IFAR Journal
Volume 20, No. 1/2
2019
John Richardson: Picasso Scholar and Art World Luminary – An IFAR Evening, May 29, 2019
— Pepe Karmel, Diana Widmaier Picasso and Ross Finocchio
The edited and illustrated proceedings of a May 2019 IFAR Evening celebrating the scholarship of the late Picasso biographer John Richardson. The talks/articles, which feature new scholarship as well as personal anecdotes, are by Pepe Karmel – associate professor of art history, NYU and author of Picasso and the Invention of Cubism; Picasso’s granddaughter, Diana Widmaier Picasso – an art historian, curator and author, who’s working on a catalogue raisonné of the artist’s sculptures; Ross Finocchio, John Richardson’s editorial assistant on various projects, most notably, volume four of A Life of Picasso. Michael Cary, Director of Research, Gagosian Gallery, and Delphine Huisinga, John’s researcher, participated in the discussion and Q&A that followed the talks. Dr. Sharon Flescher, IFAR’s Executive Director, moderated.
— Steven Manford
The author, a photo historian, specialist in the photographs and Rayographs of Man Ray, and author of several publications on the stamps of the Man Ray studio, discusses the continued problem of fake or otherwise “problematic” Man Ray photographic prints, despite the fact that 20 years have passed since the notorious Bokelberg scam of the 1990s. The author describes various “red flags” for collectors and others, including: fake studio stamps; wrong paper type and size; prints made post film deterioration; and inappropriate cropping etc. He maintains that dubious or outright false works taint many major Man Ray collections, including museum collections. He argues that recognizing these fakes requires considerable knowledge and sophistication on the part of collectors and dealers and more published scholarship on the work of Man Ray and that of other photographers.
News & Updates: Caillebotte’s Irises Will Bloom in Canada, Ending Export Contretemps
— Steffanie E. Keim and Sharon Flescher
A discussion of a Gustave Caillebotte painting sold at auction in Toronto being subject to Canada’s Cultural Property Export and import Act. Following a clarification of the term “national importance” by the Federal Court of Appeals, the French Impressionist painting was declared to be of national importance and subject to a temporary export ban. The Art Gallery of Ontario purchased the work to keep it in Canada.
News & Updates: Guelph Treasure – What Is a Taking in Violation of International Law?
— Steffanie E. Keim
In the Philipp v. Germany case followed closely in the IFAR Journal, Germany and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Center that currently holds a disputed treasure of medieval German relics have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether they have to stand trial in the U.S. The Treasure is claimed by heirs of a consortium of German-Jewish dealers who owned it pre WWII. At issue is whether a so-called domestic taking (within Germany) constitutes a taking in violation of international law under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
In Memoriam: Gilbert S. Edelson
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Gilbert S. Edelson, attorney and ADAA spokesman and a member of IFAR’s Board of Directors for 13 years, is remembered.
News & Updates: What a Difference a Decade Makes: Bakalar and Nagy – Similar Facts, Different Outcome
— Steffanie E. Keim
A comparison of the recent Reif v. Nagy decision involving Egon Schiele artworks from the Fritz Grunbaum collection with the decision in Bakalar v. Vavra a decade earlier, which also involved a Grunbaum Schiele. The Reif court ruled out laches and considered the provenance research and historical circumstances.
News & Updates: Owners Make Yourselves Known – LAPD Has Announced Art Recoveries and Is Seeking the Owners
— Fay Singer
In September 2019 the Los Angeles Police Department announced the recovery of artworks reported stolen from Los Angeles homes in the 1990s. In an effort to locate the original owners, the LAPD has posted images of the recovered works on its website.
News & Updates: The Actor Retains Leading Role at the Met --- For Now
— Steffanie E. Keim and Sharon Flescher
A discussion of a Court of Appeals’ June 2019 ruling in Zuckerman v. Met. While upholding the lower court’s decision that a Picasso painting, The Actor, should remain at the Metropolitan Museum, despite a claim by the heir to the Leffmann family that owned the painting pre WWII, the higher court did not address whether the work had been sold under duress in 1938, but rather based its decision on laches and that the plaintiff’s long delay in bringing the claim was prejudicial to the museum.
In Brief: Con Man John Re Released from Federal Prison
A follow-up to the case of John Re, who passed off dozens of counterfeit Pollock and de Kooning paintings bearing a fake “Schulte Collection” provenance. A large group of the fakes were submitted to IFAR’s Art Authentication Research Service, and IFAR’s research played an important role in the case against him. In May 2016, Re was sentenced to five years in federal prison; he was released in August 2019.
In Brief: Mayor Gallery Not Taking No for an Answer
In the case Mayor Gallery Ltd. v. Agnes Martin Catalogue Raisonné LLC concerning the rejection of works submitted to the catalogue raisonné committee, the New York State Supreme Court has now ruled against the Mayor Gallery twice, based on the contract language in the submission agreement.
In Brief: Did Greece Put the Cart Before the Horse?
An update on a legal case covered previously in the IFAR Journal concerning the removal from a Sotheby’s sale of an ancient bronze Greek horse from the Howard and Saretta Barnet Collection after the Greek Ministry of Culture sent a letter asserting ownership. In June 2019, the District Court denied Greece’s motion to dismiss based on the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and confirmed that Sotheby’s had standing in the case.
In Brief: American Billionaire Buys Disputed Caravaggio in Last-Minute Deal
An update on a story reported previously in the IFAR Journal. In June 2019 The American collector J. Tomilson Hill bought the controversial painting Judith Beheading Holofernes, which was discovered in Toulouse in 2014. Experts disagree as to whether the work is by Caravaggio.
In Brief: New U.S. Bilateral Agreements with Algeria and Ecuador
The U.S. State Department’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) has approved two new bilateral agreements concerning the importation of cultural property at risk of pillage. At its upcoming meeting, it will consider requests for protection from Morocco and Yemen.
Stolen Art
Stolen items include Annibale Carracci’s The Penitent Magdalene, stolen in May 2019; Norman Rockwell’s Oil’s First Century, stolen in February 2019; Max Pechstein’s Bäume in Dünen, stolen in Munich, Germany in December 2017.
Recovered Art
Recovered items include Pinturicchio’s Madonna and Child, stolen in Italy in October 1990; Andy Warhol’s Gold Shoe, stolen in New York in 1988; Govaert Flinck’s Portrait of a Man, stolen in Stockholm, Sweden in 1992; John Mulvany’s Trappers of the Yellowstone, stolen in 1974.
Missing Art
Missing items include two works by Frank Hemluth Auerbach; Thomas Jones’ Landscape at Montmelian in Savoy, missing in transit between New York City and Houston, TX in November 2017.
