MAJOR CORRECTION: This is a whopper—I originally and erroneously wrote below that the contested Klimt belonged to Ronald Lauder. I have now corrected this entry. It’s Leonard Lauder, Ronald’s brother, who owns the work in question. It was an egregious error, which I deeply regret. I need a refresher course in reading comprehension.
—Robin Pogrebin of the NY Times has a detailed story today about a Holocaust victim heir’s claim for a Klimt owned by Leonard Lauder. But don’t look for it on the Arts pages; it’s in N.Y./Region.
The dispute pits Lauder’s lawyers against E. Randol Schoenberg, the attorney who, in a sense, owes his biggest pay day to Leonard’s brother Ronald Lauder, thanks to the huge price he paid for the recovered Klimt, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” partly owned by Schoenberg’s client, Maria Altmann. That famous purchase in turn set the stage for Christie’s extraordinary auction of the rest of the recovered Bloch-Bauer paintings. Schoenberg got a generous cut of those proceeds.
—How refreshing to take a break from the installation wars and get back to the good old decency wars: Is Nan Goldin porn? Is this story newsworthy largely because the seized photograph is owned by Elton John?
—I’m no genius. But artists Joan Snyder and Whitfield Lovell are—certified brilliant by the MacArthur Foundation.
—Why does Philadelphia covet the Barnes? Maybe because of findings like this—the latest economic study spreading the news that the “non-profit cultural sector is a tremendous asset to the local economy.” I guess every town needs to have one of these mathematical “proofs” that the arts are important.
CultureGrrl
Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary
an ArtsJournal blog