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Art Business News

 
 
* Picasso becomes focal point of Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) gallery (Sept. 29)
* Rich Midland-Walwyn sponsorship will bring Picasso to Ottawa (Sept. 29)
* Criminal assists businessman in art recovery (Sept. 29)
* Phase II of Canadian Copyright Reform (Sept. 22)
* Freelancers fail to establish rights to electronic versions of their work (Sept. 22)
*Canadian art museum contains numerous fakes (Aug. 29)
*Canada Council creates York Wilson award for art museums (Sept. 15)
*Thieves bargain for freedom in major US art theft (Sept. 8)
*Sotheby's chastened (Sept. 8)
*Lottery cash for the arts 'to be frozen' (Sept. 1)
*Provinces, municipalities taking increased responsibility for arts subsidy (Aug. 25)
*Tourist in icy plunge to save Rome fountain (Aug. 25)
*Ottawa secures funding for Radio Canada International (Aug. 25)
*Who's Who burglary gang knew what's what (Aug. 25)
*Museums seek to protect art images on Internet (Aug. 18)
*San Francisco broker charged with art theft (Aug. 18)
*Future of the DIA in jeopardy (Aug. 18)
*New UK money magazine provides list of potential sponsors (Aug. 18)
Picasso becomes focal point of Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) gallery (Sept. 29)
Halifax -- Montreal busienssman Rubin Abramowsky has purchased a valuable Picasso sketchbook for the University College of Cape Breton's gallery.
 
In a year long bidding war, long time UCCB benefactor Abramowsky managed to convince the sketchbook owner to sell it to the small university gallery. The gallery, the major museum in Cape Breton, was in competition with the MoMA in New York and the J.Paul Getty Museum in L.A. The 100 page ledger size notebook called "Carnet de Dessins" is appraised at US$1.4-million. The sketchbook contains 89 drawings in ink and pencil completed between 1897 and 1903.
 
The president of the winning gallery Jacqueline Scott said in interview, "We had the other galleries offering to buy this and we didn't have enough money to buy a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons as a thank you for the donor."
 
Scott also commented that the university gallery needed the book to bring a profile to the gallery and its collection of contemporary Canadian art. The selling point for the original owner was that the sketchbook would become the focal point of the small gallery rather than one of several major works.
 
For the gallery, the benefits are clear says Abramowsky, "When I approach people about supporting a project in Cape Breton and they say 'do you have anyting noteworthy in your collection' I can say we have Picasso sketchbook... We also have works by Jack Bush and Alex Coleville and those aren't Sunday painters. This gives us a little bit of credibility."
 
Rich Midland-Walwyn sponsorship will bring Picasso to Ottawa (Sept. 29)
Toronto -- Midland-Walwyn Capital Inc. has announced a gift of $500,000. to assist the National Gallery of Canada in bringing "Picasso: Masterworks" from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to Ottawa.
 
The exhibition, exclusive to the National Gallery, includes 100 paintings, sculptures and drawings and runs April 3, 1998, through July 12. The Midland-Walwyn sponsorship is the largest ever purchased from the National Gallery. It is also the first time MoMA has loaned a show of this size to a Canadian institution.
 
Criminal assists businessman in art recovery. by Jane Bennett (Sept. 29, Jacksonville Business Journal )
A Mandarin businessman who lost $20,000 two years ago searching for long-lost Nazi artworks is ready to try again -- this time with the help of a German criminal.
 
Robert Frost, chief executive of United Medical Technologies Co., an orthodontics manufacturer, will meet with Ulrich Mamecke to schedule a second dig after Mamecke is released from prison at the end of the month. "I have spent several years negotiating an agreement with Ulrich Mamecke and now have a signed contract which clearly states that he will show me the exact location," Frost said. When the police searched Mamecke's apartment in 1992 they found letters to museums saying he and an associate knew the whereabouts of cultural art that had been buried since World War II.
 
The associate's father was a top Nazi SS officer and responsible for hiding the treasure. Before his death, the father took the associate to the location in Germany where the treasure was buried. Because the vaults' entrance was dynamited, it requires a complete engineering effort which Mamecke and his partner could not afford, Frost said. "These letters were addressed to the Rotterdam Museum in the Netherlands, the J. Paul Getty Museum in California and the Amsterdam Telegraph, a leading European newspaper," Frost said.
 
