Von Klemperer Kokoschka stays in Ghent

In the Nazi-era restitution of art news corner, The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent has decided not to return 'Portrait of Ludwig Adler' by Oskar Kokoschka to the heirs of Von Klemperer.
They argued that the Jewish banker and Dresdener art collector Victor Von Klemperer was forced to sell the piece under pressure in 1937 and they filed a case to recover the work on the grounds of historical circumstances and international treaties on the returning of looted jewish art.

The City of Ghent had an independent commision, chaired by former president of the Studiecommissie en de Commissie voor de schadeloosstelling van de Joodse Gemeenschap van België, look at the claims. According to them Von Klemperer was not pressured to sell the work.

On the basis of this advice the painting, which was acquired legally by the Museum in 1989 will not be returned.

Picture credit Zeldenrust.

Ensor drawing stolen in The Hague

News outlets are reporting the theft of an Ensor drawing The triumph of death (1887) from the Communal Museum in The Hague.
A spokesperson euphimistically described the work as 'missing' rather than 'robbed'. 'There are different possible scenario's. The case is now in the hands of the police'. The piece was found missing on Friday.

It is pretty embarrassing for them as the pencil on paper drawing (22,5 x 17 cm) was on loan from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp who purchased the work from Brussels art collector Marcel Mabille in 1952.

Police release images of MAS horn thief

Today police have released CCTV footage showing the thief who boldly stole a powder horn in the new Antwerp city museum MAS on May 26th. It seems art theft investigation looks very inefficient and slow and does not seem to be a priority. Two weeks after the theft took place pictures of the culprit are distributed and they are appealing to the public to identify two a man and a woman.
Also what puzzles me: the report in the paper mentions the thief walked up to the horn, removed it and then hides it under his jacket. He also had a back-pack. This begs the question, why are visitors not requested to leave their coats, bags etc. at the cloakroom?
Watch out for those OAP's, they could use their appearance to lull security guards into a false sense of security. This thieving eminence grise does not look like David Niven or Pierce Brosnan, but he's just as effective as the fictional characters they portray in features or Stéphane Breitwieser for that matter.