February 12, 2014 - Auction Central News

US to crack down on illegal ivory trade to save elephants

An African elephant mother bathing with her calf. This file was published in a Public Library of Science journal. The content of all PLOS journals is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license, unless indicated otherwise.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States is cracking down on the sale and purchase of ivory in hopes of curbing a surge in illicit poaching that’s threatening to wipe out elephants and other species in Africa.

The ivory ban is a key component of a new, national strategy for combating wildlife trafficking, unveiled Tuesday by the White House, seven months after President Barack Obama issued a call to action during a visit to Tanzania. In addition, the U.S. will seek to strengthen global enforcement and international cooperation to fight an illicit trade estimated to total about $10 billion per year.

“We’re seeing record-high demand for wildlife products,” said Grant Harris, who heads Africa policy for the White House’s National Security Council. “The result is an explosion of illicit trade and wildlife trafficking in recent years.”

Wildlife advocates are concerned that without forceful global action, elephants and rhinos face extinction. Once numbering in the millions, Africa’s elephant population has dwindled to 500,000 or less, said Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. About 35,000 – or nearly 10 percent of the remaining population – are being slaughtered each year.

The illicit industry also has significant national security implications. Because wildlife trafficking is often perpetrated by well-armed syndicates that thrive in regions with weak laws and porous borders, U.S. security officials say it poses a global security threat, just as the U.S. is seeking to combat growing extremism and violence in parts of Africa.

The crackdown relies on laws about conservation and endangered species that have been on the books for years, including decades-old prohibitions on importing ivory. But inconsistent implementation and lax enforcement have meant that once the ivory is in the U.S., domestic transactions have been essentially unregulated.

That means someone who placed an ivory chess set for sale on eBay, for example, faced little risk of running afoul of law enforcement – even if they lacked proof the item met one of the exceptions, such as being an antique.

“This legal trade has essentially provided a smoke-screen that makes it possible for this illicit trade and has made it more difficult for our enforcement officials to ferret out that crime and then prosecute that crime,” Ashe said in an interview.

Under the new strategy, if someone is caught trying to sell ivory items, the government will confiscate them unless sellers can provide documentation that they are legal. Sales across state lines will be banned except for antiques – items more than 100 years old. Sales within states will also be prohibited unless sellers can show they were brought into the U.S. before laws barring their import were put into effect.

Exports will also be banned, with few exceptions.

“For consumers, the general message going forward is buyer beware,” Ashe said.

Despite the exceptions, officials said they were confident that the crackdown would result in almost a complete ban on ivory sales. The idea is that by setting a strict example, the U.S. can spur other countries to take similar steps, driving down global demand for wildlife products and putting traffickers out of business.

Late last year, U.S. officials destroyed more than 6 tons of confiscated ivory tusks, carvings and jewelry. Last week, France followed suit by pulverizing more than 3 tons of illegal ivory, and other nations including Gabon and China have taken similar steps.

U.S. demand for wildlife products is surpassed only by China, where the market price for ivory is more than $1,000 a pound and has increased significantly, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

“The president and Congress have sent an unequivocal message to the rest of the world: The U.S. will no longer tolerate the massive and senseless slaughter of wildlife or the colossal criminal profits that it generates,” said Carter Roberts, the group’s president.

Still, the Fish and Wildlife Service won’t seek to prosecute individuals, such as those who try to sell ivory trinkets they inherited from their parents, Ashe said. Instead, the agency will target its law enforcement efforts toward organized trafficking rings that profit from the illicit trade.

Last year, the government launched a sting dubbed “Operation Crash” that targeted an international smuggling ring trafficking in endangered black rhino horns.

Wildlife conservation has long been championed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After stepping down from the State Department, Clinton in September outlined plans for an $80 million effort to curb elephant poaching and trafficking through the Clinton Global Initiative.

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Reach Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

AP-WF-02-11-14 2208GMT

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Beatlemania bought Brian Epstein brand new Bentley

LONDON – Brian Epstein was known as Mr. 25%, referring to his cut of the Beatles’ gross earnings, and in 1963/4, the period when Beatlemania hit Britain and the U.S., it is estimated that he earned £75 million in today’s money.

One of the things the late Beatles manager did was spend some of that income on a replacement for his secondhand Bentley S1.

