September 6, 2013 - Auction Central News

Provincetown museum 4-artist exhibition opens Sept. 13

Irene Lipton. Provincetown Art Association and Museum image.

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. – The Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant recipient exhibition will open Sept. 13 and run through Oct. 6. The four-person show will feature work from the 2012 grant recipients: Irene Lipton of North Truro, Mass.; Catherine Kehoe of Roslindale, Mass.; Maria Napolitano of Providence, R.I.; and Reiner Hansen of Brooklyn, N.Y.   A public reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 20, from 8-10 pm.

Curated by Grant Administrator Grace Ryder-O’Malley and PAAM Executive Director Christine McCarthy, the exhibition will include both older work by the artists as well as new work done since receiving the grant in June 2012.

The grant money has assisted the artists to produce a larger body of work throughout the year. Not only does it assist these artists in gaining public exposure, but the recipients also use it to improve aspects of their artistic lives.

Reiner Hansen utilized the grant money to rent a larger studio space. ”The grant made all the difference,” she writes. Hansen’s work consists largely of unsettling portraits and self-portraits, which are detailed to the brink of photorealism, and question the stereotypical concept of femininity. “The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant has been allowing me to continue to work unhindered on my ‘Self Portrait’ series, free from the distractions of doing other jobs unrelated to my art. It has enabled me to finish enough paintings to be ready for a solo exhibition. I’ve been able to devote my time to expanding the series, which I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

Recipient Catherine Kehoe also paints portraits, as well as still life scenes, but with angular brushstrokes reminiscent of Cezanne. “This grant meant that I could keep painting full time for a year,” she writes. “During the funded year, I finished 24 new paintings and was able to afford to have them documented with high-quality digital images as they are completed, thanks to the support of the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant.”

Irene Lipton is the most abstract painter of the recipients, with work consisting of organic shapes that seem to flow and intersect in a constant conversation of line and color. Lipton has also found the grant helpful in paying for the needs of an artist in the digital age.

“It has given me time to better organize and develop my website, mailing list, and database of collectors and sales, so I know where all my work is.”

“Besides the monetary assistance, being the recipient of this grant has brought my paintings new recognition,” the fourth grant recipient, Maria Napolitano, writes.

Napolitano’s artwork consists of eccentric botanical forms, decontextualized and interacting in voids of energetic color. Since receiving the grant, Napolitano and the other recipients have each been invited to participate in future exhibitions. Napolitano, a Providence, R.I., artist, was pleased to have a painting purchased by the Rhode Island School of Design museum to be taken into the permanent collection.

The grant has helped Napolitano, as well as the other three grant recipients, to achieve a newfound caliber of recognition in the art world. The four recipients were chosen from over 300 applicants from 30 states and three countries. The grant is offered to artists 45 years or older who demonstrate financial need, intended to give these artists more adequate recognition, as well as promoting public awareness and an interest in American art.

“As today’s art world seems to be focused towards younger artists, it’s easy to feel overlooked and underappreciated,” writes Reiner Hansen. “For a more mature artist, this grant is really valuable, not only financially, but as a matter of recognition, a pat on the shoulder.”

The public is welcome to attend the Sept. 20 reception at no charge to celebrate the opening of the 2012 Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant Recipient Exhibition.

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum is located at 460 Commercial St. in Provincetown, Mass. For more information, call 508-487-1750 or visit www.paam.org.

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Kamelot to present design-driven auction Sept. 20-21

Lot 850 - Sergio Bustamante monkey-form side table. Kamelot Auction House image.

PHILADELPHIA – Kamelot Auction House begins the fall 2013 auction season with an exclusive two-day sale on Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21. Brimming with quality craftsmanship, elegance and aesthetic panache, this design-driven sale showcases over 900 lots in its entirety. Together the two days will bring a variety of fine art, decorative objects, Orientalia, lighting, rugs, and a select gathering of Continental, Art Deco, and mid-century modern furnishings to the podium. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Friday’s portion of the sale comprises decorative arts, fine art, Orientalia, estate rugs and Continental furniture. Leading the Orientalia is a fine and rare antique Chinese carved rhinoceros horn (lot 1) depicting a tiger with captured prey resting on its original carved wood stand. Estimated at a conservative $1,000-$2,000 it will undoubtedly garner considerable competition on the auction floor.

