English from Vassar College, a Diploma in Legal Studies from Queen's College, Cambridge University, an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia, where she wrote her master's thesis on Simone Martini's St. Louis of Toulouse altarpiece. She first became interested in art crime while living in Rome, where she could see the looted obelisk of Axum from her living room window.
You may finish reading this editorial essay in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime. Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
The State of the Arts, 2013
With every economic downturn, there are those who saw it coming, and those who didn't. The majority fell in the latter category. Most people in the arts -- and their clients -- plowed on through bleak decreases in revenue, cutting back, postponing acquisitions, watching their savings and hopes draining. This created a lag between the cause and effect.
In 2011, a magazine (American Styles) held a contest of sorts for their online readers to vote on what was the #1 destination for the arts in the US and announced Saint Petersburg had won. This went on for three years, as the city was voted in again and again. To give some idea of the absurdity of this result, Tampa came in 2nd, then Miami. Saint Pete boosters carelessly recited this as a mantra without caveats. The problem was that the hype was undercut by a very real and cruel economic reality: During those years, gallerists wondered why attendance and revenues were abysmally low, as artists did. This dissonance caused a lot of anger, despair and bickering in this community.
The 600 block was one of the victims of this.In 2013, it was reduced by a series of personal squabbles resulting from a combination of management problems and personality cult issues that should have been shortstopped immediately but dragged out across time, and into facebook, degrading the image capital of this great experiment. At this time, I think its future looks like it will be more oriented toward retail spaces and higher sq. ft. rentals. On the good side, the tenant population is rapidly shifting in a very positive way, and this may result in a renaissance for the block. More cohesion, collective action and responsive management can turn this around. The Oleson Gallery has fluorished in the latter part of 2013, emerging as an inclusive, alternative space.
The very same few people turned up at nearly all of the divisive moments of 2013, The once-charming and successful Wednesday Art Meet-ups at the Sake Bomb came to an end when Sebastian Coolidge splintered it with the Ham and Eggers at the Bends.
At the other end of the block, Rasta left as the final outcome of a sordid causal chain. Vitale got out of his space. Blue Lucy was rumored to be leaving, but stayed. Jay Herres is leaving. There is widespread disappointment with the property management. Eugenia Woods moved to a working promising working space at the Wearhouse.
For personal reasons, the eve N odd gallery is closing at the end of January. One of the best, most innovative galleries in the Bay Area, run by a respected artist, it has been consistently along the leading edge of art shows in the area. Given its size and miniscule budget, it was a model for what can be done.
The State Theater is selling the business, not the building, which is curious, and the 662 across the street has been sold. Unless this signals a drastic change (think demolition), I see it as a positive.
The densepack monoblock idea of "star" artists and galleries in the 600 is shifting with many dispersing and setting up businesses and studios elsewhere. Location is extremely important, but it is not everything.
In photography there is a term called "platypus", which basically means being neither this nor that, but a mix, posessing several apparently incongruous qualities essential for survival. In the arts, we are not seeing enough of this. still know of galleries that lack a site and are acting as if it was 2003, and are suffering for it.
Mindy Solomon's departure for Miami was our loss, but perfectly understandable. In one year, the arts in Dade County generate an estimated 500 million dollars. Art Basel, in one week, adds another 500 million. All of Pinellas County arts revenues total 23 million yearly. Do the math: Each year, Miami generates the equivalent arts revenues of ***43 years*** of what Pinellas does. It made perfect sense for Mindy to migrate. The amazing thing is that many others haven't followed. It is is a large arts market, meaning it is far more difficult expense-wise, the competition is at a totally different level, and there is a vast cultural difference.
The Morean Arts Center pulled off a miracle, managing to reconfigure their debt, and with Wayne Atherholt at the helm, pulled back from the brink. This is one of 2013's greatest positive stories in Bay area arts. Kudos to all involved.
There was movement in the Central Arts District, with Artpool adding a cafe and more markets. Creative Soul Studio/Cafe opened up and its commitment to the arts and shows are steadily improving. Nuance Galleries has been hosting a variety of shows and defining its Saint Pete identity. The St Pete Opera practice space opened up, Planet Retro and Rob Davidson Fine Arts moved there as well. Lots of continuing development there.