First registered on Feb. 18, 1964, this Bentley S3 was Brian Epstein’s first brand new Bentley, and bears the original registration number of AJB400B.

He had ordered the car in late 1963, with some assistance from Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ press officer, placing the order through R.S. Mead Ltd. of Maidenhead.

The car was collected from the dealer by Derek Taylor and Lonnie Trimble, Brian’s valet and chauffeur, while Epstein was in the U.S. with the Beatles.

On Feb. 22, 1964, the Beatles and Epstein returned to the UK after appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. Arriving at Heathrow airport at 7 a.m., they were met by an estimated 10,000 fans. Derek Taylor and Lonnie Trimblehad brought the Bentley to pick up Epstein. The Beatles were interviewed by Pathe News:

Q: “Have you got time to actually spend this money?”

BEATLES: (in unison) “What money??”

Q: “Doesn’t he (Brian Epstein) give any to you?”

GEORGE: “No, no. Have you seen that car of his?” (laughter)

George was referring to Brian’s new Bentley S3, which was sitting outside the airport’s Kingsford-Smith VIP suite.

View the clip at (1 min 47 seconds is where the above exchange appears):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAnFVnji8DA&list=PL6F79714A7A70E4C0&index=1

Brian Epstein is best known for being the manager of the Beatles until his death in 1967 and a music entrepreneur. He had also served as band manager for Cilla Black, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, the Remo Four and The Cyrkle.

In 1962, Epstein paid for the Beatles to record a demonstration tape at Decca’s London studios. Decca declined to sign the Beatles to a contract. After then approaching nearly all of the major recording companies in London and being rejected, Epstein met a record producer, George Martin, who offered a contract on behalf of EMI’s small Parlophone label.

The Beatles’ early success has been attributed to his management and sense of style. Paul McCartney said of him: “If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian.”

In October 1965 Epstein sold the car and it passed into the hands of Sidney J. Dicks Ltd. Subsequent owners include a London solicitor named Levinson and Norman Boyack, a theatrical agent.

In the same ownership for over 25 years, the car has a thick history file, detailing a bare metal re-spray as well as piston ring replacement and engine overhaul. Also in the file are copies of the original history sheet and chassis listing; DVLA and previous-owner correspondence; copies of press cuttings and marque-related literature; copy owner’s manual; and a quantity of expired MoTs and tax discs, etc. The car is currently taxed and MoT’d and comes with current V5C registration document. Original radio converted to FM, tool kit with jack and spare wheel.

This historically important Bentley with “Fab Four” connections, will be going under the hammer at Coys Auctions Spring Classics sale on March 11 in London at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster.

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Costume designer’s collection starring in Kerry Taylor sale Feb. 25

Beaded cloth of gold dance/cabaret outfit, 1920s. Estimate: £300-£500. Kerry Taylor Auctions image.

LONDON – Kerry Taylor Auctions, specialists in antique and vintage fashion and textiles, will sell part 1 of costume designer Henning Thorsen’s collection and part 2 of fashion consultant Anne Dettmer’s collection on Feb. 25.

LiveAuctioneers.com will facilitate Internet live bidding. Session 1 will begin at 10:30 a.m. GMT, 2:20 a.m. Pacific. Session 2 will get under way at 130 p.m. GMT, 5:30 a.m. Pacific.

Shipped to Kerry Taylor Auctions from Denmark, the Thorsen collection reflects its Scandinavian origins. It includes pieces from the great Copenhagen department stores – Illum, Magasin du Nord and A. Fonnesbech, as well as Parisian houses and stores such as Charles Frederick Worth, Au Louvre and La Samaritaine. Many of the pieces are wearable, as Thorsen often collected garments that might be useful in his profession as costume designer for film and television. However, he often preferred to copy them rather than have them damaged by use.

His love of fashion and interest in historic and vintage dress began as a small boy. His early background was quite different to his chosen career – his father was a blacksmith, his mother a cook. Being one of five children money was often tight, and so out of necessity they learned to make everything themselves. He remembers using his mother’s sewing machine when he was just 7 years of age and by the age of 15, he had progressed to making bridal gowns.

