Hot this week: Stalls and starts for repatriation of objects from Europe to Africa
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Africa
Paris’s Dapper Foundation stalls talks over Cameroonian sculpture (Cameroon, France)
(12 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
After More Than 90 Years, Looted Mummy Parts Repatriated to Egypt (Egypt, USA)
(9 January 2018; Smithsonian)
Historical door at Giza Pyramids stolen (Egypt)
(15 January 2018; Egypt Independent)
Police seize ancient Egyptian, Greek artifacts in Upper Egypt (Egypt, Greece)
(18 January 2018; Egypt Today)
Musée Du Quai Branly As Ally In Quest For Restitution Of African Artefacts? (Nigeria, France)
(15 January 2018; Modern Ghana)
Americas
$30,000 in paintings stolen from St-Denis gallery (Canada)
(9 January 2018; CTV)
Madrid To Chicago, Tracking Down Ancient Colombian Treasures (Colombia)
(18 January 2018; El Espectador)
Costa Rica Shows Pre-Columbian Artifacts Returned by Venezuela (Costa Rica, Venezuela)
(18 January 2018; Telesur)
Why were these treasures returned to the sea? (Trinidad)
(16 January 2018; Daily Express)
Sotheby’s dragged into £730million legal battle over claim it pumped up price of artworks bought by Russian oligarch (UK)
(14 January 2018; The Daily Mail)
A Nose for Loot? Dogs Training to Sniff Out Stolen Artifacts (USA)
(9 January 2018; Live Science)
Historian Pleads Guilty To Stealing From National Archives, Selling Items On EBay (USA)
(11 January 2018; CBS)
Art stolen from Niagara home includes glow-in-the-dark image of Jack Nicholson (USA)
(11 January 2018; CBC)
Man Nabbed At Stewart Airport Following Forged Artwork Investigation (USA)
(11 January 2018; Southwest Dutchess Daily Voice)
The world’s antiquities are in danger. Citadel students hope to save them with a scanner (USA)
(12 January 2018; The Post and Courier)
Half-Measures Won’t Erase the Painful Past of Our Monuments (USA)
(12 January 2018; The New York Times)
Man charged for theft of artifacts (USA)
(14 January 2018; Herald and News)
Simon de Pury Wins Legal Battle Over the Commission of a $210 Million Gauguin Painting (USA)
(16 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Tiny French Town Demands the Restitution of a Religious Reliquary From the Met (USA, France)
(16 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Will Boston’s $500m art heist ever be solved? (USA)
(19 January 2018; The Guardian)
New York Antiques Dealer Phoenix Fine Art Raided on Suspicion of Selling Looted Artifacts (USA)
(11 January 2018; ArtNet News)
New York DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit starts the new year with double seizures (USA)
(15 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
Greece Asks for Repatriation of Looted Antiquities Seized by New York Authorities (USA, Greece)
(18 January 2018; Greek Reporter)
US university museum announces controversial sell-off (USA)
(4 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
Legal Bills: Who’s paying the freight for the Berkshire Museum? (USA)
(17 January 2018; The Berkshire Eagle)
‘We’re glad to have it back’: Stolen Battle of New Orleans rifle returned to local museum (USA)
(8 January 2018; The New Orleans Advocate)
Collector Gets Shock of a Lifetime After FBI Shows Up Looking for a Rifle He’s Had Since 1982 (USA)
(10 January 2018; The Western Journal)
Europe
Should museums display human remains from other cultures? (Austria)
(8 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
Fake Kandinskys, Malevichs, Jawlenskys? Top curators and dealers accuse Ghent museum of showing dud Russian avant-garde works (Belgium, Russia)
(15 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
Is a Drawing in the Gurlitt Hoard an Unknown Early Work by Henry Moore? (Germany, Switzerland)
(9 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Art Thieves Target Markus Lüpertz—Again—in a Brazen Robbery (Germany)
(15 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Return of stolen antiquities puts a WWII hero in the spotlight (Greece)
(12 January 2018; eKathimerini)
Modigliani paintings once thought to be worth tens of millions now denounced as fakes (Italy)
(10 January 2018; The Telegraph)
Twenty Modiglianis seized by police in Genoa are fake, expert confirms (Italy)
(11 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
Italian police investigate organisers of fake Modigliani show (Italy)
(11 January 2018; BBC News)
Visitors to Major Modigliani Exhibition Demand a Refund After an Expert Concludes the Majority of Works Were Fake (Italy)
(12 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Truth behind two stolen Van Gogh paintings finally revealed after 15 years (Netherlands)
(21 January 2018; Sunday Express)