The Warehouse Arts District is building up momentum via a collective effort, great positive energies and more quality shows. It enjoys (due to the nature of the spaces and the "frontier" psychology) a wide variety of art, some of it in very large scale. I admire how the WADans are unifying, pooling resources and forging ahead. There are too many spaces there to cover here, but a few highlights: Soft Water Studios began having drawing classes and better curated shows. Mark Aeling, Carrie Jadus and others are leading the WADA capably. Duncan McClellan started its mobile glass lab for educating students in the school system and achieved a major coup with his Hot Shop. This changed the glass landscape for St Pete. May artists are working there and at least one is in residency. DMG is also having its exhibitors give talks at the MFA, a wonderful program that expands on the purely visual aspects of the exhibit. The Venture Compound has improved the quality of its art shows during 2013 without losing its unique attitude. In the WAD, two fashion studios come to mind: Spathos, who has taken the lead in making things happen in Saint Petersburg Arts on many planes, and newcomer Wearhouse, a fashion co-op involving Eugenia Woods (Rebekah Lazzaridis) and Misred, who bring a sense of couture and feminine sophistication coupled with a positive can-do spirit.
I see 2013 as the year of correction. A return to reason and a realistic outlook that allows us a clear starting point towards a brighter future. As artists are expanding the range of locations beyond the standard "districts", we are seeing a balkanization that dilutes unity and emphasizes a cloud of locations as opposed to clusters.
There needs to be better synchronization with government. Education of the latter as to the value of the arts (this seems to be woefully lacking).
Collectivization between artists, galleries and organizations instead of further divisions and power grabs.
A complete revamp of the city's outlook and control of murals, including setting up a committee whose members should include artists. We are well beyond the age of "Czars".
Facilitation for a plurality of smaller festivals, because these are the seeds from which great festivals grow -- as well as the community's identity.
Involvement, activism and collectivism on the 600 blk.
...and much, much more. 2014 is almost here. There is no cavalry coming to save us. No one will die for our sins. Mr. Right is not at the door (the wolf is!). Only we can make this happen. Let's build a better future, starting today.
--- Luis
reade more...
In 2011, a magazine (American Styles) held a contest of sorts for their online readers to vote on what was the #1 destination for the arts in the US and announced Saint Petersburg had won. This went on for three years, as the city was voted in again and again. To give some idea of the absurdity of this result, Tampa came in 2nd, then Miami. Saint Pete boosters carelessly recited this as a mantra without caveats. The problem was that the hype was undercut by a very real and cruel economic reality: During those years, gallerists wondered why attendance and revenues were abysmally low, as artists did. This dissonance caused a lot of anger, despair and bickering in this community.
The 600 block was one of the victims of this.In 2013, it was reduced by a series of personal squabbles resulting from a combination of management problems and personality cult issues that should have been shortstopped immediately but dragged out across time, and into facebook, degrading the image capital of this great experiment. At this time, I think its future looks like it will be more oriented toward retail spaces and higher sq. ft. rentals. On the good side, the tenant population is rapidly shifting in a very positive way, and this may result in a renaissance for the block. More cohesion, collective action and responsive management can turn this around. The Oleson Gallery has fluorished in the latter part of 2013, emerging as an inclusive, alternative space.
The very same few people turned up at nearly all of the divisive moments of 2013, The once-charming and successful Wednesday Art Meet-ups at the Sake Bomb came to an end when Sebastian Coolidge splintered it with the Ham and Eggers at the Bends.
At the other end of the block, Rasta left as the final outcome of a sordid causal chain. Vitale got out of his space. Blue Lucy was rumored to be leaving, but stayed. Jay Herres is leaving. There is widespread disappointment with the property management. Eugenia Woods moved to a working promising working space at the Wearhouse.
For personal reasons, the eve N odd gallery is closing at the end of January. One of the best, most innovative galleries in the Bay Area, run by a respected artist, it has been consistently along the leading edge of art shows in the area. Given its size and miniscule budget, it was a model for what can be done.