Realizing this talent, his parents sent him to the Design School in Herning – the center for textile production in Jytland – where he specialized in menswear. However, he found this subject boring, preferring to design women’s fashion instead. By his mid-20s he began work as a costume designer for Danish Television (their wardrobe included 65,000 pieces of all periods) before moving to London to train in the BBC costume department, which was famed for its period drama productions.

Thorsen began to collect antique and vintage pieces himself, for inspiration and for use. He appreciated the skill and craftsmanship that had gone into clothes as well as the fabric or construction. One or two dresses soon grew to 50 then to 400. In the beginning Henning did not really see it as a collection – just pieces he needed to rescue or preserve as the skill and fabrics used in so many of these pieces is lost to us in modern times. It is a wide-ranging collection that will appeal to both collectors and people who wish to buy to wear. Because the collection is so large it will be sold over two auctions – this one and the April 8 sale.

Anne Dettmer’s superb collection majors in fabulous American fashion, which adds a dash of Hollywood glamour to the sale. Ceil Chapman, Irene, Adrian, Helen Rose, who all designed for the leading film stars of the 1940s and ’50s are well represented in her collection.

Also from the Dettmer collection is Hawaiian beachwear by Alfred Shaheen and Cole of California, as well as sunglasses by Philippe Chevalier, Courreges and others. Spring brides may be tempted by the vintage bridalwear or boxes of vintage silk flowers.

The sale has been carefully curated to appeal to all tastes and pockets, be it Victorian daywear, ’20s flapper dresses, 1980s Chanel jewelry or Moschino Lichtenstein print suits. For anyone who makes a large purchase, there’s even have a Vuitton trunk to take it all away in.

The auction will take place at 249-253 Long Lane, London, SE1 4PR.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Spectacular sequined cape, 1930s. Henning Thorsen collection. Estimate £600-£900. Kerry Taylor Auctions image.

Ceil Chapman mint-green tree-bark taffeta evening gown and matching coat, mid 1950s. Anne Dettmer collection. Estimate £400-£600. Kerry Taylor Auctions image.

Label pasted inside lot 448, a Louis Vuitton trunk, circa 1885. Estimate £1,500-£2,500. Kerry Taylor Auctions image.

Danish costume designer Henning Thorsen. Kerry Taylor Auctions image.

Sinkhole swallows 8 Corvettes at Ky. car museum

The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., where a sinkhole inside swallowed eight automobiles. Image by Jonrev, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AFP) – A massive sinkhole opened up inside the National Corvette Museum and swallowed eight cars early Wednesday morning.

Museum officials said they got a call at 5:44 am from their security company because the motion detectors had gone off.

“Upon arrival it was discovered that a sinkhole had collapsed within the museum,” the museum said in a statement.

The Bowling Green fire department came to secure the area and estimated the size of the hole at 40 feet across and 25 to 30 feet deep.

Two of the lost Corvettes – a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR-1 Blue Devil – were on loan from General Motors.

The other six – a 1962 Corvette, a 1984 PPG pace car, the one millionth Corvette built in 1992, a 1993 40th anniversary Corvette, a 2001 ZO6 Corvette and the 1.5 millionth Corvette produced in 2009 – belong to the museum.

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China declared top buyer as world art sales hit new record

People's Republic of China, shown in dark green, with territories that are claimed but not controlled shown in lighter green. Use of image granted under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.

PARIS (AFP) – Global art sales hit a new record high of $12.05 billion (8.8 billion euros) in 2013, with China keeping its spot as the top buyer, an art market data firm said Wednesday.

France-based Artprice said sales of artworks around the globe — which include paintings, sculptures and photographic prints — grew 13 percent in 2013.

The market rebounded after a nine percent drop in 2012 that was due mainly to a decrease in sales in China.

But China remained the top art buyer for the fourth year running in 2013, accounting for $4.078 billion in sales, Artprice said.

It was followed closely by the United States, which accounted for $4.016 billion of sales, up 20 percent from 2012.

“These two powers alone account for two-thirds of the art market,” said Artprice CEO Thierry Ehrmann.

Britain was in third position but far behind, accounting for $2.11 billion worth of sales. France was fourth with $549 million in sales, followed by Germany and Switzerland.

Ehrmann said growth in the art market continued to rely on the works of a small number of popular artists selling at high prices.

“Half of the revenues from 2013 were based on only 100 artists and 25,000 lots,” Artprice said.