On the same par is a set of eight antique Chinese rosewood panels having hand-painted hard stone plaques, each featuring a unique scene (lot 28, estimate $400-$800).

Other noteworthy pieces from the decorative arts collection include a monumental metal and stone Mephistopheles clock on a fine walnut stand (lot 141, estimate $2,000-$4,000). Towering at over 6 feet tall, this goliath would be a handsome addition to any collection. The discerning collector in search of the more eccentric may take interest in lot 74, an unusual mid-20th century snakeskin sculpture of a human head (estimate $100-$300), or lot 149, an abstract sculpture of an bronze horse mounted on a wood plinth base, circa 1980 (estimate $200-$400).

Among the most illustrious finds in Friday’s sale is lot 102, a Madoura limited-edition (69/150) Picasso polychrome clay pot, circa 1953, estimated at $1,000-$2,000. Complementing this, the sale also features several other Picasso lots such as an original etching and a painted and glazed earthenware plate.

The sale will feature over 80 lots of artwork, select standouts include a signed oil on canvas of a lion and lioness by Montana artist Olaf Carl Seltzer (lot 245, estimate $2,000-$4,000), and a signed German hand-painted porcelain plaque depicting a youth underneath vines and housed in a carved walnut frame, circa 1900 (lot 256, estimate $400-$600). Day one of the sale will conclude with a selection of more than 30 rugs and over 100 lots of assorted Continental furnishings including chairs, tables, servers, cabinets, beds, dressers, panels, sideboards, commodes, étagères, desks, sconces, chandeliers and mirrors. An 18th century French painted and gilt wood carved trumeau mirror with a relief carved cartouche and floral garland frame (lot 427, estimate $1,500-$2,500) and an antique Louis Vuitton trunk (serial #165291) with interior label and marked hardware (lot 392, $1,000-$2,000) are among the many Continental lots to choose from.

Reflecting the trend for mid-century modern design in decorating, some big names will make a strong showing when furniture takes the stage on the second day of the sale. Chief among these is a resplendent George Nakashima free edge walnut coffee table from a Main Line Philadelphia estate that was originally designed and crafted exclusively for the consignor. Hand-drawn plans for the table along with correspondence between Nakashima and the original buyer add to the unique value of this piece (lot 828, estimate $2,000-$3,000). Further homage to the mid-century modern compendium resides in a suite of rare Danish rosewood pieces that include three curved back chairs circa 1960 (lot 739), three stools circa 1950 (lot 740), and a two-seat double curved back settee circa 1960 (lot 741), all having leather cushions.

Likely to pique strong interest is an Aldo Tura parchment covered bar cabinet circa 1950 estimated at $2,000-$4,000 (lot 806), and a Sergio Bustamante monkey form glass top side table circa 1970, estimated at $300-$600 (lot 850). Another top contender for design enthusiasts is lox 711, a French Gabriel Viardot Japanese inspired carved cabinet with mother of pearl inlaid panels and slant-front desk ($2,000-$3,000). Other furniture offerings include a great pair of Art Deco studded and leather French club chairs circa 1930 (lot 654, estimate $1,500-$2,500) and from the same period, a French Leleu sideboard with four mother of pearl and diamond parquetry decorated doors circa 1930 (lot 651, estimate $1,500-$2,500).

With more than 80 lots on offer, lighting will be another major component in this auction. An interesting mid-century modern multitiered chandelier having three tiers of glass drops supported on brass frame, circa 1970, will surely be a presence in the showroom (lot 868, estimate $600-$900). Rounding off the expected top earners of the two day event is lot 508, a Steinway & Sons grand piano with an adjustable Victorian piano stool circa 1901 estimated at $2,000-$3,000.

The auction will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern on Friday, Sept. 20, and at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, and doors will open at 8 a.m. on both days. For details call 215-438-6990.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Lot 1 - rare rhinoceros horn carving depicting a tiger with captured prey. Kamelot Auction House image. — Lot 1 – rare rhinoceros horn carving depicting a tiger with captured prey. Kamelot Auction House image.

Lot 102 - Picasso terra-cotta vase. Kamelot Auction House image. — Lot 102 – Picasso terra-cotta vase. Kamelot Auction House image.