Mamecke and his associate wanted to make a private deal with anyone who would help them financially, he said. "From the letters I have received from Ulrich, I have reason to believe that the train was also carrying a gold shipment and military documents the Germans didn't want to fall into Allied hands," Frost said.
 
Frost's involvement with the dig started two years ago when he invested $20,000 to help a Gainesville geological survey and recovery company, Global Explorations Inc., raise an estimated $500,000 to fund an expedition to recover the treasure. Global dug the wrong spot, Frost said. "They excavated a site that they believed was the depository of cultural art in some train wagons. Unfortunately, the wagons turned out to be container cars under rubble and did not contain any art." Then Frost teamed with Mamecke and formed a corporation to structure the project. Under the terms of the contract, Frost and Mamecke will receive 25 percent of the sale of any assets recovered. George Rehm, an attorney practicing in Heidelberg, Germany, has agreed to assist Frost by obtaining the necessary permits with state, local and federal authorities, as well as from private landowners whose interests would be affected by the excavation. The second dig will cost about $750,000, Frost said. The money will come from private sources, including international investors. Frost will also be accepting any outstanding shares which had a guaranteed payback to investors in the original Global dig. "That means a previous Global investor can participate in our project by simply reassigning the unit over to our company," he said.
 
The dig should be complete within a year.
 
Phase III of Canadian Copyright Reform (Sept. 22)
Ottawa - -With Phase II of copyright reform (Bill C-32) passed by Parliament, copyright creators/owners and consumers are setting their agendas and strategies on the next phase of copyright reform. In addition to dealing with digital issues, Phase III may include provisions on authorship and ownership in audio-visual works, neighbouring rights for performing artists in audio-visual works, photographers being granted a right of first ownership of copyright in all their works (including commissioned photographs), and an extended copyright duration from 50 to 70 years after the author's death.
 
Freelancers fail to establish rights to electronic versions of their work (Sept. 22)
New York -- A U.S. federal judge in Manhattan has ruled against freelance journalists who claimed the exclusive right to reproduce their work online, in CD-ROMs and on electronic databases. The case involved the electronic reproduction by publishers of articles contributed to various newspapers and magazines between 1990 and 1993, before many publishers, including the New York Times, began requiring freelancers to relinquish all electronic rights in their work. The judge ruled such reproduction is essentially equivalent to archival versions of print media on microfilm, which publishers do have the right to exploit under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, as opposed to the selling of works for lucrative movie and television deals, which they are prevented from doing. According to a report in the New York Times (14 Aug 1997), the decision will be appealed. The decision was obtained in Tasini v. New York Times, and can be seen at http://www.nylj.com/links/tasini.html. Comments on the decision are at http://www.igc.apc.org/nwu/ and
http://www.asja.org/cwpage.htm.
 
The foregoing two articles are courtesy Lesley Ellen Harris, Copyright and New Media Lawyer. Ms. Harris is the author of the book Canadian Copyright Law (1995: Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.) Lesley can be reached at (416) 226-6768, copylaw@interlog.com, and at http://copyrightlaws.com.
 
Canadian art museum contains numerous fakes (Aug. 29)
Saint John - The New Brunswick Museum has stunned the Canadian art community with the revelations of an art consultant hired to review the museum's collection of African art.
 
The consultant, Marc Félix, was hired by the Saint John museum to assess the value of its 700-piece collection of African art. Mr. Félix wrote a report following his two day examination of the objects: "I would... recommend that you no further spend any money on this embarrassing collection which is an insult to your museum, your staff and the people of Africa."
 
According to Mr. Félix, 30 percent of the sculptures and masks were "absolute fantasies. They are not even copies of types of figures and masks that exist." And only "20 percent of the items -- about 140 -- are real; that is, they were used in rituals."
 
A Globe & Mail report (Aug. 29) states that over half the collection was donated to the museum in 1986 by Mr. David Campbell, a well known Toronto collector who has donated works to many other Canadian institutions. Mr. Campbell, states the paper, donated and the museum accepted the objects in good faith.
 
At issue here may be the common practice of museums to acquire inferior works together with one or two objects it desires most. The donor gives all of the work in exchange for tax credit. However, once acquired by the museum all the objects, good and bad, must be maintained indefinitely. It is not common practice for a public museum to sell objects -- in fact, de-accession immediately after acquisition would likely be subject to investigation.
 