A new world record for the most expensive piece of art auctioned was reached in November when a triptych by British painter Francis Bacon — “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” — sold for $142.4 million at Christie’s in New York.

New York is the “epicenter” of top-level sales, Artprice said, accounting for 39 of the 50 best auctions last year.

With $3.55 billion in sales, Christie’s beat out rival Sotheby’s, with $3.10 billion, for the spot of top auction house.

Ehrmann said he expected 2014 to be another record year as the art market cements its place as a “true safe haven” for investors.

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A.B. Levy predicts Feb. 23-24 auction could be their best ever

Landscape oil on canvas painting by the French painter Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin (est. 30,000-$50,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rare antique vases by makers such as Meissen and Thomas Webb, outstanding selections of estate silver and jewelry pieces, fine Chinese and Japanese decorative accessories and original works of art by noted, listed artists will all come up for bid at A.B. Levy’s Antiques, Fine Art & Jewels auction scheduled for Feb. 23 and 24.

LiveAuctioneers.com will facilitate Internet live bidding.

Start times will be 1 p.m. Eastern both Sunday and Monday.

“We expect this to be one of the best antiques and fine art auctions we’ve ever held,” said Albert Levy of A.B. Levy’s. “We are fortunate to have been entrusted with these heirlooms and treasures. It’s all fresh and estimated to sell.”

Headlining the sale will be fine items pulled from the estate home in Palm Beach that was recently purchased by radio personality Howard Stern.

Certain to attract keen bidder interest is a pink, white and blue cameo glass vase, made by Thomas Webb & Sons and stamped Tiffany & Co. (est. $20,000-$30,000). The vase, 10 inches tall, was displayed at the Paris Exhibition of 1889 and was depicted in the book English Cameo Glass by Ray and Lee Grover. It is a truly stunning piece.

Just as magnificent is a rare and important pair of Meissen porcelain pate-sur-pate rose-pink and teal ground vases with covers (est. $7,000-$10,000). The front of each shows a maiden and putti playing musical instruments, while the back shows a putto, flanked by lion scroll handles. Pate-sur-pate is a porcelain firing technique developed by Sevres in the 1800s.

A strong candidate for top lot of the sale is untitled landscape oil on canvas painting by the French painter Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927). The work, measuring 15 inches by 18 1/4 inches, is expected to realize $30,000-$50,000. Guillaumin was one of a group of talented young French artists who organized the first impressionist exhibit in 1874.

Three original paintings by the Hungarian-born French artist Francois Gall (1912-1987) will also come up for bid (est. $3,000-$6,000 each). An example is the oil on canvas titled A. Montparnesse, signed and titled by Gall and measuring 18 inches by 10 1/4 inches. Gall was an impressionist artist in the true French tradition. He attended the National Academy of Fine Arts.

A potential sleeper in the fine art category is a signed and untitled oil on canvas rendering of a ballerina by German artist Wilhelm Hempfling (1886-1948). The painting, 28 inches by 22 inches, carries an estimate of $2,000-$4,000. Hempfling was an artist and printmaker who painted all over Europe. He’s best known for his impressionist landscapes, portraits and nudes.

Levy is calling the selection of silver “the best we’ve ever had.” Lots 3-5 on day two will feature three silver lots designed by Martele and manufactured by Gorham Mfg. Co. They are a serving tray weighing 154 ounces (est. $3,000-$5,000), a kettle and lamp stand weighing 69 ounces (est. $2,000-$4,000), and a teapot weighing 36 ounces (est. $1,500-$3,000).

A Japanese six-piece silver and enamel tea set, crafted circa 1900 and signed Musashiya sei, is expected to reach $7,000-$10,000. The set – “the best enameled tea set we’ve ever seen,” according to Levy – consists of a hot water kettle with comforting stand and lamp, a creamer, a covered sugar bowl and tongs. Each piece is enameled in a floral design and butterfly finial.

Asian decorative arts will feature a special Chinese famille rose porcelain bowl from the Qing Dynasty, carrying the six-character iron-red mark of Guangxu (1875-1908) and showing painted phoenix birds (est. $2,000-$4,000); and a 19th century Chinese Canton porcelain bottle of compressed globular form, 12 3/4 inches tall, with cylindrical neck (est. $1,000-$1,500).