Lot 741 - Danish rosewood settee. Kamelot Auction House image. — Lot 741 – Danish rosewood settee. Kamelot Auction House image.

Lot 806 - Aldo Tura bar cabinet. Kamelot Auction House image. — Lot 806 – Aldo Tura bar cabinet. Kamelot Auction House image.

Lot 828 - George Nakashima free-form coffee table. Kamelot Auction House image. — Lot 828 – George Nakashima free-form coffee table. Kamelot Auction House image.

Lot 868 – mid-century modern three-tiered glass teardrop chandelier. Kamelot Auction House image.

Italy delays loan of Botticelli painting to Israeli museum

Botticelli masterpiece 'The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala.' Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

ROME (AFP) – Italy will delay the planned loan of a famous painting by Renaissance master Botticelli to Israel because the timing is “not appropriate,” the culture ministry in Rome said on Friday.

The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala was to be sent to the Israel Museum for an exhibition opening on Sept. 17 to be opened by Italian Culture Minister Massimo Bray and his Israeli counterpart Limor Livnat.

“The culture ministry, in agreement with the government, decided that the timing was not appropriate,” the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.

It said that another painting “of equivalent cultural and artistic content” would be sent instead.

Painted in 1481, the work was intended for the hospital of San Martino alla Scala in Florence.

After suffering heavy damage, it was transferred to a Florentine workshop in 1920 for restoration.

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Peking ‘Rubber Duck’ not all it’s quacked up to be

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's 'Rubber Duck' on display in Sydney, Australia in January. Image by Eva Rinaldi. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

BEIJING (AFP) – China’s first authentic version of the giant Rubber Duck that has made a splash around the world and inspired fakes across the country made its debut Friday, but some complained that visitors had to pay to see it.

The inflatable yellow bird—which has made appearances from Australia to South America since 2007—attracted huge attention in China after it arrived in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor to rave reviews, bobbing up and down in front of the city’s distinctive urban skyline.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman promotes the oversized toy’s universal appeal on his website as knowing “no frontiers” and “soft, friendly and suitable for all ages.”

But the artwork took a commercial turn in China, with property developers setting up imitations in Hangzhou, Tianjin and other cities, that was criticized by the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily.

Previous displays of the Rubber Duck have normally been free, but the moneymaking continued with the authentic creation in Beijing as it went on show at the International Garden Expo on the outskirts of the city, which costs 100 yuan ($16) to enter.

After a few weeks the duck will shift to the Summer Palace, a tourist spot that also charges an entrance fee.

Expo official Qiao Xiaopeng said there were currently no plans to offer a free day but that the vast grounds—spanning 600 acres—could accommodate large numbers of visitors.

The first crowds were small on Friday. Viewers meandered a pathway on the bank of a river where the duck floated before a backdrop of flowers and greenery spelling out in large letters: “International Garden Expo.”

Kang Jing, 26, said she thought viewing the duck should be free, at least for Beijing residents.

“That would let more people come see it, which would be better,” she said.

The duck was not completely inflated by the time of its debut, its beak somewhat limp and body tilting forward.

“It should be fatter and cuter,” said Kang.

The duck looked smaller than she expected, Kang added—even though the Beijing version was made to be 18 meters (59 feet) high, compared with 16.5 meters in Hong Kong.

Most ducks have ranged from 5 to 15 metres although one in France reached 26 meters, according to Hofman’s website.

Wu Yiying, 26, said the entrance fee was reasonable because she could see the expo and photograph the real duck.

The fakes were good “for people in other places who can’t come to Beijing or Hong Kong, if they really want to see it,” she said.

“But ultimately the designer designed this and we should respect what he created.”

A well-known restaurant, Quanjude, sought to take advantage of the installation by using it to advertise its own showpiece, Peking duck.

A sign at the expo entrance showed the artwork in a chef’s hat with the words, “Come see the big yellow duck and eat a Quanjude duck burger.”

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Reading the Streets: Back to basics on Avenue A

Joseph Meloy, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick.

NEW YORK – The block of Avenue A between 13th and 14th may be better known for its bars, but a recent walk revealed another reason to pause: a wall on the west side of the street featuring some recent favorites. After a few weeks of covering some of the more high profile sponsored walls and a gallery opening, it felt like going back to basics.

