"Too Much"

In Brief

• Senior Curator Fired For Show of Looted Greek Antiquities

  A curator for Florida’s Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, was fired after concerns were raised about the provenance of Greek antiquities he included in an exhibition entitled “From Chaos to Order: Greek Geometric Art from the Sol Rabin Collection.” The exhibition was set to travel to the Denver Art Museum, but was canceled due to the allegations raised. Michael Bennet was the curator for Western Art at the Museum of Fine Arts and had 57 works on loan from Harvard Art Museums’ collection of Greek art. Only three of the 57 works in the show had been publicly exhibited before adding the allure of the show. However, most of the works in Bennet’s show did not have provenance information proving they had left Greece prior to 1970. The show made stops at the Rollins Museum of Art in Florida and the Gibbes Museum of Art in South Carolina, before Denver canceled the show. Read more here. (MH)

• Hedge Fund Titan Suing Over Monet Paintings Lost In a Michigan House Fire

  In June 2022, a fire ravaged the Michigan home of Matthew Halbower, founder and CEO of Pentwater Capital Management. The fire destroyed several major paintings by Claude Monet worth a total of $45 million. The paintings were covered by the London-based Hiscox, an underwriter for Lloyds of London. Halbower alleged that following the fire, the insurer did not reimburse the trust for the full value of three paintings destroyed in the fire and has not paid anything at all for two additional artworks they allege are covered under the policy. The Halbower Trust first sued Hiscox in August 2022 in Michigan, two months after the fire. To date, the total paid out so far to the Halbower Trust as a result of the fire appears to be approximately $31.3 million. The two sides currently differ over which exact paintings the coverage policy applies to. Read more here (RW)

• The Continuing Uncertainty in the Turkish Art World

  In late September, Turkey’s top appeals court upheld the sentencing of art philanthropist Osman Kavala. Kavala is a Turkish businessman, activist, and art philanthropist who launched the nonprofit arts center Anadolu Kültür in 2002. Kavala’s primary focus has been on shining a light on the cultural heritage of Armenians and other marginalized groups in Turkey. Kavala’s work on focusing on the genocide of Armenians has caused tensions with the Turkish government who do not acknowledge the genocide. In 2017, Kavala was detained for his alleged involvement in the 2013 anti-government Gezi Park Protest. In 2020, a court overturned his charges; however within hours of his acquittal, Kaval was accused of participating in the 2016 military coup. Last spring, Kavala’s acquittal was reversed and he was handed a life sentence without parole. This year the highest court in Turkey chose to uphold the sentencing .SNA

• WWW.GIVEMEBACKMYSTOLENART.UK

  In August of this year, the British Museum’s senior curator, Peter Higgs was fired for allegedly stealing valuable pieces from the museum and putting them up for sale on eBay. These pieces include stolen jewelry from the Roman Empire valued at $60,000 and was sold for $48. Because of this controversy, the British Museum launched a new section of their website in which individuals who think they may be in possession of these pieces of work can email the museum to report it back to them. This decision has been met with pushback from many nations like Greece and China who for years have been calling on the British government to return stolen pieces of art. Read more here. SNA

• Art Institutes Closure Leaves 1,700 Students Affected

  This September, the Art Institutes, an eight-school network of private colleges in the United States, closed, affecting 1,700 students. The school closings included locations in Miami, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Tampa, and Virginia Beach. The closings come after a decade of declining enrollment paired with changing ownership of the school system. The Art Institutes offered degrees ranging from fashion design to culinary arts. In the closure announcement, the Art Institutes said it is working with partners in higher education to facilitate the transfer of academic credits to other institutions; however, there is currently no plan in place. Read more here. (MH)

• Leon Black’s Connection to Epstein

  Leon Black, a well known collector and former board chair of the Museum of Modern Art, agreed to pay $62.5 million to the United States Virgin Island. This settlement follows a three-year-long investigation regarding Black’s link to Jefrrey Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes. Black paid $158 million to Epstein for tax and estate planning services before his death in 2019. The settlement was made after two days of private mediation. The settlement cannot be used as potential evidence of Black’s wrongdoing. Read more here. (LE)

• Santa Fe Gallery Sues Widower of Artist Hung Lui for Fraud and Intentional Interference

  Co-owners of Santa Fe Turner Carroll Gallery are suing art critic Jeff Kelley, alleging that he acted with “oppression, fraud, and malice” to destroy the Gallery’s relationship with his late wife, Chinese American artist Hung Lui. The complaint was filed August 29 in the Superior Court of the State of California of Alameda County. The complaint has 9 allegations including, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, intentional interference with prospective economic relations, and trade libel. The Gallery argues that Kelley’s action damaged their accomplishments, impaired its position as an art dealer, voided relationships with potential customers, and diminished the value of works plaintiff had already acquired – including losing out on profits which they were entitled to under their agreements with Liu and Kelley.  Read more here.(MH)

• Partner of Disgraced Art Dealer to Spend 20 Months in Prison

  On September 20th, the British art dealer Robert Newland was sentenced to 20 months in prison by a New York court. Newland partnered up with the art dealer Inigo Philbrick, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022, to defraud investors, collectors, and fellow art dealers out of millions dollars. Last September, Newland pleaded guilty to conspiring with Philbrick to commit wire fraud and was released on a $400,000 bond. Newland cut his ties with Philbrick months before his indictment. Prosecutors said that while Newland did not instigate the multi-million fraud and doesn’t deserve as severe a sentence as Philbrick, a firm hand could discourage future art world swindlers. Read more here (RW)

