Art Business Magazine http://www.culturenet.ca/artbusiness
 

Art Business News

 
*Romance novelist Catherine Cookson rescues British art museum from closure (June 14)
*Moscow museum badly underfunded (June 14)
*Greece demands return of Elgin Marbles from Britain (June 14)
*Art therapists now regulated in Britain (June 9)
*Top NYC art dealers under investigation (June 9)
*Grand Forks Arts Organizations: Update on status and needs (June 9)
*NYC street artist federal ruling stands (June 9)
*CARFAC closes Ottawa office (June 2)
*Exodus of art from Hong Kong anticipates Chinese control (June 2)
*Stealing beauty from Africa (June 2)
*UNESCO urges protection of cultural heritage in Afghan conflict (June 2)
 
Romance novelist Catherine Cookson rescues British art museum from closure (June 14)
Newcastle Upon Tyne -- Dame Catherine Cookson has stepped in with a £250,000 donation to prevent The Hatton Gallery, at Newcastle University, from immediate closure.
 
The 90 year old Dame Catherine has promised £50,000. a year for the next five. She presented the first cheque to the museum this past Wednesday. While her gift prevents the museum's immediate closure, a matching amount totalling £100,000 a year is required to actually save the 61 year old institution. The university's senate, which voted to withdraw funding, met again last week but returned with the same conclusion. They cannot afford to maintain the Hatton. This in spite of another £25,000. which Dame Catherine recently donated to the museum.
 
Richard Bailey, the university's pro-Vice Chancellor, is therefore delighted by Dame Catherine's gift and hopes that the community will come through with the balance of the required funding.
 
"It is now a challenge to the many supporters of the Hatton Gallery to match her generosity, but we are delighted with her splendid gift. The Hatton has been given a second chance and if not actually saved as yet it is well on its way to a rebirth. We need about £100,000 a year and we are now getting together a business plan.
 
The museum collection contains German-born Dadaist Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Francis Bacon's Study for a Portrait (1962), a Goya, drawings by Sickert, an anonymous 16th-century Flemish panel and two 15th-century Sienese altarpiece panels.
 
Moscow museum badly underfunded (June 14)
MOSCOW (AP) -- The director of Moscow's best-known art museum said Monday (June 9) that government subsidies allocated for the museum are less than half of what it needs, and even that has yet to be delivered.
 
The director of the Tretyakov Gallery, Valentin Rodionov, said the museum needs more than $20 million a year. But the government allocated only about $9 million for it last year, and less than $3 million has actually been delivered, he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
 
The Russian government, faced with a dramatic shortfall of taxes and other revenues, has no funds to cover basic expenses such as government workers' wages and pensions.
 
Most museums are underfunded, and some museum workers have said the lack of money may harm valuable art works because museums cannot afford restoration or even the maintaining of proper temperature and humidity confitions.
 
The 141-year-old Tretyakov reopened to the public two years ago after a decade-long renovation. Critics praised it at the time as the first world-class museum facility in Russia because of its state-of-the-art equipment and vast collection of Russian art.
 
The 62 halls of the Tretyakov's main building and a nearby annex are packed with more than 100,000 works of art ranging from centuries-old icons and sculptures to 20th-century paintings.
 
Greece demands return of Elgin Marbles from Britain (June 14)
Athens, Greece -- Greece is demanding that Britain return marble figures taken from the Parthenon nearly 200 years ago. Britain has flatly refused.
 
With the recent election of a new Labour government, Greece has renewed its claim to the 2,500 year old sculptures which were taken by Lord Elgin, then Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Thereafter called the Elgin Marbles, the 5th century BC Doric sculptures had been stripped hurriedly from their places on the Acropolis and shipped to Britain.
 
The architect heading a major restoration project at the Acropolis, Manolis Korres, said that the Parthenon was badly damaged by Elgin's rushed efforts.
 
"They were obviously in a hurry. Instead of removing things slowly and safely they hacked away and mutilated. They pushed three-tonne ledges from 15 metres high, shattering them and damaging the base of the temple."
 
It is agreed that Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin did stretch the powers of permit granted at the Ottoman court, allowing him to collect inscriptions and slabs.
 