Adam Dare, Fumero and Whisbe’s pieces are side by side on the wall. Fumero’s contributions are fascinating contrast in style. The one closest to 13th Street features what looks like a faceless family, outlined in thick black paint, sitting or standing around a table. The background figures have their arms on each other’s shoulders, as if trying to be comforting, but maybe I’m projecting; the subject’s lack of facial expression encourages it.

Just a few inches over however, there’s another family picture, this one featuring clear bodies and faces, many with glasses in hand, arms raised in celebration. Often what I remember about street art is the repletion of certain symbols, pictures, or tags that signal to the world that a particular artist made them. I like that this wall shows a range of what these artists, including Fumero can do. It creates an extra but welcome challenge to the continual Where’s Waldo game of identifying the creator of various pieces.

Adam Dare’s piece is a faded black and white picture of a stuffed rabbit, like a fourth generation photocopy, still recognizable, but just barely. This is not some cuddly bunny however, though it looks like it could a hug—there’s a broken heart, outlined and dripping in red, with a broken middle in black. It’s a little bit playful, but also a little sad.

Hiding in the corner is previous Reading The Streets subject Joseph Meloy’s gorilla, greeting patrons of the Mexican grocery and the karaoke bar next door.

Star Wars lovers will appreciate Whisbe’s contribution, Darth Vader’s mugshot, or more accurately, Darth Vader as some kind of nightmare ’70s porn star version of himself, wearing only a pink Speedo and large sunglasses, with comically large teeth and a menacing smile. His crime? Indecent exposure.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Adam Dare, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick.

Fumero, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick.

Whisbe, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick.

Typewriters of famous, infamous displayed at university

Royal typewriter advertising display. The Royal Number 10 typewriter, first produced in 1914, mounted with a pressed tin store advertising display sign. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Fontaine's Auction Gallery.

BOSTON (AP) – Typewriters that belonged to some of the most famous—and infamous—names of the 20th century are on display in a Northeastern University gallery.

Machines once owned by Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, John Lennon, Jack Kevorkian and “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski are among those in the exhibit.

The collection is owned by Steve Soboroff, a California businessman whose daughter is a Northeastern undergraduate.

It includes writings that former owners typed on the machines, including an excerpt from Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie.

Also included is a letter in which Kevorkian lobbies for allowing death row inmates to donate their organs after their executions.

Campus curator Bruce Ployer says the exhibit provides a glimpse into the lives of the typewriters’ former owners.

“I think of the work they scripted on these machines, and it’s very exciting,” he said.

The curator said a typewriter that belonged to Orson Welles, which he used in producing the film Citizen Kane, also is among those on display.

Lennon, of Beatles’ fame, wrote lyrics for his early band the Quarrymen on a typewriter that’s in the collection, according to Northeastern officials, who said the machine was auctioned in London in 1999.

The exhibit will be open until Sept. 25.

AP-WF-09-05-13 1510GMT

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Kan. couple united in pumping gas station memorabilia

A former Phillips 66 gasoline station in Bassett, Neb. Image by Bkell, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

PERRY, Kan. (AP) – To walk into Rowan and Tanya Green’s barn northwest of Lawrence is to step back in time.

A time, specifically, when gas stations looked like cottages with garages you could drive right into, when attendants with bow ties and hard-brimmed caps would pump the fuel for you (for 12 cents a gallon, at that), when you could buy all the Adams Gum and see-through sun visors your heart desired.

The Greens have spent the past 20 years amassing auto-related antiques from around the nation and the past five building a 1930s-style Phillips 66 service station in the barn of their country house in Perry. While they’re not done with either task yet, their mini-museum is a sight to see: a slice of nostalgic Americana, a trip to the distant past.

“We wanted to house our collection in a way we could enjoy it and not have it subject to the weather,” said Rowan, 56, a plain-spoken guy who speaks in a slight twang and, like his wife, works for the city of Lawrence.

Parked on both sides of the gas station’s general store, in the garages, are the couple’s antique automobiles: Rowan’s push-button automatic 1967 Plymouth Fury and Tanya’s ’64 1/2 Ford Mustang convertible. If they ever need service, the Greens have most of the tools and fluids they need, right in their very own service station.