Organizers of stunt at Auschwitz sent to jail (Poland)
(18 January 2018; Arutz Sheva)
Swiss museum revisits demand for Nazi- era art return after 2008 denial (Switzerland)
(15 January 2018; Reuters)
Nazi-Looted Art May Still Reach Heirs of Original Jewish Owner (Switzerland)
(15 January 2018; The Jerusalem Post)
Charles Bronson art removed from Oxford homeless auction (UK)
(8 January 2018; BBC News)
Have you seen these two stolen sculptures taken from a gallery in Bristol? (UK)
(9 January 2018; Avon and Somerset Constabulary)
Stone cairns are a modern scourge on ancient sites, says archaeologist (UK)
(10 January 2018; The Northern Echo)
Artist Accuses Katy Perry of Stealing Artwork for “Chained to the Rhythm” (UK)
(19 January 2018; Teen Vogue)
A ‘Harry Potter’ First Edition Worth Over $55,000 Was Stolen In A Rare Book Heist (UK)
(19 January 2018; Bustle)
Banksy Busts His Hometown Museum for Scamming His Fans With Hundreds of Unauthorized Prints (UK)
(18 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Banksy painting saved from derelict container on Dungeness beach (UK)
(19 January 2018; The Guardian)
Kate Moss painting to sell under Proceeds of Crime Act (UK)
(18 January 2018; BBC News)
Art dealer jailed for £500,000 thefts has assets worth just £15,000, court told (UK)
(18 January 2018; Belfast Telegraph)
Oceania
ASI to write to Australian museum over stolen idols (Australia, India)
(17 January 2018; The Times of India)
South and East Asia
Chinese antique dealer ‘hired gang of tomb raiders and used stolen artefact as a coffee table’ (China)
(10 January 2018; South China Morning Post)
Dennis Oppenheim Sculpture Is Destroyed After City Officials Claim It Has “No Artistic Value” (China)
(18 January 2018; Hyperallergic)
Durga Temple broken in, valuables stolen (India)
(6 January 2018; The Hitavada)
मन्दिर से अष्टधातु की 3 मूर्तियाँ चोरी, मूर्तियों की कीमत लाखों रुपये (Three Ashtadhutra statues stolen from temple; India)
(8 January 2018; Akhand Bharat News)
India retrieves 12th-century Brahma-Brahmani idol from London, others to follow soon (India)
(9 January 2018; Hindustan Times)
शिव मंदिर से पार्वती-गणेश की मूर्ति चोरी (Parvatiganesh Idol Stolen From Shiv Temple; India)
(9 January 2018; Jagran)
Thieves strike at temple in Sec 24 (India)
(9 January 2018; The Tribune)
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh urged to bring back sculptures (India)
(10 January 2018; Deccan Chronicle)
‘Bring back stolen Buddhist statue to Amaravati’ (India, Australia)
(10 January 2018; The Times of India)
Teen foils ‘theft attempt’ at Curca church (India)
(14 January 2018; The Times of India)
Udupi: Thieves return part of silver items stolen from Daivasthana (India)
(15 January 2018; Daiji World)
Fire rips through maritime museum in Indonesian capital (Indonesia)
(16 January 2018; The Washington Times)
West and Central Asia
Scientists inform UN about illegal excavations in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories (Azerbaijan)
(19 January 2018; Azernews)
Hobby Lobby Turns Over 245 More Artifacts Smuggled Out of Iraq (Iraq, USA)
(19 January 2018; Hyperallergic)
Ancient statues looted in Lebanese war returned decades later (Lebanon, USA)
(12 January 2018; Reuters)
American authorities return stolen Phoenician statues to Lebanon (Lebanon, USA)
(15 January 2018; Lebanese Examiner)
Man trying to smuggle over 200 Byzantine-era artifacts detained in southern Turkey (Turkey)
(8 January 2018; Daily Sabah)
Visitor count to world’s biggest mosaic museum reaches almost 200,000 in Turkey’s Gaziantep (Turkey, USA)
(19 January 2018; Daily Sabah)
Dubai Frame: Emirate’s controversial mega structure opens (UAE)
(16 January 2018; CNN)
In Other News
Christie’s Employee and Former CIA Officer Is Accused of Betraying Informants in China (China, USA)
(17 January 2018; Hyperallergic)
A Christie’s Security Staffer Has Been Accused of Being a Deadly Chinese Spy (China, USA)
(17 January 2018; ArtNet News)
Emmanuel Macron’s decision to let Britain borrow Bayeux Tapestry prompts calls for UK to loan Rosetta Stone to France (France, UK)
(17 January 2018; The Telegraph)
Why These 6 Artists Destroyed Their Own Art (General)
(9 January 2018; Artsy)
‘Institutional’ male bias in government’s art collection, says Labour (UK)
(5 January 2018; The Guardian)
Tate cuts ties with Anthony d’Offay amid sexual harassment claims (UK)
(15 January 2018; The Art Newspaper)
The Trouble That Caused The Met’s Ticket Hike (USA)
(8 January 2018; Frieze)
How a Fake Monster Crept Into our Museums (USA)
(15 January 2018; Hyperallergic)
Morocco Opens Investigation into Auction of Dinosaur Tail Fossils in Mexico (Morocco, Mexico)
(19 January 2018; Morocco World News)