The State Theater is selling the business, not the building, which is curious, and the 662 across the street has been sold. Unless this signals a drastic change (think demolition), I see it as a positive.
The densepack monoblock idea of "star" artists and galleries in the 600 is shifting with many dispersing and setting up businesses and studios elsewhere. Location is extremely important, but it is not everything.
In photography there is a term called "platypus", which basically means being neither this nor that, but a mix, posessing several apparently incongruous qualities essential for survival. In the arts, we are not seeing enough of this. still know of galleries that lack a site and are acting as if it was 2003, and are suffering for it.
Mindy Solomon's departure for Miami was our loss, but perfectly understandable. In one year, the arts in Dade County generate an estimated 500 million dollars. Art Basel, in one week, adds another 500 million. All of Pinellas County arts revenues total 23 million yearly. Do the math: Each year, Miami generates the equivalent arts revenues of ***43 years*** of what Pinellas does. It made perfect sense for Mindy to migrate. The amazing thing is that many others haven't followed. It is is a large arts market, meaning it is far more difficult expense-wise, the competition is at a totally different level, and there is a vast cultural difference.
The Morean Arts Center pulled off a miracle, managing to reconfigure their debt, and with Wayne Atherholt at the helm, pulled back from the brink. This is one of 2013's greatest positive stories in Bay area arts. Kudos to all involved.
There was movement in the Central Arts District, with Artpool adding a cafe and more markets. Creative Soul Studio/Cafe opened up and its commitment to the arts and shows are steadily improving. Nuance Galleries has been hosting a variety of shows and defining its Saint Pete identity. The St Pete Opera practice space opened up, Planet Retro and Rob Davidson Fine Arts moved there as well. Lots of continuing development there.
The Warehouse Arts District is building up momentum via a collective effort, great positive energies and more quality shows. It enjoys (due to the nature of the spaces and the "frontier" psychology) a wide variety of art, some of it in very large scale. I admire how the WADans are unifying, pooling resources and forging ahead. There are too many spaces there to cover here, but a few highlights: Soft Water Studios began having drawing classes and better curated shows. Mark Aeling, Carrie Jadus and others are leading the WADA capably. Duncan McClellan started its mobile glass lab for educating students in the school system and achieved a major coup with his Hot Shop. This changed the glass landscape for St Pete. May artists are working there and at least one is in residency. DMG is also having its exhibitors give talks at the MFA, a wonderful program that expands on the purely visual aspects of the exhibit. The Venture Compound has improved the quality of its art shows during 2013 without losing its unique attitude. In the WAD, two fashion studios come to mind: Spathos, who has taken the lead in making things happen in Saint Petersburg Arts on many planes, and newcomer Wearhouse, a fashion co-op involving Eugenia Woods (Rebekah Lazzaridis) and Misred, who bring a sense of couture and feminine sophistication coupled with a positive can-do spirit.
I see 2013 as the year of correction. A return to reason and a realistic outlook that allows us a clear starting point towards a brighter future. As artists are expanding the range of locations beyond the standard "districts", we are seeing a balkanization that dilutes unity and emphasizes a cloud of locations as opposed to clusters.
There needs to be better synchronization with government. Education of the latter as to the value of the arts (this seems to be woefully lacking).
Collectivization between artists, galleries and organizations instead of further divisions and power grabs.
A complete revamp of the city's outlook and control of murals, including setting up a committee whose members should include artists. We are well beyond the age of "Czars".
Facilitation for a plurality of smaller festivals, because these are the seeds from which great festivals grow -- as well as the community's identity.
Involvement, activism and collectivism on the 600 blk.
...and much, much more. 2014 is almost here. There is no cavalry coming to save us. No one will die for our sins. Mr. Right is not at the door (the wolf is!). Only we can make this happen. Let's build a better future, starting today.
--- Luis
Christos Tsirogiannis on "From Apulia to Virginia: An Apulian Gnathia Askos at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts" in his debut column "Nekyia" for The Journal of Art Crime
We begin this new, regular column on the underworld of antiquities trading with a follow-up to my article in the last issue of JAC (Spring 2013), 'A Marble Statue of a Boy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts'.