Just over 500 lots will come up for bid at the auciton, which will be held both days in the Flamingo Building, located at 1921 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. A buyer’s premium of 20 percent will be applied to all purchases up to $100,000 (15 percent beyond that).

A.B. Levy’s is accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign a single piece, an estate or an entire collection, phone 561-835-9139 or email them at info@ablevys.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Pair of Meissen porcelain pate-sur-pate rose-pink and teal ground vases, with covers (est. $7,000-$10,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

White and blue cameo glass vase, made by Thomas Webb & Sons and stamped Tiffany & Co. (est. $20,000-$30,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

Chinese famille rose porcelain bowl from the Qing Dynasty, with six-character mark of Guangxu (est. $2,000-$4,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

Sterling silver serving tray designed by Martele and made by Gorham Mfg. Co., 154 ounces (est. $3,000-$5,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

Circa-1900 Japanese 6-piece silver and enamel tea set, signed Musashiya sei, 81.49 ounces (est. $7,000-$10,000). A.B. Levy’s image.

Morphy’s to move all auctions to Sat./Sun. timeslots

The climate-controlled saleroom, with theater-style seating, where all of Morphy's auctions take place. Morphy Auctions image.

DENVER, Pa. – In response to numerous requests, Morphy’s is moving all of its auctions to weekend timeslots. The first of the company’s sales to make the changeover will be Morphy’s Weekly Auctions. Previously held on Tuesdays, they will now be conducted on Sundays, starting with the March 23 Advertising & Toy Auction.

“Our Weekly Auctions held on Tuesdays have been extremely popular with collectors, but many of our regular buyers have told us they would love to bid in these sales but can’t, primarily because of work commitments,” said Morphy Auctions CEO Dan Morphy. “Moving the Weekly Auctions to Sundays will open the playing field and enable many more bidders to take part.”

Ordinarily, Morphy’s conducts one Weekly Auction per month for each of the following categories: Toys, General Antiques, and Advertising & Toys. The auctions include items that may have missed a consignment deadline for one of Morphy’s Premier or Specialty Auctions. In other cases, consignments may represent antiques or collectibles that their owners prefer to sell quickly rather than waiting for the next major auction.

As for Morphy’s Premier and Specialty sales, they will be held exclusively on Saturdays and Sundays, starting with the April 26-27 Advertising & Coin-Op Auction.

“All one-day Specialty and Premier sales will continue to be Saturday events, but any two-day Premier sales, which traditionally have been held over a Friday and Saturday, will now be scheduled as Saturday/Sunday auctions,” said Morphy. “We’re eliminating all weekday sales completely.”

No change will be made to Morphy’s standard 9 a.m. start time. Also, all auctions will continue to offer multiple forms of bidding, including live in the gallery, by phone, absentee, or live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.

For additional information, call 717-335-3435 or email serena@morphyauctions.com. Visit Morphy’s online at www.morphyauctions.com.

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China recovers lost marble columns in Norway museum deal

An example of marble artistry at the Summer Palace, Beijing, this boat is carved entirely of marble. Photo by Zhangzhe0101, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

BEIJING (AFP) – Seven white marble columns from a Chinese palace looted by foreign forces will soon be returned to Beijing by a Norwegian museum after a controversial property developer offered it a major donation, reports said Wednesday.

The invasion and colonization of parts of China during the 19th century are still regularly highlighted by Communist authorities and remain enduring issues in the country, symbolized most emotively by historical treasures Beijing says were looted when British and French forces ransacked sites such as the Old Summer Palace and the Forbidden City.

The columns are among 21 in the KODE Art Museums of Bergen, which houses one of the most extensive Chinese art collections in Europe. They were part of Beijing’s Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, built in European style in the 18th century.

They will be returned to Peking University later this year and alumnus Huang Nubo, a real estate developer, will donate 10 million Norwegian krone ($1.6 million) to the museum, according to the China Daily newspaper.

Huang, chairman of the Zhongkun Investment Group, made headlines last year when he made an unsuccessful bid to buy 300 square kilometers of land in Iceland to build a golf resort.

The move was met with suspicion by some Icelandic politicians who questioned whether it might be part of a geopolitical power play by China.