The museum's director Frank Milligan said to Globe, "a number of them (the African objects) are extremely valuable and stand up well to the assessment."
 
"What we're concerned about is determining what is of use to us and valuable and getting that out into the public. We're not concerned with the financial implications as far as the donor is concerned."
 
Canada Council creates York Wilson award for art museums (Sept. 15)
Ottawa- The Canada Council has established the York Wilson Endowment for Canadian art museums to purchase works by Canadian artists.
 
The CC has received a donation of $250,000. from Mrs. Lela Wilson and Mr. Maxwell Henderson in honour of the Canadian painter York Wilson (1907-1984). The award, worth up to $10,000., will be given annually to an eligible Canadian institution to allow it to purchase an original artwork that would significantly enhance its collection of contemporary Canadian painting or sculpture.
 
"We are most pleased that the York Wilson Endowment Award will allow acquisition of new works by Canadian public galleries and art museums (including university museums) who have demonstrated a commitment to collecting, displaying and maintaining a contemporary Canadian art collection," stated Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Henderson.
 
York Wilson was a leading Canadian artist and muralist. Wilson first exhibited his work in 1931. Through the 1940s and 1950s, he played a central role in the Canadian art scene and was an energetic advocate for the arts. His work may be found in many Canadian public institutions and eight foreign museums, including the Musee national d'Art Moderne in Paris and the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.
 
Thieves bargain for freedom in major US art theft. By Leslie Gevirtz (Sept. 8)
Boston (Reuter) - Two self-described art lovers are trying to put the finishing strokes on a deal to guarantee their freedom and
a $5 million reward in exchange for 13 masterpieces stolen from a Boston museum.
 
Thieves posing as police brazenly looted the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum more than seven years ago, making off with works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Manet and Degas. None of the works, now valued at $300 million, has ever surfaced. Tantilizing leads stemming from the return in July of a 17th century royal seal that created the Massachusetts Bay Colony have lead FBI agents and local police to question William Youngworth III, a Randolph, Massachusetts, antiques dealer and convicted check forger about the Gardner thefts.
 
Youngworth, 38, is out on bail awaiting trial on charges of receiving stolen property and illegal possession of ammunition and
faces further charges in connecton with antique firearms and drugs. He has been trying to work out a settlement with the FBI: in return for dropping all charges, a share of the reward being offered by the Gardner and the release of his longtime friend and teacher, the works would be returned.
 
On Wednesday, FBI agents expect to meetYoungworth's friend and former karate teacher, Myles Connor Jr., a 54-year-old antiques dealer and art thief who was in federal prison when the Gardner theft occurred. Connor, who has three years left to serve of a 10-year sentence in connection with a federal drug and art theft conviction, has brokered other deals. The stakes were raised last week when a Boston Herald reporter in a front page story said he was shown what might have been one of the missing Rembrandts, ``The Storm on the Sea of Galillee,'' in a secret warehouse. The Gardner's executive director Joan Norris said after a meeting with the reporter, the work may very well be one of the missing paintings. But U.S. Attorney Donald Stern told reporters, ``We never cut a deal in the dark. We're not going to do anything blind without knowing what the facts are.''
 
Connie Lowenthal, executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research in New York, which tracks art thefts, said while most succeed, ``it is very difficult to sell stolen masterpieces. The works are too well known and no honest person would touch them.''
 
The Gardner, which had no insurance on its collection, raised the reward for the artworks' return in good condition to $5 million from $1 million six months ago. Criminal defense lawyer Howard Lewis, who also represents Youngworth, said his client was in prison at the time of the robbery and added, ``had no part in the theft or the planning of it.'' Youngworth, himself, feels federal authorities are harassing him and his family in an attempt to get the information.
 
"The harassment really began to get hot and heavy in July,'' he said. "They raided my home; they tore up my business. They really trashed it. I'm an antiques dealer. They'd be picking something up and just smash it.''
 
"My 6-year-old son has been traumatized by all this,'' Youngworth said, describing how police burst into his Randolph home on the child's birthday and have followed his wife and son in the family car as they drove through the small town south of Boston.
 
Sotheby's Chastened. by Spencer P.M. Harrington, The Archaeological Institute of America (Sept. 8)
Sotheby's has transferred its regular sales of antiquities and Indian art from London to New York, prompting the heads of the
company's Antiquities and Indian and Islamic Art departments to resign. In a short statement, the auction house acknowledged that its decision was in response to "recently expressed concerns" about "issues of patrimony and heritage."
 