Rowan grew up a self-professed “car nut,” while Tanya’s collections include old egg beaters and roughly 3,000 cookbooks (she has also redecorated their kitchen to look like a 1950s diner. Tanya, 51, also has a family history with gas stations, as her grandfather used to own one in North Lawrence.

After marrying, the Greens combined their interests and started attending automotive swap meets together. Since then, they’ve been to hundreds of flea markets and garage and going-out-of-business sales all over the country.

One day, while working by Alvamar Golf Course, Tanya found a Phillips 66 golf ball on the ground. The couple had also once gone to a swap meet on Route 66, which has many of that company’s gas stations. They had their brand. They broke ground on their house and barn in 2004 and started setting up Green’s Phillips 66 a few years later.

In the 1930s, gas stations were often designed to look like cottages so they could blend into the residential neighborhoods where they were located. For a Lawrence example, check out Sunfire Ceramics, 1002 New Hampshire St., a former Phillips 66 station. Rowan, a fan of the style, says he’s old enough to remember seeing them.

The Greens’ “store” features a bevy of vintage maps, souvenirs and candy. There are S&H Green Stamps Quick Saver Books, Auto Bingo cards, a Coca-Cola machine (10 cents a bottle), carhop trays topped with fake food, and signs for tire and battery service. The walls are covered with old-timey marketing slogans, like “Action starts with AC spark plugs” and “Have a Coke and a smile.” The slightly musty smell even reminds you of an old service station. On the way out, don’t forget a complimentary Green’s Phillips 66 pencil, which Tanya made for the station’s grand opening.

The couple even have their own uniforms: beige shirts featuring their names and the mid-20th century orange-and-black Phillips 66 logo, black bow ties, even a gas station attendant’s hat for Rowan.

The Greens haven’t just kept the collection to themselves. They’ve had car clubs tour their garage and enjoy showing it off to friends and family.

“I keep telling our son his inheritance is right here—all made up for him,” Tanya joked.

The Greens still go to 50 or more sales a year, grabbing whatever unique vintage items they think might fit in their collection.

Along the way, Tanya has accumulated enough old picnic jugs, thermoses and coolers to warrant her own room in the garage. Inside, the artificial grass, ceiling-wide picture of a cloudy blue sky and antique food-storage items make you feel ready for a picnic.

The Greens actually christened the room by having people over for an “outdoor” meal made to resemble one on the Coca-Cola sign posted on the wall. The sign, a brand new version of one that used to hang in diners a couple generations ago, was, at $425, the most expensive item in the collection; otherwise, the Greens are notorious bargain-hunters. “If we see something we’ve never seen before and it’s not horribly out of our price range, we’ll probably go ahead and get it,” Tanya said. Oftentimes they get stuff for free, just for hauling it away from the previous owner’s property.

The Greens’ future plans include putting a painting of the sky above the gas station roof, installing a mannequin behind the counter, buying a vintage air meter (“They’re a fortune,” Rowan said), and restoring some old lubesters. And, of course, more antique-hunting. As Rowan says, “It’s a work in progress.”

___

Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com

AP-WF-09-03-13 1537GMT

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Louvre’s Winged Victory lifted away for $5.3M restoration

Circa-190 B.C. (?) parian marble sculpture known as 'La Victoire de Samothrace' or 'Winged Nike of Samothrace.' Discovered in the Greek island of Samothrace in 1863. From the Louvre Collection. 2007 photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.

PARIS (AP) – Winged Victory of Samothrace, the hulking Hellenistic sculpture that dominates the Louvre Museum’s most frequented staircase, is taking flight—away from tourists’ gazes for a restoration project.

Officials at the famed Paris museum said the 2nd-century B.C. sculpture was set to be dismantled, hoisted onto rollers and wheeled into a closed cabin in another Louvre gallery for structural work and a meticulous cleaning to restore the original hues to its marble over the next nine months.

The 18-foot-tall sculpture shows the headless, armless remains of the winged Greek goddess of victory, Nike, as she lands on a ship’s bow atop a flat base. The work’s flowing garments, energized pose with right leg extended and outstretched wings point to an expert rendering in the high-quality Paros marble, which has yellowed with time, Louvre officials said.