The Elgin Marbles depict gods and mortals in flowing robes, beasts, and monsters in battle designed by Pheidias, renown creator of classical Greek sculpture. In 1816, Elgin sold the sculptures to the British museum. Since then, they have remained objects of pride and admiration to many in Britain. This in spite of Lord Byron's lament: "Oh, Greece beloved, your sacred objects plundered by profane English."
 
Despite renewed efforts to win back the sculptures, Greek officials would likely not return them to their original places at the Parthenon. Pollution has forced conservators to store sculptures from Acropolis monuments indoors. Until Greece has completed the long anticipated Acropolis museum, there is little chance that British museum officials would let the marbles go.
 
Art therapists now regulated in Britain (June 9)
London - The British Parliament has announced the creation of a Board of Art Therapists under the aegis of the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine. In other words, art therapists in Britain are now to be registered and regulated with the Council. This body also oversees chiropodists, dietitians, physiotherapists and other "supplementary" medical personnel. Art therapy uses symbol and metaphor, body gesture and sound through the visual arts, performance and music, to help bring a patient's unconscious feelings to a conscious level.
 
Top NYC art dealers under investigation (June 9)
New York -- Two dozen top New York art dealers are currently under investigation for alleged "bid rigging" or "bid pooling".
 
The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed records from New York City art dealers and the country's two largest auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's. The records include financial papers, phone bills, correspondence between dealers and auction houses and travel logs.
 
CNN, Cable News Network, Reuters and the Washington Post all report that judging by investigators' questions, the government is looking into collusion among art dealers buying at auction. Bid pooling is a practice long rumoured to be a regular part of the art trade but has rarely if ever been challenged by authorities. Bid pooling occurs when a number of dealers agree not to bid against each other at auction. One dealer may even be sent to bid on an item for the group. Such activity reduces competition and suppresses prices. With the items purchased in this manner, the group of dealers may hold private auctions and split the profits from the price differences.
 
"Not only is the consignor cheated of the real price he should get, the auction house is also cheated out of the appropriate commission, and the price that things fetch on public record is distorted," commented Constance Lowenthall, executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research.
 
Bid pooling is considered a means of restraining trade and is illegal under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Penalties, if convicted, are three years in jail and/or fines.
 
"We're trying to cooperate," commented Richard Feigen, one of the New York dealers who has received a subpoena. "They've requested a massive amount of information and told me not to discuss it with my colleagues. I've never heard of anything like this in our business."
 
The Justice Department's investigation follows a successful spring at the auctions. Sales of art at Christie's and Sotheby's topped $387-million in a two week period.
 
The investigation is puzzling to some art experts since the auction houses are selling, for the most part, directly to the public.
 
"Right now, we're not even players in the auctions," Feigen said. "The sums are so enormous, we're lucky if we get paid to act as an agent. Even if the dealers wanted to collude, they couldn't."
Grand Forks Arts Organizations: Update On Status And Needs (June 9) by Julie Hornstein, Arts Education Chair, North Dakota Arts Alliance.
 
Grand Forks -- Many in the arts community have expressed a desire to help the arts community in Grand Forks recover from the current floods and fires. Contributions to flood relief for the arts underscore the nationwide support for the belief that rebuilding the arts infrastructureis vital to rebuilding a real community.
 
Less than .05% of Grand Forks residents have been allowed to move back in their homes because of lack of water, sewer, gas & electric services. Most are 'camping in' with friends, relatives or shelters both in and out of state.
 
We have confirmation that: The North Dakota Ballet has several public performances each year and conducted classes on a continuing basis. Its office, rehearsal space and classroom were in rented space in a downtown building which burned down. The Ballet has lost all its property. All records and equipment are gone, but they were renters and so can try to move to a new space, if and when one can be located. They had to cancel performances and spring fundraising efforts and are short of current operating funds to use for the recovery period.
 