While Sotheby's officials refused any further comment, the action was widely interpreted as a response to allegations by British journalist Peter Watson that employees of the auction house had engaged in widespread smuggling of antiquities. In Sotheby's: The Inside Story (see abstract of "Rotten Apples: Sotheby's and the Antiquities Market," ARCHAEOLOGY, May/June 1997), Watson alleged that certain employees had spirited artifacts out of Italy, India, and Cambodia in violation of their export laws.
 
Thomas Hoving, the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, says that concentrating all antiquities sales in New York will limit what Sotheby's can auction. He notes that American courts have sometimes honored foreign countries' claims for the return of illegally exported artifacts and that the U.S. has imposed import bans on objects originating from a half-dozen countries under the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. In Britain, he says, there are "no customs to speak of, no laws [prohibiting the entry of illegally exported items]. It's wide open."
 
"London has been called the smuggling capital of the world," says Ricardo J. Elia, a Boston University archaeologist and a
leading critic of the illicit antiquities market. "The trade in antiquities in London will continue. There are so many other dealers and auction houses there that this is not going to have any impact on the volume of trade." Jerome M. Eisenberg, an antiquities dealer in New York and London and editor and publisher of Minerva magazine, characterized the decision as a "public relations ploy."
 
Transferring the London antiquities and Indian offices, he says, will have "virtually no effect on their total sales. The gross antiquities sales of Sotheby's and Christie's together are less than one-half of one percent of their total art sales." Though antiquities sales constitute a small share of Sotheby's business, they have accounted for a large share of the company's headaches. Sotheby's will not abandon the antiquities market, says Elia, because "there's a tradition of the antiquarian who builds museum collections. It's still a high-prestige arena."
 
He adds that the smuggling scandals will end only when "dealers and auction houses stop dealing in unprovenienced antiquities."
 
 
Lottery cash for the arts 'to be frozen'. By Norman Lebrecht and Jon Hibbs
London (Telegraph London) - The Government is heading for confrontation with the arts world over a threat to impose a £100 million cap on National Lottery funding for theatres, galleries and arts initiatives.
 
Ministers are being blamed for prospective cuts in lottery expenditure which would amount to the biggest reversal of public support for the arts since the principle of state subsidy was established in 1945. It follows a meeting at which Chris Smith, the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, is said to have told the Arts Council that its lottery money would be frozen at £100-million a year for the next three years. That is half the budget enjoyed by the arts under the Tories and has provoked fears that many important building projects and badly-needed renovation programmes will be hit. The row involves the share of income the arts can expect from the lottery and does not affect the separate £185 million Treasury grant to the Arts Council, which is spent on performances and productions.
 
Although the Government has launched a fundamental spending review covering the work of all Whitehall departments and
agencies, Labour sources denied responsibility for the problem. They accused the council of over-estimating likely income from the lottery, and over-committing itself to expensive projects for which money was never guaranteed. One Whitehall source said the department had always been in dispute with the council over estimates of lottery funding, and denied that firm figures had been reached. The source said: "Talks are yet to take place."
 
Labour warned before the election that it would set up a sixth "good cause" to channel lottery funds to health and education projects but ministers insist that such legislation later this year will not adversely affect funds available to the original five. The White Paper on reform of the lottery last month showed that the success of the mid-week lottery had released an additional £1 billion for the new fund on top of the original forecast of £9 billion proceeds. A spokesman for Mr Smith's department said the other recipients of lottery funds - the arts, sport, charities and the millennium celebrations - could still expect to receive the same share as before, equivalent to about £250 million a year. Tories warned that there was bound to be a squeeze on resources once Labour interfered with the way lottery funding was distributed.
 
"This is the inevitable consequence of a people's lottery being turned into the Government's lottery," said Patrick Nicholls, the shadow culture spokesman.
 
The reductions present arts administrators with difficult choices in allocating the money left to them. Covent Garden's controversial restoration alone is costing £78 million - almost 80 per cent of a year's budget - and the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays, Manchester, will consume £64 million. A £113 million bid under consideration to encase London's South Bank arts centre under a glass shield designed by Labour's favourite architect, Lord Rogers, would probably be ruled out under the new limits. The plan by English National Opera to quit the Coliseum in central London and move to a more residential area would also be put under threat. Some large-scale projects, such as the £40 million refit of the Royal Albert Hall or the newly-approved £33 million arts centre at the Baltic Flour Mills, in Gateshead, will still go ahead but completion may be delayed as funding is eked out over a much longer period.
 