[...]
Facts and Evidence
An Apulian Gnathia askos with a spout formed in the shape of a woman's head appears in 2 Polaroid images (nos. CD 3, racc. 82, pag. 31, foto 6 and CD 3, racc. 82, pag. 32, foto 2) from the confiscated archive of the convicted antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici. The vase is depicted uncleaned, standing on a large, creased white sheet of paper, reassembled from various fragments, missing the entire left side of its rim and various chips of clay from its neck and shoulder.
Christos Tsirogiannis is a Greek forensic archaeologist. He studied archaeology and history of art in the University of Athens, then worked for the Greek Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2008, excavating throughout Greece and recording antiquities in private hands. He voluntarily cooperated with the Greek police Art Squad on a daily basis (August 2004 - December 2008) and was a member of the Greek Task Force Team that repatriated looted, smuggled and stolen antiquities from the Getty Museum, the Shelby White/Leon Levy collection, the Jean-David Cahn AG galleries, and others. Since 2007, Tsirogiannis has been identifying antiquities in museums, galleries, auction houses, private collections and museums, depicted in the confiscated Medici, Becchina and Symes-Michaelides archives, notifying public prosecutor Dr. Paolo Giorgio Ferri and the Greek authorities. He received his Ph.D. last October at the University of Cambridge, on the international illicit antiquities network viewed through the Robin Symes-Christos Michaelides archive.
You may finish reading this column in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime. Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
Derek Fincham's column "The Empty Frame" on "Detroit and the Difficult Deaccession Question" in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
The city of Detroit has declared itself bankrupt. It also has a world class collection of art at theDetroit Institute of Art (DIA). The first to consult about what should happen to Detroit's art must surely be Detroiters themselves. Yet one remarkable arts blogger referred to the potential sale of art as a "rape of its collection." This kind of angry criticism reveals much more about the sorry state of certain arts commentary than it does the difficult decisions confronting Detroit. Because the same critics who pile on the city leaders in Detroit are often the same who angrily criticize efforts by nations of origin like Italy for attempting to repatriate works of art that have left the country. You cannot have it both ways. There must be some organizing logic other than: "I want it here."
Derek Fincham is an Assistant Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law and served as Academic Director of ARCA. His research focuses on the intersection of law with art and antiquities. He holds a Ph.D. in cultural heritage law from the University of Aberdeen, and a J.D. from Wake Forest University and is a trustee of ARCA. He maintains a weblog at http://illicit-cultural-property.blogspot.com/.
Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
Columnist David Gill on "The Cleveland Apollo Goes Public" in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
In his column "Context Matters" for tenth issue of The Journal of Art Crime, Professor David Gill writes on “The Cleveland Apollo Goes Public”:
In September 2013, the classical bronze statue known as the Cleveland Apollo went on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as part of a special focus exhibition, “Praxiteles: the Cleveland Apollo” (September 29, 2013-January 5, 2014). The statue had been purchased in 2004. The installation is accompanied by a fully illustrated handbook by Cleveland curator, Michael Bennett (Bennett 2013). This statue appears to represent the Apollo Sauroktonos, a work attributed to the classical sculptor Praxiteles. Its addition to the corpus of attributable works post-dates Aileen Ajootian’s study of Praxiteles (Ajootian 1996, esp. 116-22). Bennett makes a number of important art historical observations in his study, not least in the possible association of the statue with Delphi, and the more radical suggestion that Apollo is not skewering a “lizard” but rather the Delphic Python. But such points, though interesting and worth exploring, need not detain us here. (As an aside, the “lizard” is an important play of words in the ownership of a Roman marble copy of the Apollo Sauroktonos by Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon, a work bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum: Darracott 1980, 120 [ill.]).
Bennett has chosen to go beyond an art historical study of the statue to launch a strong-worded defence for the right of museums to acquire newly-surfaced works. There are two areas worth exploring at this point: first, the collecting history of the history and the supporting scientific analyses; second, the wider debate about collecting and archaeological ethics.