The Fire Hall Theatre is a 50-year old community theatre with a year-round season. Since the early 1980's it has owned and renovated an old city fire station from (the horse-wagon days), located downtown next to the City Hall and Central High School. The Fire Hall sustained substantial water damage and some fear the building will be condemned...a determination to be made 'later' by the powers that be. As of May 5, the degree of damage to equipment, costumes, etc. could not be determined because the site could not be visited. They had to cancel performances and spring fundraising efforts and are short of current operating funds to use for the recovery period.
 
North Valley Arts Council's office is assumed to be safe in an upper-floor downtown location. However, they were in a crucial stage of fundraising for renovation of an old downtown movie theatre as a mixed-purpose arts center. The renovation was underway, and undoubtedly sustained substantial water damage.
 
Most of the remaining arts organizations (Symphony, North Dakota Art Gallery, Master Chorale, etc.) were housed above water-line (many on the UND Campus), but operations have been severely interrupted and we will have to wait until folks can move back home to find out how much damage has been done to season ticket sales, fundraising, planning for next season etc.
 
Grand Forks Master Chorale has canceled the last concert of the season and its spring fund raising solicitation, but suffered no flood damage. Greater Grand Forks Symphony has canceled an out-of-town concert. It experienced no flood damage. North Dakota Museum of Art suffered no damage, but assumes a disruption of the spring exhibit schedule because of lack of sewer, water, etc. University of North Dakota art and music studios and equipment were not damaged. The spring term was terminated prematurely and many performances canceled.
 
Artwise is an organization that raises funds and holds special events to support an Artist-in-the-classroom program in elementary schools. Because the schools will be closed for the last six weeks of the year, there has been disrupted activity.
 
Downtown arts businesses also suffered: there was water damage (and interruption of operations) to the French Connection and Urban Stampede, two coffee houses with arts activity; David Badman, a local artist and jeweler; and Browning Arts, a private gallery/frame ship whose building burned. There may have been others affected as well.
 
We don't yet have information on losses to artists who may have had home studios.
 
Most of this information was gathered by ND Arts Alliance Board Member Ruth Marshall, who has been out of her home since April 19. Her family is among the thousands of displaced victims. The family spent four days in a shelter on the Air Base and then removed to stay with family in Ithaca, New York, until such time as there are services and living facilities available close enough to be able to get in and determine the degree of damage and begin to clean up. We assume the Membership records of our Alliance are dry in her home -- but at this time our Spring Membership solicitation is also on hold.
 
At the request of Governor Schafer, the ND Community Fund is taking donations for non-profit organizations for flood relief. Any donations can be designated to a specific cause (such as 'the arts') or for a specific organization. All donations are 100% tax deductible and 100% of the money goes for flood relief. Contact information: North Dakota Community Foundation, PO BOX 387, Bismarck, ND 58502-2191. Phone 1-800-605-5252.
 
The North Dakota Arts Alliance would like to publicly acknowledge contributions to flood relief for the arts. Such documentation will also provide moral support and generate tangible in-state support for the arts organizations as they undergo the protracted recovery period. Please send notification of flood-relief projects and/or contributions to: North Dakota Arts Alliance PO BOX 428, Minot, ND 58702 or email to nodaa@minot.ndak.net for publication.
 
Individuals and organizations wishing to offer in-kind or replacement-goods relief rather than money donations should contact North Dakota Arts Alliance PO BOX 428, Minot, ND 58702, 701-839-1439, or email tonodaa@minot.ndak.net so we can facilitate the matching of needs with offered assistance.
 
http://arts.endow.gov:80/Community/Features22/NDFloods.html
N.Y. Street Artist Federal ruling stands, U.S. Supreme Court rejects Giuliani appeal (June 9)
New York -- The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Giuliani Administration's appeal of the 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court decision in Lederman et al v. City of New York. The ruling had affirmed that street artists are protected by the First Amendment and can sell their art on City streets without a license.
 
Police harassment against artists continued right up until this past Sunday, with confiscations of paintings and artist's displays, threats of arrest and numerous tickets being issued in SoHo. Members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) staged an impromptu demonstration on West Broadway this Saturday after the police attempted to clear the street of artists, claiming, "The landlords don't want artists here, we have many complaints", and, "Giuliani appealed your case, we don't have to follow the ruling".
 