The sculpture towers over the Louvre’s Daru staircase—which leads museum-goers to the Mona Lisa—and is also being refurbished: Visitors will see scaffolding. The 4 million-euro ($5.27 million) project, which will take Winged Victory out of visitors’ sight until June, follows three years after another Louvre masterpiece, the Venus de Milo, was touched up.

On Tuesday, the Louvre’s weekly closing day, work crews erected scaffolding and bustled on the statue’s base as the project got under way.

“For specialists in Greek sculpture, it’s an essential work … It immediately draws attention,” Ludovic Laugier, a Louvre restoration official, told reporters. Studies conducted beforehand to plan for the restoration made one thing clear, he said.

“We quickly realized that we were faced with a major difficulty: This staircase gets so much traffic, we can’t restore the Winged Victory here, because we would block all the space,” he said, motioning to the vaulted, cavernous stairwell, which is vital to the movement of many of the Louvre’s 7 million visitors each year.

The statue, by an unknown sculptor, was discovered in 1863 by a French diplomat, Charles Champoiseau, on the Greek island of Samothrace in the Aegean Sea. The last of four restorations ended in 1934, though the so-called great restoration—including use of plaster that Laugier said is accepted by experts today—took place in the early 1880s.

AP-WF-09-03-13 2348GMT

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Clues at Detroit bar point toward tie to Prohibition-era Purple Gang

Detroit's Purple Gang was the subject of a 1959 movie starring Barry Sullivan and Robert Blake. This movie poster measures 14 x 36 inches. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Old Barn Auction LLC.

DETROIT (AP) – For every old tavern in Detroit, there’s a story. Or two stories. And they tend to be the same ones.

The joint was a speakeasy during Prohibition. That’s the first. No. 2, the Purple Gang drank there.

If the Purple Gangsters had really been that devoted to drinking in hidden nightclubs, they’d never have found the time to smuggle, hijack, extort, kidnap and murder—and they wouldn’t have become so legendary that every saloon claimed them.

So no, the story isn’t true. Not most of the time, anyway, and not to the satisfaction of actual researchers, according to The Detroit News.

At Tommy’s Detroit Bar & Grill, though, a few blocks up from the river on Third Street, the regulars can now say with academic certainty that they’re the proud descendants of illicit drinkers from the golden age of bootlegging. And there might well be a Purple Gang pedigree, too.

A team from Wayne State University and Preservation Detroit spent the summer exploring inside, outside and beneath the 144-year-old tavern. It found, among other things, a hidden staircase, a barrel full of butchered pig bones, shards of pottery and a rust-encrusted 70-year-old wrench.

“Garbage,” summarizes Ph.D. candidate Brenna Moloney of Ann Arbor, Mich. “But interesting garbage”—and useful keys to unlocking the continuing mystery of who we are, how we got here, and why anyone would put nice wood paneling in a basement room no law-abiding customer would ever need to see.

In other recent incarnations, the bar was known as the Golden Galleon and Mac’s on Third.

Tom Burelle, 53, bought it two years ago, “and I was curious. Who’s been here? What happened here? Was anybody shot here?”

That last was not just idle speculation. Vague legend referenced a corpse hidden on the premises. The team led by Wayne State associate archaeology professor Krysta Ryzewski found an odd pile of dirt, hemmed in by three brick walls in the basement, but figures at this point that it came from constructing the hidden staircase up to what’s now the small patio in front of the brick saloon.

She has seen the ornate business card with the name “Little Harry” that admitted carriers to what was almost certainly a speakeasy on the premises, probably a smallish social club.

That may or may not be a relation to the famous Little Harry’s on Jefferson that singer Anita Baker and her then-husband bulldozed to build an IHOP. But the building on Third was owned at various points during Prohibition by Harry Weitzman, who later built the Grande Ballroom and like the Purples was a Jew with roots in Eastern Europe.

It was owned at other points by Louis Gianetti, and the Purples were known to do business with Sicilians.

“We haven’t found the smoking gun of the Purple Gang,” Ryzewski says. As she points out, “They were criminals. They didn’t keep a lot of records.”

But that’s all part of the challenge, and the fun.

Archaeologists figure every day in the field leads to a week in the lab.

Ryzewski and Moloney put away their shovels recently, but expect to be digging through records until December, when they time the release of their findings to the 80th anniversary of the end of Prohibition.

