IFARreports

Volume 6, No. 8/9

October/November 1985

IFAR Opposes N.Y. Bill Instituting Three-Year Limit on Suits to Recover Stolen Art
— Constance Lowenthal
Bill would make New York museums immune to recovery suits by theft victims three years after acquisition of work. It would establish a new standard of legal ownership of stolen art exclusively for museums and nonprofits. IFAR recommends, as seen in a California statute, a 3-year statute of limitations begin to run when a theft victim discovers the location of the stolen art work

Excessive Restoration of a Bierstadt Precludes an Attribution
— Virgilia H. Pancoast
Repainting of large area of oil sketch makes experts skeptical of attribution.

Art Dealer Claire Eatz Convicted of Fraud and Sentenced
— Lynn Stowell Pearson
Details of the court case against Claire Eatz.

Update on U.S. Cultural Property Act: Canada Asks U.S. for Curb on Imports
— Lynn Stowell Pearson
Canada is the first nation to request import restrictions on endangered Canadian artifacts under the 1983 Act that implemented the 1970 UNESCO Convention. If the request is approved, archaeological and ethnological artifacts would be protected.

IFAR Advisory Council Profile
— Virgilia H. Pancoast
Arthur Beale, of Harvard University Art Museums.

Magritte Certificates Being Forged
Warning from David Sylvester, author of forthcoming Magritte catalogue raisonné, of forged authenticity statements said to be by Sylvester.

Interpol's Twelve Most Wanted List
List

Settlement in Sotheby's Judaica Suit
Suit brought by New York State against Sotheby’s was settled out of court in August 1985. The auctioned Hebrew books and manuscripts from the Berlin Hochschule library are to be recalled and buyers reimbursed. Sotheby’s admits to no wrongdoing and will waive all commissions received.

WW II Confiscated Art: Austria Sets Up System for Return
Austria creates a list of works confiscated by Nazis and now held by Austrian government, as well as steps to be taken by rightful owners for their works to be returned.

Owner Reports Art Missing from WW II
New Jersey collector seeks a Ter Borch painting, Doctor’s Visit to a Home, and a Corot painting, Landscape, last seen in family home in France.

Pre Columbian Theft in Mexico
140 objects from National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. Extremely low security reported.

Reynolds Portrait Destroyed
Fire at Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, California, destroyed Reynolds’ Portrait of Mrs. Edwin Lascelles.

Recent IFAR Recoveries
London, Recovery of 20th-Century Paintings: Klee, Ernst, and Brauner stolen in Rome found. Los Angeles, 19th-Century Paintings Recovered: Henner, Diaz de la Peña, Defrance, and Kroll.

Other Recoveries
New York, a Miró Painting and a Remington Gouache: Miró, Seated Woman and Remington, Mountain Man, recovered by Detective Moscardini. Nurse's aide Bridget Hickey faces charges. Lausanne, Two Rembrandt Prints: Christ Disputing with the Doctors: A Sketch and The One Hundred Guilder Print returned to Musée de l'Elysée by mail. Paintings: Brauner, Diaz de la Peña, Ernst, Henner, and Klee paintings; Jackson, Rembrandt prints and drawings; Jackson sculpture; Embriacci liturgical casket; Florence Zeus antiquity; curved Arabian sword and scabbard, straight Arabian sword and scabbard.

Still Missing
Prints and Oriental art stolen from Washington, D.C., home: Gottlieb, Graham, Lipton, Piranesi fine arts; Ch'ing Dynasty Chinese art; Gandhara Indian art.

Stolen Art Alert
Paris, France, Musée Marmottan: 5 Monets, including, Impression, soleil levant, two Renoirs, a Berth Morisot, and a Narusë; Prints, including Avigdor Arikha, from a Paris gallery. Wroclaw, Poland: Cranach, Breslau Madonna, missing since 1947, now on Interpol “12 Most Wanted” List. Warsaw, Poland: Kandinsky watercolor. Munich, West Germany: Roman head. London, England: Chinese jade pommel. Vienna, Austria: Gustav Klimt painting, Schloss kammer am Attersee II. Richmond, Virginia: Simon Gate, Betzy Ahlström glass vessels. Wilmington, Delaware Queen Anne mirror. Annapolis, Maryland: Charles-Fernand de Condamy watercolor bought with bad check by Willie J. Malon

IFAR Evenings 1986 Series
Program of events.