Earth and Space News: Chácara do Céu stolen Matisse

Showing posts with label Chácara do Céu stolen Matisse. Show all posts

Friday, May 19, 2017

Second Chácara do Céu Museum Art Theft Feb. 24, 2006: Matisse Garden

Summary: Latin America is short a Matisse garden since the painter's Luxembourg Garden is one of five second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft casualties.

The Chácara do Céu Museum art theft Feb. 24, 2006, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, answers to descriptions as Latin America's biggest art crime and as one of the world's largest too. It boasted a boon unbeknownst to the two perpetrators of the somewhat similar second Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts. It clutched Henri Matisse's (Dec. 31, 1869-Nov. 3, 1954) Luxembourg Garden while the Gardner perpetrators never considered The Terrace, first Matisse displayed publicly in North America. The Gardner Museum art crime, unlike the Chácara art robbery's across-the-board significant diversions, divulged no details for diverting two very significant, and 11 less significant, artworks.

The Chácara Museum art theft exiled a Nobel Prize winner's poems and four paintings, one each by an Impressionist, a Post-Impressionist, a surrealist and a modernist.

Carnival's Carmelite Block, named after Carmelite convent in Rio de Janeiro's Santa Teresa neighborhood, provided the costumed, distracting setting for Chácara do Céu Museum's second art theft in 2006; Santa Teresa Convent (upper left) in "Vista da Lagoa do Boqueirão e do Aqueduto de Santa Teresa" (View of Boqueirão Lagoon with the Lapa Aqueduct [Arcos da Lapa] and Convent of Saint Therese [Convento de Santa Teresa]), ca. 1790 oil on canvas by Leandro Joaquim (ca. 1738-ca. 1798); Museu Histórico Nacional collection, on deposit in the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Four perpetrators in costumes, masks and wigs and two in a van at the front gate frightened guards, staff and visitors after furnishing museum entrance fees. They gashed alarm and surveillance systems after gathering one staff person, three security guards and five tourists, from Australia and New Zealand, into the staff office. They had grenades and guns and hit one of three unarmed security guards hired from a private firm in the face and another over the head.

José Nascimento, director of museums for Brazil's Culture Ministry, indicated that no security team is impelled to intercept armed interventions, especially those with grenades and guns. He judged that the second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft "makes it clear that a specialist group exists" to jeopardize public viewing of Rio-based art.

Former director of Brazil's museums José Nascimento clarifies that security teams are not required to intercept armed interventions and views Chácara do Céu Museum's second art theft as suggestive of a specialist group aimed at jeopardizing public viewing of Rio's artworks; Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, image of José do Nascimento Júnior, 2009-2013 president of Instituto Brasileiro de Museus (IBRAM), with Marta Suplicy, Senator for São Paulo (Feb. 1, 2011-Feb. 1, 2019), at 5º Fórum Nacional de Museus (Fifth National Forum of Museums), Centro Cultural Sesc Quitandinha (SESC Quitandinha; Serviço Social do Comércio; Social Services of Commerce), Quitandinha neighborhood, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Southeast Region of Brazil: Instituto Brasileiro de Museus -- Ibram, via Facebook Nov. 23, 2012

The high price of policy premiums keeps museums such as the Chácara do Céu and the Isabella Stewart Gardner economically vulnerable because of non-existent insurance coverage. It left the Chácara and the Gardner museums uninsured, despite their two respective sets of art crimes in 1989 and 2006 and in 1970 and 1990.

Coverage means that the insurance company maintains legal ownership after payout on a loss claim, during the artwork's misplacement and subsequent to the stolen art's manifestation. Companies sometimes negotiate exchanging recovered artworks for returned payouts, as noted with Chubb Limited, Susan Grant Murta and Norman Rockwell's (Feb. 3, 1894-Nov. 8, 1978) Lazybones.

NSW Treasury Managed Funds offered the Art Gallery of New South Wales no exchange concerning Frans van Mieris the Elder's (April 16, 1635-March 12, 1681) Cavalier.

The second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft proved mysterious, despite a 32,000-strong police presence throughout Carnival celebrations, because of evidence-contaminating chaos from 10,000 neighborhood revelers. It quashed access to Dalí's (May 11, 1904-Jan. 23, 1989) balconies, Monet's (Nov. 14, 1840-Dec. 5, 1926) seascapes and Neruda's (July 12, 1904-Sept. 23, 1973) bulls. It raised Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualty-like questions of ransom and ravage, with Matisse's gardens and Picasso's (Oct. 25, 1881-April 8, 1973) dancers burned. Its aftermath suggested dissimilar alternatives to fiery destruction on Morro dos Prazeres (Mountains of Pleasures) with a Belarus-based internet site auctioning Matisse's garden for $13 million.

Who took the 15.95- by 12.59-inch (40.5- by 32-centimeter) inventory number MCC425, titled Luxembourg Garden from 1905, during the second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft?