From 1993 until 1997 the N.Y.P.D., under pressure from City Council Member Kathryn Freed and a coalition of landlord
advocacy groups including the Fifth Avenue Association and the SoHo Alliance, arrested more than 400 artists. Thousands of
original paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures were confiscated and sold at a monthly police department auction or destroyed by the City.
 
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. issued this statement about the Supreme Court's ruling:
 
"This decision protects the speech rights not just of artists, but of every person in this country. N.Y.C. officials can no longer
ignore the Constitution just to please landlords and campaign contributors. I hope that the Mayor and Council Member Freed will carefully read the 2nd Circuit ruling and abide by it. Street artists benefit the City. It's time for the City to recognize the significant contribution artists make to New York's culture and economy and to stop treating us like second class citizens."
 
For the entire text of the 2nd Circuit ruling and other detailed information on this issue visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web site at: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
 
The 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling unambiguously states:
 
"Visual art is as wide ranging in its depiction of ideas, concepts and emotions as any book, treatise, pamphlet or other writing, and is similarly entitled to full First Amendment protection....the City's requirement that appellants be licensed in order to sell their artwork in public spaces constitutes an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights...Displaying art on the street has a different expressive purpose than gallery or museum shows; it reaches people who might not choose to go into a gallery or museum or who might feel excluded or alienated from these forums. The public display and sale of artwork is a form of communication between the artist and the public not possible in the enclosed, separated spaces of galleries and museums...
 
Appellants are interested in attracting and communicating with the man or woman on the street who may never have been to a gallery and indeed who might never have thought before of possessing a piece of art until induced to do so on seeing appellants' works. The sidewalks of the City must be available for appellants to reach their public audience..." Lederman et al v. City of New York 959089 United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Argued April 26, 1996. Decided Oct. 10, 1996.
 
For more information on A.R.T.I.S.T. call: Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111 (212) 334-4327 E-mail ARTISTpres@aol.com or visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web site at: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html Lawyers for the case: Wayne Cross and Randy Fox at Dewey Ballentine 212 259-8000
CARFAC closes Ottawa office (June 2)
Toronto - A well known Canadian lobby group for visual artists, CARFAC, has been forced to close its national office in Ottawa and scale down its lobbying efforts.
 
This past April, Canadian Artists' Representation/Front des artistes canadiens, better known as CARFAC, lost its operations funding traditionally received from the Canada Council. In a February meeting, CARFAC Executive from its offices in Saskatchewan and Ontario as well as its Copyright Collective arm, established priorities. As a result, CARFAC's National Director was laid off and its Ottawa office closed. The National office activities are now accommodated within the Canadian Artists' Representaion Ontario office in Toronto. The CARFAC Copyright Collective office has been relocated to Christopher Lake, Saskatchewan.
 
According to CARFAC's newsletter "Calendar" (Spring, 1997), the organisation's lobbying efforts will be scaled down. Servicing and administering its membership through CARFAC offices, the Collective and the Jack Chambers Memorial Foundation, is a priority thereby reducing funds available for lobbying activities.
 
"...there was not enough money left to subsidize even a part time lobby position... all lobbying must be done through the provincial secretariats."
 
However, the group plans to "work with the Canadian Conference of the Arts in many lobby efforts."
 
Exodus of art from Hong Kong anticipates Chinese control (June 2)
In anticipation of the change of control over Hong Kong from British to Chinese communist rule on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong residents are stepping up the movement of their art to secured locations abroad.
 
Currently Hong Kong has few rules governing the export of art while China regulates any cultural object more than 50 years old. A Globe and Mail report (May 28) confirms that private collections of Chinese and other art has been placed in museums throughout the U.S. as gifts or long-term loans. Still more art is being stored in warehouse locations or newly purchased homes in Canada, Britain, the U.S. and Singapore. In Canada, over the last several years, Hong Kong residents have been purchasing homes in such sought after locations as Vancouver's waterfront and Toronto's posh Rosedale. A wealthy Hong Kong expatriate has recently purchased a number of properties in Ontario's picturesque Niagara-on-the-Lake, the home of the Shaw Festival. The recently acquired properties include the Prince of Wales Hotel, the Oban Inn, and several large homes. The expatriate plans to construct a new convention centre. In Vancouver, the exodus of art may result in the donation of a major collection to one of its museums. Dr. James Casewell of the U. of British Columbia's Fine Arts department, said that "a substantial collection (from Hong Kong) will be finding a home in Vancouver."
 