His latest action comes even as China-Norway relations remain frozen following the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

In an interview with the China Daily, Huang described his donation to the Norwegian museum as “a very meaningful action that shows patriotism, as well as a way of repaying back the mother country, which made me rich.”

The columns are among some 2,500 Chinese art objects donated to the museum by Johan Wilhelm Normann Munthe, a Norwegian adventurer and cavalry officer who lived in China from 1886 — long after the palace’s destruction — until his death in 1935.

During his nearly 50 years in China, Munthe enlisted in the Chinese army in the first Sino-Japanese war and became a close friend of Yuan Shikai, the Chinese president who made a short-lived bid to proclaim himself emperor.

It is not known how Munthe acquired the columns.

Their return comes as China is stepping up its efforts to re-acquire its lost relics.

During a December visit to Beijing, British Prime Minister David Cameron came under pressure from Chinese Internet users who asked for the return of some 23,000 artefacts in the British Museum that were “illegally plundered” by British troops.

That came after French billionaire Francois Pinault, the owner of Christie’s, last June gave back to China two bronze animal heads looted from the Old Summer Palace in 1860.

Months later, Christie’s became the first international auction house to receive a license to operate in mainland China.

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‘Giants’ of Dutch Golden Age to be united for first time

Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606-1669), 'The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch,' a k a 'The Night Watch,' painted in 1642. Collection of Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

AMSTERDAM (AFP) – The world-famous Rijksmuseum is teaming up with two other Amsterdam institutions to exhibit around 30 “giant” Golden Agepaintings, similar to Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch,” together for the first time.

“These are the biggest group portraits of the 17th century, literally giant paintings,” Amsterdam Museum director Paul Spies told AFP of the permanent exhibition to be completed by the end of the year.

The Rijksmuseum, home to the world’s finest collection of Dutch Old Masters, and the Amsterdam Museum will supply the paintings, while the Hermitage Amsterdam will provide a vast room for the works to go on display.

“Some of these paintings are around eight meters (over 25 feet) wide,” said Hermitage director Cathelijne Broers, adding: “An enormous room was necessary and we had one available in the Hermitage building.”

The Hermitage Amsterdam was built in the 17th century, when the Dutch dominated world trade and were flush with cash to spend on paintings, many of them as vast as they are self-aggrandizing.

The paintings are also hugely symbolic, paid for by the powerful guilds, militias or city officials they portray and displayed in official buildings where they would impress or intimidate visitors.

The museums describe the paintings to be exhibited as “classmates” of “The Night Watch”, which will remain the Rijksmuseum’s centerpiece.

A more modestly sized — roughly one-metre square — fragment from Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman,” repeatedly cut down during its history, will go on display at the Hermitage.

The selection of paintings to be exhibited has not yet been finalized, but will include works by Nicolaes Eliasz and Adriaen Backer, organizers said.

“Moving these works is a real logistical challenge, the paintings will have to enter the building through holes that we will make in the roof,” said Spies. “They certainly won’t fit in through the doors!”

The museums hope the permanent exhibition will open towards the end of November.

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Kan. museum acquires 125 Gordon Parks photographs

'American Gothic, Washington, D.C.' by Gordon Parks (1912-2006). Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Wichita State University just acquired another 125 classic photographs by Gordon Parks, an American icon.

The move not only makes WSU the destination place for anyone studying Parks, said WSU’s Ted Ayres, but goes further to right a wrong that WSU and Wichita long ago inflicted on the man.

Donors including Wichita philanthropists Paula and Barry Downing gave $250,000 to WSU to buy 125 photographs from the Gordon Parks Foundation. The photos were worth more than that, said Ayres, WSU vice president and chief counsel. But the Parks Foundation gifted the balance to make the acquisition possible. He said the Downings put up $150,000 as a challenge grant. WSU’s student government association put up $70,000, and the WSU foundation raised another $80,000. The additional $50,000 raised will be spent on shipping and care and maintenance of the photos, The Wichita Eagle reports.

The photos now go to the university’s Ulrich Museum of Art, where they will be displayed, probably in an exhibition sometime in 2016, Ayres said.

The university in the mid-1990s had another Parks photo collection and hurt him deeply by rejecting it.