"It is very painful because there is so much good stuff that still needs supporting," said Prudence Skene, chairman of the lottery panel for the Arts Council of England. "To some of the bigger companies we will for the next few years have to say - don't even think of applying."
 
Political sources say the Labour leadership is not in the least concerned about an arts backlash over the withdrawal of lottery funding.

Provinces, municipalities taking increased responsibility for arts subsidy (Aug. 25)
Ottawa -- Statistics Canada has come out with a new report reflecting a trend in which the federal government is spending less on the arts and the provinces and municipalities more.
 
In 1994-95, the federal government spent $55-million on the not-for-profit performing arts, making up 40 percent of public funding. This figure is down from 45 percent in 1990. The provinces averaged 43 percent of all public grants at $60-million. Municipalities absorbed 15 percent or $21-million in 1994-95. The balance is made up for by the private sector. Total public grants to the performing arts in 1994-95 was $137.3-million.
 
Tourist in icy plunge to save Rome fountain (The Times, London), by Richard Owen. (Aug. 25)
Rome -- Italy reacted with national outrage yesterday after an attack by three unemployed Romans on Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona in the heart of the capital.
 
A young tourist from Northern Ireland who dived into the fountain's icy waters to rescue the damaged pieces was hailed as a hero. The media treated the incident as terrorism, condemning "a mindless act of vandalism", and the news led television bulletins. There were calls for heavier fines and jail sentences for damage to the nation's artistic heritage. Professor Federico Zeri, a leading art expert, said that it was time the army was called in "to protect the country's heritage". Francesco Rutelli, the Mayor of Rome, said: "Enough is enough. From now on we must punish severely anyone who fails to respect our unique cultural heritage."
 
The damage happened when three unemployed men aged between 33 and 43 - all from Rome, and all with petty criminal records - clambered into the fountain. One tried to climb up the statue, breaking off the tail of a sea monster between the figures representing the Ganges and the Danube. It fell into the water in three pieces. When onlookers called the police, two of the men climbed out and ran off, but the third was arrested. The other two, identified because of their wet clothes, were caught shortly afterwards. They go on trial tomorrow. Their defence lawyer said they would claim they had been trying to cool off, and the damage had been accidental.
 
Il Messaggero said that police were reluctant to climb into the fountain because they did not want to get their uniforms wet. They turned to Ciaran Shevlin, 17, from Augher in Co Tyrone, who was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and sandals. One of the officers helped him to climb into the basin of the fountain, where the water is waist deep, and, to applause from the crowd, Mr Shevlin submerged himself three times to bring up the pieces.
 
"I didn't need asking twice," Mr Shevlin said. "We Irish are happy when we can be of service. The pieces were heavier than I expected and the water was very, very cold. But I didn't mind."
 
An Italian passer-by bought him a blue Italian national football shirt from a street vendor. Mr Shevlin, a Roman Catholic, is a member of a mixed group of Protestants and Catholics staying at Lanuvio, near Rome, as part of a European Union town twinning programme.
 
The damage to the fountain comes after a series of assaults on priceless Italian sculptures and works of art of world importance, including an attack on Michelangelo's Pietà in St Peter's Basilica in 1972 by a deranged Hungarian who believed he was Jesus Christ. The marble Fountain of Four Rivers, with an Egyptian obelisk in the centre, is the only one designed in its entirety by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Baroque sculptor. It was unveiled in 1651 and was dedicated to Pope Innocent X. Its massive allegorical figures represent the Nile, the Plate, the Danube and the Ganges Rivers. According to legend, the figure representing the Nile has its face covered so that it cannot see the façade of the church of Sant' Agnese, designed by Bernini's rival, Francesco Borromini. Equally, the figure representing the River Plate is raising its hand, as if to stop the church falling down. Alas, neither myth can be true: the church was begun a year after the fountain was completed.
 