The acquisition of the Apollo is placed by Bennett in the long tradition of collecting antiquities that can be traced back to antiquity; this is an area now explored by Margaret M. Miles (Miles 2008). The removal of cultural property from one location to another can indeed be traced to antiquity. During the second millennium BCE, looted Middle Kingdom Egyptian inscribed funerary sculpture can be found redistributed in the Sudan, Anatolia, and Crete (Gill and Padgham 2005). In modern times, Grand Tourists acquired classical sculptures in Italy and displayed them in their country houses (e.g. Haskell and Penny 1981). Thus the collection formed by Thomas Brand and Thomas Brand Hollis (and displayed at The Hyde in Essex, England) went on to become the core of the Disney bequest to the University of Cambridge (Gill 1990a; Gill 2004). The enlightenment values that placed such emphasis on classical sculptures can be found in the roots of the great encyclopaedic British Museum, the repository for world cultures (Wilson 2002). But should the “plundering” of sites like Tivoli to provide items for visitors to Rome be considered in the same way as the deliberate destruction of a temple to the Roman imperial cult in the late twentieth century, to generate bronze imperial statues for the market (see Kozloff 1987)? Is the “exploration” of tombs in the area round the Bay of Naples to yield items for the Hamilton collection (Jenkins and Sloan 1996) the same as the deliberate destruction of Apulian tombs using mechanical diggers in the late twentieth century (Graepler and Mazzei 1996; Watson 1997)?
Professor David Gill is Head of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Archaeological Heritage at University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, England. He is a former Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome, and was a Sir James Knott Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was previously a member of the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology at Swansea University (where he also chaired the university's e-learning sub-committee). He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. he is the holder of the 2012 Archeological Institute of America (AIA) Outstanding Public Service Award, and the 2012 SAFE Beacon Award. He has published widely on archaeological ethics with Christopher Chippindale. He wrote a history of British archaeological work in Greece prior to the First World War in Sifting the Soil of Greece: The Early Years of the British School at Athens (1886 - 1919) (Bulletin of the Institute of Classics Studies, Supplement 111; London: Institute of Classical Studies, 2011), xiv + 474 pp.
Art Taco Hits the Airwaves on "Ths Creative Mind", with Geeorge Medeiros Wed 12/18/2013
I will be the guest on George Medeiros' The Creative Mind at Rhinoonair,com 3:00 PM EST.
--- Luis
reade more...
--- Luis
Noah Charney in "Lessons from the History of Art Crime" writes on “Art-Burning Mother & Art Loss Register Issues” in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
An arrest was made this summer of a Romanian thief who seems to have been behind the heist of artworks, including paintings by Matisse, from the Kunsthal Museum in the Netherlands about a year ago. The arrest would have made small headlines, but for the fact that the mother of the thief claims to have burned at least one of the stolen paintings after her son’s arrest, in an attempt to destroy evidence and help him avoid prison. Unfortunately, the mother’s statement is believable, as she described accurately the way an oil painting on canvas would have burned in her oven (“like tissues”), and charred fragments of canvas with paint on them, that could match the stolen Matisse, were found just where she said they would be.
This is not the first time that a foolish and ignorant mother has made a son’s art theft crime far worse by destroying the stolen art. The mother of Swiss waiter and art kleptomaniac Stephane Breitweiser, who stole over one-hundred paintings and kept every one, never attempting to sell them but rather adding to a compulsive private art collection, destroyed a number of the stolen works when her son was arrested. She threw some in a canal, and shoved others down her garbage disposal. When her son heard this, he tried to kill himself, so distraught was he at the grotesque stupidity of destroying art—art that he loved and cherished, albeit stole.