Since making peace with Parks, beginning in 2000, the university has put together an extensive collection of manuscripts, letters, story drafts and a total of about 200 fine arts images done by the Fort Scott native who was considered, long before his 2006 death, one of the world’s most acclaimed photographers.

According to a statement prepared at WSU, the Ulrich collection of Parks photographs now includes several images taken in his hometown of Fort Scott, candid images of Malcolm X, works from his landmark “Flavio” series, which chronicled abject poverty in a slum of Rio de Janeiro, and from Harlem Gang Leader, his first photographic essay for Life magazine in 1948.

The story of how Ayres and WSU have tried so hard to make amends can be understood only if one knows Parks’ longer life story as a native Kansan, Ayres said.

Parks defied formidable odds to become one of the cultural icons in American history: He was born in poverty in 1912 in Fort Scott, and endured vicious racism. But as Wichita native Mark McCormick points out, Parks chose to answer in a way that angry people everywhere should study closely. Fearless, resourceful and brilliant, McCormick said, “He chose to use a camera, a pen, and a typewriter to channel all that pain and anger.”

Parks wrote great poetry. He wrote a book that became a movie, The Learning Tree, still studied in schools. He made Shaft, a huge movie success that made a black man the main character at a time when no director risked that. He was Life magazine’s first African-American photographer, and spent 50 years shooting seminal images of everything from the civil rights 1963 March on Washington to Muhammad Ali’s boxing career.

In one of his more celebrated and defiant images, created at the worst of the arc of the civil rights movement story, he photographed a poverty-stricken black woman janitor working for the federal government. He positioned her with her brooms in front of a hanging American flag and let the look of despair, exhaustion and courage on her face convey the message. Many black people at the time were not only underpaid but segregated, denied equal education, denied the right to vote and sometimes lynched, beaten or shot if they protested.

McCormick has spent years helping acquire Parks’ works for Wichita, first as a Wichita Eagle columnist and now as director of the Kansas African American Museum in Wichita, which has a separate collection of 29 Parks photographs, and where two of Parks’ children serve on the board.

“This man was deeply hurt by how this state treated him, and how he was treated here in Wichita,” McCormick said. “But they tried to make it right long ago, and this latest acquisition speaks to how that bad treatment couldn’t scrub out the love Mr. Parks still had for this state.”

Both McCormick and Ayres got to know Parks before his death.

Many years ago, Ayres said, Parks gave about 150 of his famous photos to WSU. The director at WSU’s museum at the time eventually shocked Parks by sending the photos back to him.

“The museum director at the time thought that we were not able to keep and protect them in good condition, and also, it was not clear in that person’s mind about whether the collection was a loan or gift,” Ayres said. “Gordon thought he had made it clear that it was a gift.”

“He was deeply offended,” McCormick said. Later, McCormick said, the Wichita City Council had a chance to acquire a substantial collection of Parks’ works and put it in a city library and rejected the idea.

WSU’s role in this was a mistake that the university began apologizing for in 2000, with Ayres taking the lead. In that year, Ayres said, WSU acquired four of Parks’ photographs, and invited Parks, then in his 80s. They gave him a dinner, made a public event of his appearance. And Ayres, apologizing to Parks publicly, and trying to make things right, ended up fumbling.

With Parks sitting only a few feet away, Ayres talked glowingly about Kansas Land, a poem Parks had published in 1968.

“It’s only about eight stanzas long, and I’d read only the top half,” Ayres said.

The butterflies to chase through grass high as the chin. The silver of September rain, the orange-red-brown Octobers and Novembers, the white Decembers and the hungry smells of hams and pork butts curing in the smokehouses.

Ayres had failed to read the stinger at the end.

Yes, all this I would miss along with the fear, hatred and violence we blacks had suffered upon this beautiful land.

“He could have made quite a scene,” Ayres said. And he did get up and tell the ending. But Parks chose to see that Ayres and everyone else was well-intentioned. “He couldn’t have been more gracious, considering,” Ayres said.

That gathering led Ayres to an ongoing relationship with Parks, Parks’ friends and the Parks foundation. And that helped lead WSU to the latest acquisition.

“And now anybody studying Mr. Gordon Parks has to come to Wichita State University to do that,” McCormick said.

“How cool is that?”

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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com

AP-WF-02-10-14 2135GMT

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