The true explanation is that the Nile's face is covered and the River Plate's hand is raised to shield its eyes because the sources of both rivers were unknown. When Bernini designed the sculpture of the fountain - one of the few works he carried out for a Pope with whom he was on bad terms - he intended the rivers to represent the four quarters of the known world. But he may also have had something else in mind. Bernini was very close to the Jesuits, founded a century earlier by St Ignatius Loyola, and as a young sculptor he helped his father on monuments in the first Jesuit church in Rome, the Gesù. Acording to one theory, the four rivers really represent those parts of the world where the Jesuits hoped to make converts for the Catholic cause. The figure pulling the veil over his head represents the Nile, and a symbolic palm tree at his side appears to hold up the Egyptian obelisk. There is also a magnificent lion crouching to drink from the fountain. The figure sitting astride a staff represents the Danube. The one holding up the papal shield stands for the River Plate. The figure with an Oriental face and a dragon alongside it stands for the Ganges. All four of the figures are surrounded by flora and fauna depicting their respective continents.
 
Ottawa secures funding for Radio Canada International (Aug. 25)
Ottawa - Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy and Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps have announced that the federal government will provide Radio Canada International (RCI) with ongoing annual funding beginning in 1998-99.
 
"This announcement represents a positive endorsement of and an ongoing commitment to the important role that RCI plays in increasing awareness and understanding of Canada and its citizens throughout the world," said Axworthy.
 
"With its funding now secure, I believe that RCI can better plan for the future, adapt to the exciting advancements in communications technologies, and thus become an integral element of Canada's International Information Strategy."
 
The Canadian International Information Strategy (CIIS) is a government-wide effort, led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, to identify the most effective use of existing and new communications technologies to advance Canada's foreign policy, trade and international development objectives. The government believes that CIIS is important to Canada's ability to become a stronger global player in an increasingly competitive world.
 
RCI's financial future is secure with $15.52 million a year. RCI broadcasts to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the U.S., Asia and the Caribbean. It reaches audiences through shortwave radio and satellite and by partnership agreements with local foreign broadcasters. It is also available on the Internet. In addition to English and French, RCI broadcasts in five foreign languages: Arabic, Mandarin, Ukrainian, Spanish and Russian.
 
Who's Who burglary gang knew what's what. By Adrian Lee (Aug. 25)
London -- A gang of burglars chose their wealthy victims from the pages of Who's Who, and were able to pick out valuable items because their leader was an antiques expert.
 
Yesterday justice caught up with the men whose targets included judges. Four men were convicted as a jury at Winchester Crown Court returned verdicts in the last of a series of trials. The court had heard that the ringleader, Nick Stock, netted property worth more than £500,000 as the gang raided more than 150 addresses in Hampshire and Sussex, cutting wires to telephones and burglar alarms. Stock, 34, of Fareham, Hampshire, rarely entered the houses himself, instead directing operations from near by. He used threats and intimidation to recruit his team, and was finally caught when an accomplice turned informant.
 
Stock has admitted three specimen charges of conspiracy to burgle and will be sentenced with other gang members next month. Eight men had been on trial charged with planning or carrying out raids with Stock between 1991 and 1995. Four were convicted yesterday, two were cleared, and two face retrials after the jury failed to agree verdicts. Already awaiting sentence are four others who have admitted, or been convicted of, similar charges and a further two convicted, with Stock, of conspiracy to rob a jewellers. Stephen Parish, for the prosecution, said that among victims were Vice-Admiral Sir Lancelot Bell Davies, of Fareham, who lost paintings, furniture and a clock in May 1991, and a woman relative of the Queen, who lost a silver candelabra in 1995. Mr Parish said that Stock had visited large houses during the day, peering through windows to assess the value of the antiques: "He would often look at things and say they were no good because they were not genuine. He was an expert - he could probably star in the Antiques Roadshow."
 
His success ended when Colin Marshall, a former accomplice, asked police for protection and said that Stock had threatened to kill him: "Over the next four months he took police to houses he said he and Stock and others had burgled." After the trial, Detective Sergeant Dave McKinney said: "The crime rate for burglaries in Hampshire and the surrounding area has dropped dramatically since they were arrested."
Museums seek to protect art images on Internet. by GEANNE ROSENBERG (Aug./18)
Georgia O'Keeffe's red hills, bleached bones and poppies populate countless sites on the Web. But nary a landscape, skull or flower can be found on the cyberspot belonging to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M. This simple irony illustrates the quandary in which museums find themselves as they assess the opportunities and threats presented by the Internet.
 