There are almost no known cases in the history of art theft of thieves knowingly destroying stolen art, even when it seemed clear that they did not know how to profit from it. In the majority of known cases, thieves in such a situation have simply abandoned the stolen art, rather than destroy it—for destroying benefits no one, hurts everyone, and turns a kidnapping into a murder. This was the case for the 2004 Munch Museum theft—when thieves failed to find a buyer, and failed to secure a ransom for the stolen Munch paintings, including a version of The Scream, they simply abandoned the works in a parked car on a farm outside of Oslo. Art is sometimes damaged or destroyed inadvertently—the best information to date on the stolen Caravaggio Palermo Nativity, taken from the church of San Lorenzo in Palermo by members of Cosa Nostra in 1969 (the theft of which prompted the foundation of the world’s first art police unit, the Carabinieri Division for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, in Italy), is that the Caravaggio was irrevocably damaged in an earthquake and subsequently fed to pigs, to destroy the evidence. But such stories are rare indeed, thank goodness.
Noah Charney holds Masters degrees in art history from The Courtauld Institute and University of Cambridge, and a PhD from University of Ljubljana. He is Adjunct Professor of Art History at the American University of Rome, a Visiting Lecturer for Brown University abroad programs, and is the founder of ARCA, the Association for Research into Crimes against Art, a non-profit research group on issues of art crimes. Charney is the author of numerous academic and popular articles, including a regular column in ArtInfo called “The Secret History of Art” and a weekly interview series in The Daily Beast called “How I Write.” His first novel, The Art Thief (Atria 2007), is currently translated into seventeen languages and is a best seller in five countries. He is the editor of an academic essay collection entitled Art & Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World (Praeger 2009) and the Museum Time series of guides to museums in Spain (Planeta 2010). His is author of a critically acclaimed work of non-fiction, Stealing the Mystic Lamb: the True History of the World’s Most Coveted Masterpiece (PublicAffairs 2011), which is a best seller in two countries. His latest book is The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: On Stealing the World’s Most Famous Painting (ARCA Publications 2011). Upcoming books include The Book of Forgery (Phaidon 2014), The Invention of Art (Norton 2015), and an as yet untitled edited collection of essays on art crime (Palgrave 2014).
Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).
This American Hustle Weekend, Dec. 16th - 22nd 2013
Monday, Dec 16th, 2013 -
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Studio at 620 and WMNF present The Radio Theatre Project Christmas Show.
This month’s show will feature:
The Plot to Overthrow Christmas by Norman Corwin, adapted by Richard Fish and directed by Rich Rice
A Christmas Special that Overrules a Horrendous Plot. “The Plot to Overthrow Christmas” is a 2008 retelling of a treasure from the golden age of radio by Norman Corwin and the CBS Columbia Workshop. Although it pre-dates Dr Seuss by many years, there certainly is a marked similarity of style. This 35 minute romp of rhyming verse introduces us to Nero violining in hell and co-opted into a plot to assassinate Santa Claus. Except Santa Claus is not all as it seems, and sometimes the cold can do more to warm the heart than the flames of hell…
Another Merry Christmas written and directed by Jim Wicker
Santa returns home from his annual trip around the world delivering gifts, but this year he lacks his usual enthusiasm. It seems the troubles of the world are weighing on Santa’s mind, leaving him less jolly than usual. Can Santa’s personal assistant, the elf Izzy, help him regain his Christmas spirit?
Noel!! Noel!! The Continuing Adventures of Noel Berlin, Cabaret Detective written by Paul Wilborn and Matt Cowley.
What can happen next? Murder, Mayhem and St Petersburg’s elite meet up in the second season of the popular series written for and by RTP Live! in cliff hanger episodes with cabaret music and stunning sound effects. Don’t miss a single month
Christmas cabaret ! Sing-a-Long and Gifts of RTP Live!
RTP Live! will get you in the Holiday spirit with gifts ,treats & songs
Holiday Sing-A-Long
620 First Avenue South, Saint Petersburg, Florida Starts @ 7:00 PM
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Tuesday, Dec. 17th, 2013
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Every Tuesday we have Open Figure Drawing at Soft Water Studios. Models are nude or partially draped. 2, 5, and 20 minute poses. Easels, benches and tables are available. Bring your own paper & supplies. $7 Model Fee.
515 22nd Street South, Saint Petersburg
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Thursday, Dec.19th, 2013
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Continuing to explore the implications of historical and contemporary Korean art, Mindy Solomon presents FOCUS KOREA, an introduction to tone and texture.