The political tensions in Hong Kong have created something of a boom in secondary markets for Asian art. Sotheby's has seen an increase in competition between buyers as well as increasing prices. The illegal movement of Chinese art which flows through Hong Kong and to the world is expected to slow dramatically when Hong Kong becomes part of China. This situation will push prices of Asian art even higher.
 
Stealing beauty from Africa (June 2)
by Gary Younge. Courtesy The Museum Security Network, dedicated to all aspects of cultural property protection http://museum-security.org/
 
Johannesburg - Nigerian art treasures are being looted from museums to supply an underground network of dealers, most of them based in London and New York.
 
The multi-million pound trade, which contravenes a United Nations convention on the sale and smuggling of stolen artwork, has left some museums in the country virtually empty.
 
The looting sparked calls in Britain for the new Labour government to honour its manifesto commitment to rejoin Unesco, which supports the return of all stolen artefacts.
 
Officially, more than 230 works have been stolen from Nigerian museums, but it is generally accepted that the real figure is much higher. Missing works include Benin bronzes, terracotta heads from Ife in the south, and Sokoto and Nok heads from the north-west.
 
Many predate written history in their areas and provide some of the few remaining clues to civilisations which flourished up to 2,000 years ago.
 
In the museum at the University of Ife, thieves, who are often armed, have looted practically the entire collection leaving only empty display cases and a bemused curator.
 
"When the last set of robbers came the museum guards were drugged. Someone came and promised them a meal and of course they were hungry. While they slept the museum was robbed of most of its last works," said the museum's archaeologist, Ope Onabajo.
 
Last month, several officials at the national museum of antiquities were arrested for trying to sell exhibits to an American dealer. One official said: "We do arrange for things like that at times. What does it depend on? Money of course."
 
Nigeria's isolation from the international community following the execution of the human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, has compounded difficulties in retrieving the exhibits.
 
The works are usually taken from the provinces to the capital, Lagos, where they are boxed up before being smuggled overseas.
 
Photographs are sent ahead to dealers so they can find out what is on the market, then if they are interested the piece usually follows.
 
UNESCO urges protection of cultural heritage in Afghan conflict (June 2)
UNESCO World Heritage Centre http://www.unesco.org/whc/welcome.htm . UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, FRANCE. Courtesy The Museum Security Network, dedicated to all aspects of cultural property protection http://museum-security.org/
 
Paris, 18 April - UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor today urged the people of Afghanistan to safeguard their cultural heritage, following press reports that Taleban leaders intend
to destroy the 2,000 year old Buddhist statues in central Bamyan Province.
 
According to press reports, the Taleban's top front-line commander Mullah Abdul Wahed threatened Wednesday to destroy the historic Buddhist treasures of Bamyan Province, currently under the control of minority Shiite Muslims.
 
"These statues are not Islamic and we have to destroy them," Mr. Abdul Wahed told journalists, adding that Taleban forces would dynamite the famed "Big Buddha", a 55-metre cliff carving located in territory controlled by a rival faction.
 
In his statement, Mr. Mayor appealed "to the people of Afghanistan -- and particularly the Taleban -- to preserve the cultural treasures transmitted by their forebears and representing the heritage of all humanity. International humanitarian law established detailed rules that were already fundamental traditions of Islam, notably protecting the defenseless in time of conflict. I urge all sides concerned to help insure that Afghan cultural heritage is preserved and that no act of vandalism is committed against these statues.
 
Mr. Mayor noted that the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague, 1954) forbids the destruction of cultural heritage. He called on the people of Afghanistan to respect the UNESCO sponsored Convention.
 
The monuments of the Bamyan Valley, Bamyan Province were nominated to the World Heritage List in 1982, although they were deferred at the time due to insufficient information. They remain on Afghanistan's Tentative List as properties the State Party wishes to renominate.