O'Keeffe, whose work is ubiquitous on the Web sites of scholars, poster sellers and art overs, is not alone. The works of legendary figures of 20th-century art, from Kandinsky to Chagall to Klee, pepper the Web. With everyone else feeling free to
publish these images in cyberspace, what holds back art museums? First, uncertainty about the legality of posting images which often do not belong to them -- even though the artworks themselves do. Second, fear that the Web's raw power as a copying machine will hurt the quality of the art and the commercial rights of the artists and their heirs, who usually own the images. The rise of the Internet has forced museum directors to grapple with an old problem in a new and confusing universe. In cyberspace, it is unclear how best to balance their twin missions of making art available to the public and protecting the value and integrity of the art.
 
"We regard the Internet as an opportunity to educate a new generation of potential museumgoers about what awaits them," said Harold Holzer, vice president for communications at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "It's another tool for reaching a wider audience."
 
Some legal experts do not take such a sanguine view. When museums carelessly publish art on the Net, "they may be committing what I like to call 'cybercide,"' said William Borchard, a partner at the law firm of Cowan, Liebowitz
& Latman and a member of the art law committee of the Bar Association of the City of New York. "They may be either killing some of their own ability to make money or subjecting themselves to liability" -- such as that arising from infringement of the original artist's copyright. But in an era that has seen fine-art images migrate to posters, and from posters to T-shirts, and from T-shirts to canvas bags, the concern may seem misplaced. In the case of 19th-century artists and their predecessors, back to the cave painters, no protection is needed: Their art is already in the public domain. But in the case of someone like the modern master Henri Matisse, things are less clear.
 
Generally, works published more than 75 years ago are in the public domain in the United States and can be freely reproduced, according to Jane Ginsburg, a professor at the Columbia University School of Law. Works published since then may or may not retain copyright protection, she said, depending on factors including whether the work is foreign or domestic; when and where the work was published, and the date of the artist's death. To add to the complexity, an image that can be legally posted in the United States may remain under copyright protection in another country -- an important detail given the Internet's global reach. In the case of Matisse, other factors come into play. Under current laws and treaties, the copyrights to some of Matisse's work, owned by his heirs, will not expire until at least 50 years after his death. (Matisse died in 1954.) Other Matisse works may already be in the public domain. So until the potential risks and rewards become clearer to museums, some are choosing to wait.
 
The Whitney Museum of American Art's permanent-collection Web page is now almost completely devoid of images, partly because "we are taking the time to do image clearance," according to text on the museum's Web site. At the Museum of Modern Art, Mikki Carpenter, the director of the department of photographic services and permissions, said, "We check with our legal counsel before we post anything." Similarly, at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, whose collection includes few paintings created after 1900, any questions about copyrights for digital images are directed to Christine Steiner, the secretary and general counsel.
 
Copyrights to most of Georgia O'Keeffe's work are held by the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, which has refused to allow Internet reproduction of the images it controls. "I think we're like most institutions," said Judy Lopez, an assistant director at the foundation. "We want a clear picture before we start working with it." But other museums have moved ahead to publish art on the Web. Howard Besser, an adjunct associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert on digital art, said that many museum sites were assembled by "some young, gung-ho volunteer" unfamiliar with intellectual-property issues. Even for those who are aware of the issues, the distinctions making some images eligible for publication are unclear. For instance, the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation says it owns the copyright to O'Keeffe's "Cebolla Church," painted in 1945. Its executives say it has never given anyone permission to reproduce an image of the oil painting on the Internet. Yet a reproduction is posted on the Web site of the North Carolina Museum of Art, which owns the painting. According to Joseph Covington, director of education of the North Carolina museum, the site was constructed with the understanding that the museum did not need permission for images of works created before 1978, when revised copyright laws became effective. However, some museum law experts maintain that an O'Keeffe work created less than 75 years ago retains copyright protection.
 
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman, Okla., published a low-resolution image of O'Keeffe's "Cos Cob," a 1926 work, on its Web site without first obtaining permission from the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation. Gail Kana Anderson, assistant director and curator of collections, said this was a "fair use" of the image. One solution to infringement worries is watermarking or branding art images so they can be traced to the source. Copyright holders are increasingly requiring watermarking before they grant permission for digital reproductions, said Janice Sorkow, director of rights and licensing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. To do otherwise, she said, is like sending "your dog out on the street without a collar." The
unnamed publisher of the Georgia O'Keeffe Online Gallery writes on the gallery's Web page, "If any of you wonderful people want me to add something to the site, let me know. I'll be happy to steal images from other sites!!"
 
