Posted on 11/29/2005 3:39:28 AM PST by Republicanprofessor
Hermitage museum may be forced to halt loans of treasures
The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg - Russia's most important museum and one of the world's leading lending institutions - is threatening a moratorium on overseas loans, throwing into doubt the future of the Hermitage Rooms in London's Somerset House, as well as an exhibition at Tate Modern, due to open in June.
In an interview with the Art Newspaper published this week, Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage, warns there is a real possibility that no Russian museum will lend works to UK or other European venues unless it receives "concrete guarantees" from host governments that its collections will not be impounded, as a result of a long-running dispute between a Swiss businessman and the Russian government. He said there were grave doubts over the Road to Byzantium exhibition scheduled for Somerset House in March. "We must get immunity from seizure before this exhibition," he said. "There are only a few months to get the situation resolved."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Art ping.
Let Sam Cree or me know if you want on or off this art ping list.
yep, all purchased fairly, except those stolen from the nazis who stole them from others. btw,have you seen the gold of troy lately? nope, didnt think so, the hermitage has that stolen loot in its basements.
There are two Swiss artists who come to mind: Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti. It takes some appreciation for modern art to appreciate their abstraction and, in regards to Klee, their child-like qualities.
But, on the whole, the Swiss have not produced the art that the Germans, French, Italians and even the English have produced. Does this have to do with their isolated geography? Or maybe their landscape is so beautiful they don't need much art.
The Russians looted the museums in Berlin bare after the war, both of art and archaeological valuables. Major, major looting . . . the "Treasure of Priam" (excavated in the 19th century by German merchant Heinrich Schliemann at Troy on his own dime) alone is worth billions . . . hundreds of irreplaceable Bronze Age vessels, spears, swords, pendants, armlets, rings, and ornaments, as well as several elaborate headdresses . . . all made of pure gold.
The Russians didn't even admit until recently that they had taken it, and although they finally fessed up, it still hasn't been seen, identified, or catalogued. I'm afraid a lot of it has been melted down for the gold, and they are ashamed to bring forward what they have left because so much is gone.
. . . of course, it wasn't until WWII that looting was frowned on to the extent it is today. I suppose you could argue that Schliemann "looted" the treasure from the excavation . . . although he had permission to dig and export. So did Elgin, and that hasn't stopped people from complaining . . .
Maybe they're too busy skiing to paint?
Well I guess I asked for that.
I stand corrected.
That's the second time I've been wrong today on an art history thread. I'm going to have do a little fact checking before posting.
I often get caught out myself . . . but in this case I had private knowledge because I took a lot of archaeology and classics courses in college (they didn't have a major so I wound up with a history major) and the fate of the Treasure of Priam is a major discussion point amongst both classicists and archaeologists. It was lost for so long - and so incredibly unique and valuable.
Hey, Republicanprofessor, are you going to give back those masterpieces you've been hording! Forget the Russians! We know all about those art treasures you've tucked away!
"Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
~ Orson Welles, as Harry Lime in "The Third Man"
Can't say I have a great love of Cuckoo Clock but the Third Man was a brilliant movie and the sound track still sends chills up my spine.
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