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Source-linked reporting
theglobeandmail.com
Jean-Paul Riopelle heirs, including his daughters and widow Huguette Vachon, are expected to reach an agreement to end lawsuits, with some canvases sold to cover inheritance costs including 2.7 million owed to a Quebec bank. Some art may be donated to museums in the coming months, and the process is anticipated to be completed in the summer; Riopelle died leaving an estate valued at 30 to 50 million dollars.
nrc.nl
The NRC article reports that a Stradivarius cello from 1684, valued at over 3 million euros, was stolen from a residence in Los Angeles. The instrument is believed to have been taken by a thief who likely does not know its value. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra is appealing for the cello to be returned undamaged; the instrument is one of about sixty made by the renowned Italian craftsman.
sf.koreatimes.com
The article reports that a Stradivarius cello valued at about $3.5 million, owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has gone missing. It notes the cello was made in Cremona, Italy in 1684, has been owned by the LA Philharmonic since the early 1970s, and that principal cellist Peter Stumpf said he last saw the instrument at his home in Los Feliz. The cello, 30.5 inches long and with a brown-gold finish, is stored in a silver plastic case, and LAPD should be contacted at (213) 972-3500 regarding its whereabouts.
vesti.ru
The instrument is a Stradivarius cello created in 1684, valued at about 3.5 million dollars, owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and reportedly loaned to principal cellist Peter Stampf. It was stolen from his home in the Los Feliz district, with investigators noting no signs of forced entry. The instrument is nicknamed the General Kid, and is considered one of the world’s finest and most valuable violins and cellos; there are roughly 350 Stradivari instruments remaining, about 60 of which are cellos, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
nrk.no
The article reports the theft of a Stradivarius cello from a California home. The 1684 instrument, one of about 60 made by Antonio Stradivari, is valued at 3.5 million dollars and was purchased by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. First chair cellist Peter Stumpf was away when the theft occurred; the instrument’s nickname is General Kyd, and it has historical significance including the premiere of Dvorak’s cello concerto in 1896.
palm.newsru.com
The article reports the theft of a 1684 Antonio Stradivari cello owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, valued at about $3.5 million. The instrument was taken from pianist Peter Stampf’s home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, with no signs of forced entry noted by police.
thetimes.com
The Times article notes Jasper Johns as America’s greatest living artist and the most expensive living artist, with his Gray Numbers selling for $40 million. It also mentions Cy Twombly’s Lepanto selling for over $20 million, Lucian Freud’s Large Interior W11 (after Watteau) selling for $5.8 million in 1998, Robert Rauschenberg’s Factum II for $12 million, Brice Marden’s Cold Mountain painting for $10 million, Bruce Nauman’s Henry Moore Bound to Fail for $9.9 million, and Gerhard Richter’s works fetching $9–$10 million.
welt.de
The Dutch painting Dame with a Parrot by Willem van Mieris, stolen by British soldiers from the Jagdschloss Grunewald, was returned to the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg in Caputh. The work, an icon of Dutch painting created around 1683, exchanges ownership history involving Christie’s, various misattributions, and a restitution process that culminated in a bilateral agreement. Visitors can view the small oil painting in Caputh from Good Friday during Easter opening hours.
nytimes.com
The painting Les Jeunes Amoureux by François Boucher, looted by the Nazis, was returned to Claude Delibes and Suzanne Geiss Robbins, descendants of the original owner, from the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The piece had been donated to the museum in 1993, and the family notes that about 400 paintings were looted with roughly 25 percent returned; the Louvre recently returned a painting to the family after confirming ownership by Andre Jean Seligmann who died in 1945.
nytimes.com
The article discusses Nazi actions against modern art, including the 1937 seizure of works from the Kronprinzen Palace, and the fate of German modernists such as Max Beckmann, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Wilhelm Lehmbruck; it also covers the 1968 opening of the Neue Nationalgalerie and the re-creation of the Kronprinzen Palace collection.
theartnewspaper.com
The Art Newspaper reports that MoMA is selling nine works from its permanent collection at Christie’s New York on May 4 and 11, 2004, including pieces by Chagall, De Chirico, Léger, Magritte, Picasso and Pollock, with an estimated total of up to $27.9 million. The sales are framed as funding for new acquisitions, though they risk controversy and reflect MoMA’s ongoing deaccessioning under director Glenn Lowry.
theartnewspaper.com
Maria Altmann seeks six Klimt paintings looted by Nazis, including Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), and sued Austria and the Austrian National Gallery in US courts. The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on 25 February 2004 regarding whether Austria can be sued for pre-1976 events under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.