But widespread copyright infringement on the Internet will not last forever, predicted Steve Davis, president of Corbis Corp., a company founded by Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, whose digital archive of images was gathered in part through nonexclusive licenses with museums. "Once there is more revenue coming from publishing on the Web, there is going to be a higher level of scrutiny from intellectual-property holders," he said.
 
San Francisco broker charged with art theft (Aug. 18)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An art broker who allegedly swindled two wealthy friends out of tens of thousands of dollars has turned herself in to police.
 
Nancy Chaffin, 39, used her connections to befriend and then rip off wealthy connoisseurs including the granddaughter of brokerage founder Dean Witter to finance a high-society lifestyle, police said. Chaffin, who lives with her parents in San Rafael, was charged with 40 counts of grand theft and two each of embezzlement and taking money under false pretenses. She did not enter a plea at Friday's arraignment. Jack Wong, an engineer, and Jane Witter, a San Francisco heiress, told police that Chaffin got them to invest in art and antiques but did not deliver the goods. Chaffin, who based her art brokerage in San Francisco, turned herself in to police Thursday and was released without bail.
 
Inspector Phil Dito of the Fraud Detail said a six-month study of bank records, canceled checks and credit card bills indicated she received $555,457 from Wong and $32,500 from Witter, a San Francisco resident. Chaffin's attorney, Frank Leidman, said the charges are based on untrue allegations that have not been fully investigated. Chaffin was ordered to return to court Sept. 4.
New UK money magazine provides list of potential sponsors (Aug. 18)
London - The new Labour government in Britain has indicated that lottery money previously dedicated to cultural institutions will be diverted to health and education. And publishers are picking up on this trend. WealthWatch, by Sunrise Publishers, is a new magazine listing 100,000 UK millionaires -- contact +44 (0) 117 977 5135. Also The Directory of Grant Making Trusts has come out with a series on museums. Biblios +44 (0) 1403 710 851.
 
Future of the DIA in jeopardy (Aug. 18)
Detroit - The Detroit Institute of Art has entered a period of instability which may result in its permanent closure.
 
In June, the DIA lost its director of 12 years, Sam Sachs, who took up directorship of the Frick Collection in NYC. Sachs leaves behind the fifth largest art museum in the U.S. which is on unstable financial and managerial ground.
 
The museum depends on the State of Michigan for one third or $7.7-million of its $23-million annual operating budget. In 1991, the State cut $7-million from this budget resulting in lay offs of 140 employees and reduction in hours of operation. Director Sachs managed to raise 35 percent of the lost funds, about $2.5-million. But in 1996, the state cut another $1.4 million.
 
The management of the museum is in some confusion. The City of Detroit owns the DIA's land, building and collection. The City also controls daily operations including acquisition and conservation decisions. Many feel that City involvement at this level is an inefficient use of taxpayer money when a 55 member museum staff and a powerful volunteer group, the Founders Society, also manage the institution. The Founders Society includes wealthy arts patrons who raise 70 percent of the museum's annual budget. They also raised, over 5 years, 90 percent of a $27-million bridge fund which has made up for State funding cuts. This effort saved the museum from permanent closure.
 
There is continuing conflict between the Founders and the City over who should manage the institution. Last March, the Founders proposed that they would manage the DIA. City Council rejected the idea preferring to retain the current structure. In the meantime, management has allowed the museum's budget and costs to fluctuate in unusual ways. Last year the City gave the DIA $400,000. then charged it $705,000. for City police services.
 
In response to such City decisions, the Founders have publicly questioned their continued support of the museum.
 
Founder president, Richard Manoogian, told the Detroit Free Press, "Anybody with an important collection of art would have to question leaving it to the DIA, given the uncertainty hanging over the museum."
 
Mr. Sachs also reported to the Art Newspaper (June/97) that "Museum directors from other cities are actively seeking some of the area's most important works of art now held in local private collections."
 
The future of the DIA is in jeopardy. According to Mr. Sachs: "We have two choices. Either go out to extend the bridge fund, which in the current climate is nearly impossible because patrons are not impressed with giving money in such a politicised situation. Or, we reduce the hours, cancel exhibitions, lay off staff -- all of the draconian things that are all-too-familiar in Detroit."