Artists include:
Sungyee Kim
Sung-Jae Choi
Kang Hyo Lee
Ree Soo-Jong
Wookjae Maeng
Minkyu Lee
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 19, 6-9PM
Exhibition runs through January 23, 2014.
Join us for the opening reception and enjoy a Korean spirits sampling with Gramps!
172 NW 24th St., Miami, Florida 6-9 PM
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It is time again for our annual gala. Join us for a great evening of glass, celebrating the holiday season.
Enjoy live glassblowing, refreshments, music and last minute gift ideas.
Sign up to create your own wineglass, beer chalice, vase or ornament during the event! (space is limited)
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A Charity event for Metropolitan Metropolitan Ministries
Silent Auction 5 Pieces of framed Art valued at over $7k & Raffle win art, jewelry, sculptures, and unique gifts more than $10k worth of prizes
100% of the proceeds going to the charity.
also wear your ugly Christmas sweater and win some art!
1907 E. 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 6-11 PM.
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Saturday, Dec 21, 2013
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Please join us Saturday, December 21 from 7-10pm for a sneak peek at our new space and some holiday cheer.
_______________________________________________________________________
mmm
reade more...
_________________________________________
Studio at 620 and WMNF present The Radio Theatre Project Christmas Show.
This month’s show will feature:
The Plot to Overthrow Christmas by Norman Corwin, adapted by Richard Fish and directed by Rich Rice
A Christmas Special that Overrules a Horrendous Plot. “The Plot to Overthrow Christmas” is a 2008 retelling of a treasure from the golden age of radio by Norman Corwin and the CBS Columbia Workshop. Although it pre-dates Dr Seuss by many years, there certainly is a marked similarity of style. This 35 minute romp of rhyming verse introduces us to Nero violining in hell and co-opted into a plot to assassinate Santa Claus. Except Santa Claus is not all as it seems, and sometimes the cold can do more to warm the heart than the flames of hell…
Another Merry Christmas written and directed by Jim Wicker
Santa returns home from his annual trip around the world delivering gifts, but this year he lacks his usual enthusiasm. It seems the troubles of the world are weighing on Santa’s mind, leaving him less jolly than usual. Can Santa’s personal assistant, the elf Izzy, help him regain his Christmas spirit?
Noel!! Noel!! The Continuing Adventures of Noel Berlin, Cabaret Detective written by Paul Wilborn and Matt Cowley.
What can happen next? Murder, Mayhem and St Petersburg’s elite meet up in the second season of the popular series written for and by RTP Live! in cliff hanger episodes with cabaret music and stunning sound effects. Don’t miss a single month
Christmas cabaret ! Sing-a-Long and Gifts of RTP Live!
RTP Live! will get you in the Holiday spirit with gifts ,treats & songs
Holiday Sing-A-Long
620 First Avenue South, Saint Petersburg, Florida Starts @ 7:00 PM
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Tuesday, Dec. 17th, 2013
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Every Tuesday we have Open Figure Drawing at Soft Water Studios. Models are nude or partially draped. 2, 5, and 20 minute poses. Easels, benches and tables are available. Bring your own paper & supplies. $7 Model Fee.
515 22nd Street South, Saint Petersburg
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Thursday, Dec.19th, 2013
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Continuing to explore the implications of historical and contemporary Korean art, Mindy Solomon presents FOCUS KOREA, an introduction to tone and texture.
Artists include:
Sungyee Kim
Sung-Jae Choi
Kang Hyo Lee
Ree Soo-Jong
Wookjae Maeng
Minkyu Lee
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 19, 6-9PM
Exhibition runs through January 23, 2014.
Join us for the opening reception and enjoy a Korean spirits sampling with Gramps!
172 NW 24th St., Miami, Florida 6-9 PM
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It is time again for our annual gala. Join us for a great evening of glass, celebrating the holiday season.
Enjoy live glassblowing, refreshments, music and last minute gift ideas.
