Posted on 01/23/2006 7:37:17 AM PST by Republicanprofessor
Vienna - Five priceless Gustav Klimt paintings have been removed from exhibit after an anonymous threat to destroy them, the Austria Gallery in Vienna's Belvedere Palace said Friday.
The threat had been in a mail to U.S. lawyer Randol Schoenberg, acting for the owner of the paintings Maria Altmann.
The works by modern master Klimt (1862-1918) had been taken to safety in a storage depot, said the statement.
'The management of the Austrian Gallery Belvedere thereby follows an urgent recommendation of the General Director of Public Security in the Interior Ministry, and the insurance company of the Austrian Gallery.'
Sources in the gallery said the mail had threatened the paintings would be destroyed to stop them being restored to heiress Maria Altmann, niece of their orginal Jewish owner who was driven out of Vienna and stripped of his possessions by the Nazis in 1938.
The paintings were then handed over to the Austria Gallery, where they have been ever since.
This week, following years of court wrangling, a panel of arbitration decided the paintings should go to 90-year-old Altmann, who lives in Los Angeles.
There were calls in Austria to buy them back, but the government said it could not afford the price. One of the paintings, 'Adele Bloch-Bauer I' alone is reputed to be worth 100 million euros (120 million dollars), or even more. The others are also worth tens of millions.
Klimt's famous Kiss.
Klimt worked at the end of the 19th century, in the Art Nouveau and Secessionist groups in Austria. (They were "seceding" from the traditional artist groups.) He has wonderful, absorbing overall patterns and colors. In the Kiss, I feel we are really sinking into love.
The Kiss is at the Belvedere Palace, but I don't think it was one of the ones referred to in the article and removed.
Beautiful stuff!
I can't think of Klimt without thinking of "Back To School" with Rodney Dangerfield:
"Mr. Melon, your wife was just showing us her Klimt."
"You too, huh? She's shown it to everybody."
"Well, she's very proud of it."
"I'm proud of mine too. I don't go waving it around at parties, though."
!
“Lawyers for the Austrian government have fought since 1998 to retain the rights to the four paintings. The other paintings are a lesser-known Bloch-Bauer portrait [possibly your #2], as well as Apfelbaum (Apple Tree), Buchenwald/Birkenwald (Beech Forest/Birch Forest) and Haeuser in Unterach am Attersee (Houses in Unterach on Attersee Lake).”
Here are the probable images: Apple Tree, Beech Forest/Birch Forest, Houses in Unterach on Attersee Lake
I like the forest best. He has such a wonderful sense of overpowering texture. I know I'm repeating myself, but that's what draws me into his work.
Ah, so it wasn't "The Kiss" of Death, after all.
"This week, following years of court wrangling, a panel of arbitration decided the paintings should go to 90-year-old Altmann, who lives in Los Angeles."
The old lady beat them by refusing to die off.
I hope she gets to desginate who gets the paintings next.
And I hope it isn't a museum in Austria.
LOL! That scene was exactly what I was thinking.
Nah, I think Munch is the champion of the kisses of death.
I had never seen the more realistic etching before. He sure loves to repeat the images that fascinate him. But, then again, so do many great artists.
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