• Crimean Museum Director Sanctioned for Snatching Ukrainian Cultural Property

  Andrei Malgin is the director of the Central Museum of Taurida in Simferopol, in illegally annexed Crimea. He is a Putin supporter, having told the Russian president that Ukraine was facing a revival of “Nazi ideology.” When the Russian force controlled the Ukrainian city of Kherson last year, the artworks looted from the Kherson Fine Art Museum were hoarded in Malgin’s museum. The EU’s sanction order states that Malgin was implementing actions that harm Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Another perpetrator against Ukrainian cultural property sanctioned by the EU is Natalya Leonidovna Desyatova (also known by the alias Lyutova), who was appointed in July 2022 as the new director of the Kherson museum by the Russian authorities. She directly oversaw the removal of artworks from the Kherson Fine Art Museum and their transference to Simferopol. Read more here  (RW) 

• $20 Million of Looted Antiquities Returned to Cambodia

  The family of billionaire collector George Lindemann is voluntarily returning 33 works to Cambodia. The looted artwork came to the attention of the Cambodian government following an Architectural Digest Feature of one of Lindenmann’s homes. Investigators and US officials acting on behalf of the Cambodian government, spotted the works and recognized them as stolen. Ex-looters provided the intel on pieces that were smuggled out of Cambodian temples. Two works of the deceased tycoon are unable to be returned because they were donated to the MET. Read More (LE)

• Art, Business and Friendship Don’t Mix: Todd Goldman Files Suit Against Friend

  The renowned pop artist and celebrity favorite, Todd Goldman, claims his former friend and business partner diluted his brand and conned him out of hundreds of his own pieces. His former friends Eli Weismann and Roy Revivo allegedly took advantage of the artist when he was financially struggling. Weisman, who runs the fine art gallery and auction house Q-Art, connected Goldman with Revivo. Revivo provided Goldman with two loans and used Goldman’s artwork as collateral. Goldman was unable to pay the first $40,000 loan and Revivo kept 2,500 lithographs as collateral. Revivo made $100,000 on those lithographs. When Goldman needed another loan, the pay established a similar deal. In exchange for a $100,000 loan from Revivo, Goldman backed the loan with 800 of his paintings said to be worth $3.5 million. Revivo asked to inspect the work before the contract was signed. Revivo gave Goldman $10,000 in good faith to ship the paintings from California to Florida. The works were stored in a truck with no air conditioning in extreme heat, resulting in damage to his works. Goldman lost out on deals because Revivo was holding his work hostage. Goldman even offered to give Revivo the initial $10,000 back in order to get his work back. Revivo then kept raising the price for Goldman to access his work again, making it impossible for Goldman to get his work back. While Goldman was struggling, Revivo and Weisman created copies of the works and sold them online, saturating the market with unauthorized works. Read More Here (LE)

• This Billionaire is Saying Goodbye to $150 Million Worth of Art

  Chinese Long Museum founder Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei are selling off a large part of their collection. Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei are market makers, but are now turning heads for their sale. The pair is selling Western Modern, Post War and Contemporary art at Sotheby’s this fall. There are 50 pieces being sold, but it is unknown whether the sale will include any of the couple’s collection of Chinese paintings and antiques. Read More Here (LE)

• Stolen Totem Pole to Return to Canada from Scotland

  The National Museum of Scotland is preparing to return a popular totem pole to the Nisga’a Nation in Canada. Nisga’a Nation is an indigenous group residing in present day British Columbia. The totem pole has remained in Scotland for nearly a century and was originally sold to the Museum by Canadian anthropologist Marius Barbeau. Nisga’a researchers have long argued the pole was not sold in good faith and was stolen from the locals. The pole was originally commissioned in 1860 by House of Ni’isjoohl Matriarch Joanna Moody. Read more here.(MH)

• Manhattan DA returns 7 Nazi-Looted Drawings to Family of Original Owner

  The Manhattan District Attorney’s office returned seven artworks stolen by the Nazi regime to the family of the original owner. ​​The drawings were once owned by Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer, and were all from Austrian artist Egon Schiele. Grünbaum was captured in 1938 and forced to execute power of attorney in favor of his wife while he was imprisoned in Dachau. She, too, was captured and compelled to hand over their entire art collection to the Nazis, who then auctioned and sold them to fund their party’s efforts. The paintings eventually made their way to New York City and were then dispersed throughout the country. The DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit seized the drawings in 2023 from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Ronald Lauder Collection, The Morgan Library, The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), and the Vally Sabarsky Trust in Manhattan. Read more here. (AME)

• Manhattan’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit Abusing Intellectual Property

  The renowned Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office is being accused of abusing intellectual property. Christos Tsirogiannis, a Greek forensic archaeologist and expert on antiquities trafficking, accused the unit of “abusing his intellectual property by ignoring or downplaying his requests to be credited in official announcements.” He argues they are taking his academic work, and not giving him the credit. Tsirogiannis never asked for payment for his work. The scholar only wanted recognition. In order to achieve that, Tsirogiannis sent an email to ARTnews with his accusations. The goal was to publicize the supposed injustice. Read More Here (LE)