Sign up to create your own wineglass, beer chalice, vase or ornament during the event! (space is limited)
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A Charity event for Metropolitan Metropolitan Ministries
Silent Auction 5 Pieces of framed Art valued at over $7k & Raffle win art, jewelry, sculptures, and unique gifts more than $10k worth of prizes
100% of the proceeds going to the charity.
also wear your ugly Christmas sweater and win some art!
1907 E. 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 6-11 PM.
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Saturday, Dec 21, 2013
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Please join us Saturday, December 21 from 7-10pm for a sneak peek at our new space and some holiday cheer.
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Marine Fidanyan on "Destruction of Jugha Necropolis with Armenian Khachgars (Cross-stones) in Azerbaijan in the Fall 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime
Marine Fidanyan writes on "Destruction of Jugha Necropolis with Armenian Khachqars (Cross-stones) in Azerbaijan" in the tenth issue of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime. From the abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss a specific case of the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, namely the Jugha Necropolis, which used to be full of Armenian Khachqars (Cross-stones) in Nakhijevan, Azerbaijan. Khachqars are delicately carved stones decorated with cross/es and other unique ornaments. The Jugha Necropolis was far from the area of the armed conflict initiated by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh as a result of self-determination movement. A ceasefire agreement was concluded between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in 1994.From the introduction:
Every nation or ethnic group has its own unique culture which is enshrined in monuments and passed from generation to generation. Each site and historical monument constitutes a separate page of the world book of existence of humankind and its development. Every single cultural object tells us history, encompasses respect towards ancestors, and reflects invisible energy and belief in its own strengths. To have a future we need to preserve our past. Cultural Heritage is a mirror of humanity and reflects a genetic wisdom of a particular nation, it drives us forward to explore and satisfy a natural, but endless curiosity as to who we are and where we are going. Notoriously, during wartime (as well as peacetime) the objects of Cultural Heritage are easily accessible targets, which can be destroyed and simply erased from the surface of our planet at once. War, undoubtedly, is a tragedy for all of humankind irrespective of nationality, gender, political as well as religious views and beliefs. War is often started for different reasons such as territory, treasure, political regime, ideological and/or religious beliefs, etc. By the destruction of Cultural Heritage, parties to a conflict are knowingly try to harm and destroy the cultural identity of a rival as much as possible and forever. Very often, the same behaviour occurs during “pretended peace-time”, or within the so-called period of ceasefire, even in places far from the armed conflict. Tangible objects of cultural heritage can become the most vulnerable targets of destruction and realization of an opposite party’s goals. In such cases there are no winners. As a result, the heritage of the world is affected and pages of common history are lost and erased. Armenia is an ancient country with a rich and unique Cultural Heritage, dating from the 4th BC. Armenia has inherited 33.000 historical and cultural monuments, which are under state protection and are included in the State Heritage Register. What of Armenia’s cultural heritage which, due to some past historical event, is now located within the borders of another State? This too can be subject to destruction related to armed conflict.
Marine Fidanyan is an Intellectual Property (IP) Expert. She received LL.M in IP and Competition Law from Munich IP Center (MIPLC) in Germany, LL.M from American University of Armenia (AUA). She studied at the ARCA Postgraduate Certificate Program on Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection. Marine is interested in Intellectual Property and Cultural Heritage protection issues as well as exploring intersection of these two disciplines. Majoring in Copyright and Related rights, Marine worked for the only Collective Management Organization in Armenia and has an experience of negotiating contracts with the users of copyrighted works, collecting remuneration, representing the organization in the court. While working for the European Union Advisory Group to the Government of Armenia, she was proving policy advice in the field of Intellectual Property. In addition, she was presenting IP related issues/topics to Judges, Prosecutors, Police and Customs officers during conferences, seminars and workshops, having lectures at the RA Police Academy and the RA Prosecutors’ School. Marine held a column at the monthly journal “The Pioneer”. She is the author of several publications on IP matters.
Design for this issue and all issues of The Journal of Art Crime is the work of Urška Charney. Here's a link to ARCA's website on The Journal of Art Crime (includes Table of Contents for previous issues).