“These are cultural resources,” Ryzewski says. “They’re nonrenewable. If we don’t study them now, we’ll lose them forever.”

A customer told Burelle that as a 10-year-old, he’d explored a passageway to a secret room with his dad, a plumbing contractor. Moloney is inclined to chalk that up to a child’s imagination and imperfect memory, but Burelle still likes the notion of a thriving nightclub tucked beneath the street.

“We’re here to establish what’s fact and what’s not,” Moloney says.

Part of the basement had its own electrical wiring: That’s a fact, and a curiosity. The bricks that clearly come from different eras are a fact, too.

What about the tunnel from the nearby Fort Street Presbyterian Church that appears to lead to the back of the tavern? Was that for thirsty ministers or the Underground Railroad?

“A project for another time,” Ryzewski says.

Surroundings change, but curiosity lasts forever.

___

Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com

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M.L. King Jr.’s children in new court battle over legacy

An oil on canvas portrait of Martin Luther King Jr., 1966. Image courtesy of LiveAuctiouneers.com Archive and O.P.M. Auctions Ltd.

ATLANTA (AP) – As the nation and world celebrated the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, his two sons and daughter were caught up in their latest legal fight over control of their father’s legacy.

On Aug. 28, his estate filed a complaint in an Atlanta court asking a judge to stop a nonprofit devoted to King’s memory from using his image, likeness and memorabilia. The date was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the slain civil rights icon’s famous speech.

The estate is run by King’s sons, Martin Luther King III and Dexter King, while the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change is run by King’s remaining living daughter, Bernice King.

The estate claims in the filing that it is the owner of the worldwide rights and property interests involving King’s name, image, likeness, recorded voice and memorabilia. That includes his writings, speeches, sermons and letters, as well as the remains and coffin in his crypt, the complaint says.

The estate in March 2007 granted a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to the center to use King’s name, likeness and image and to publicly exhibit his writings and spoken words at the center, the complaint says.

The estate supports the center’s work and has been its largest financial contributor for the past decade, but the relationship between the two “has recently become strained, resulting in a total breakdown in communication and transparency,” the complaint says.

An audit and review of the center’s practices and procedures conducted by the estate in April revealed that the care and storage of the physical property is unacceptable as it could be damaged by fire, water, mold, mildew or theft, the complaint says. After failed meetings and communications, the estate sent a letter to the center on Aug. 10 saying it would terminate the license at the end of a 30-day notice period, the complaint says.

The estate told the center in the letter that it could prevent the termination by: putting CEO Bernice King on administrative leave pending the final outcome of the audit investigation; give the estate approval power over the use, care and treatment of the memorabilia until another solution can be implemented; and remove Alveda King, the civil rights leader’s niece, and former Atlanta mayor and civil rights veteran Andrew Young from the center’s board of directors.

The estate says Alveda King tried to impede the audit investigation and that Young willfully infringed the estate’s intellectual property rights.

Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Bernice King, said in a letter on Aug. 14 to the King Center’s general counsel that her brothers were exercising their majority control over the estate “to take actions that directly harm the King Center,” with the goal of hindering or ending the center’s current name and operations.

The King brothers have disregarded their obligations to the nonprofit center in favor of their own financial interests, and their actions risk tarnishing and reducing their father’s legacy, Ryan wrote. Their actions are an effort to force the center’s board to give them control, and are “totally inconsistent with their duties to the King Center, and the spirit of their father and mother, the founder of the King Center,” Ryan wrote.

King was assassinated in Memphis in April 1968. His wife, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006, and Yolanda King, the Kings’ eldest child, died in 2007. That left the three remaining siblings as the sole shareholders and directors of their father’s estate, but their relationship deteriorated over legal battles.

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III sued Dexter King in 2008 to force him to open the books of their father’s estate. The lawsuit claimed Dexter King, the estate’s administrator, had refused to provide documents concerning the estate’s operations and that he had shut them out of decisions.

The siblings avoided a public jury trial over their legal feud by agreeing to a settlement in October 2009 and a judge in March 2010 dismissed most of the remaining legal claims in the dispute between them. All three siblings said at the time that they looked forward to mending the rifts and that significant progress had been made with settlement.

AP-WF-09-04-13 1708GMT

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