A suggested fate of two of stolen artworks, Matisse's Luxembourg Garden and Picasso's Dance, is destruction by fire at a campsite in the Morro dos Prazeres favela (slum) in Rio de Janeiro's the Santa Teresa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul (Southern Zone); Morro dos Prazeres, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, 12:05: Tiago Celestino, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Henri Matisse's Luxembourg Garden (Portuguese: Jardim de Luxemburgo), 1905 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Chácara do Céu Museum shares with Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the plight of uninsured stolen artworks; coverage equates to legal ownership by insurance companies after loss payouts; exchanging recovered artworks for returned payouts may happen, as with Norman Rockwell's recovered Lazybones (left), or may not happen, as with Frans van Mieris the Elder's unrecovered Cavalier:
"Lazybones": Public Domain, via FBI Art Theft @ https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/philadelphia/news/press-releases/fbi-seeks-missing-norman-rockwell-painting-stolen-40-years-ago-today
"A Cavalier (Self Portrait)": Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frans-van-mieris-thecavalier.jpg

A suggested fate of two of stolen artworks, Matisse's Luxembourg Garden and Picasso's Dance, is destruction by fire at a campsite in the Morro dos Prazeres favela (slum) in the Santa Teresa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul (Southern Zone); Morro dos Prazeres, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, 12:05: Tiago Celestino, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morro_dos_Prazeres_(RJ)_-_01.jpg

For further information:

Agence France-Presse. 26 February 2006. "Brazil Art Heist Is Cloaked by Carnival." The New York Times > World > Americas.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/world/americas/brazil-art-heist-is-cloaked-by-carnival.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 May 2017. "The Second Chácara do Céu Museum Art Theft Feb. 24, 2006: Two Dalí Balconies." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-second-chacara-do-ceu-museum-art.html

McMahon, Colin. 28 February 2006. "Gunmen Use Brazil's Carnival as Cover in $50 Million Art Heist." Chicago Tribune > News.
Available @ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-02-28/news/0602280108_1_picasso-art-thieves-million-art-heist

Nikkhah, Roya; and Downie, Andrew. 26 February 2006. "Carnival Gang Grabs £30M Art Treasures from Rio Museum." The Telegraph > News > World News > South America.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/1511532/Carnival-gang-grabs-30m-art-treasures-from-Rio-museum.html

Siquara, Carlos Andrei. 5 February 2016. "No Rastro de Obras Perdidas." O Tempo > Magazine > Diversão > Livro.
Available @ http://www.otempo.com.br/divers%C3%A3o/magazine/no-rastro-de-obras-perdidas-1.1226775

Skidmore, Thomas E. 1999. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change in Latin America. Latin American Histories series. New York NY: Oxford University Press.

Tardáguila, Cristina. 2016. A Arte do Descaso. Rio de Janeiro Brazil: Editora Intrínseca.
Available @ https://www.amazon.com.br/Arte-do-Descaso-Cristina-Tard%C3%A1guila/dp/8580578965/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452189811&sr=8-1&keywords=a+arte+do+descas

Friday, April 28, 2017

Hope for Chácara do Céu Museum Art Theft and Gardner Museum Art Theft

Summary: Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft recoveries give Chácara do Céu Museum art theft and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties hope.

Rio de Janeiro's Museu da Chácara do Céu (Chácara do Céu Museum), site of Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, theft of four artworks: Ministério da Cultura do Brasil, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, anticipated the Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, and the Chácara do Céu Museum art theft Feb. 24, 2006.

A foray into art museum history brings up ominous foreshadowing in 1970 in Massachusetts, May 3, 1989, in Brazil and April 15, 1991, in The Netherlands. The dates call up thefts of the same Rembrandt self-portrait in 1970 and 1990 and of the same Dalí and Matisse oils in 1989 and 2006. They draw upon similar means as their successors: deceiving on-duty security guards in Boston, demonstrating armed force in Rio de Janeiro, devising after-hours access in Amsterdam.

The three precursor thefts experienced timely endings within their respective event cities, unlike the ongoing, unsolved thefts in Rio, Boston and, until Sept. 25, 2016, Amsterdam.

Suspected art theft perpetrators and stolen artwork controllers found the Amsterdam, Boston and Rio museums functioning without insurance policies due to the prohibitive cost of premiums. Harold Smith (Feb. 7, 1926-Feb. 19, 2005), world-famous independent fine arts claims adjuster, gave a $3 million price tag to completely underwritten Gardner collections for 2005. He had alternate, same-year figures of $10,000 to $50,000 in annual premiums for prioritized underwriting honed to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum yearly budgets of $2.8 million.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, included in AGNSW museum history an art theft casualty June 10, 2007, and, unusually, insurance coverage. The $2 million in contributions and insurance jumped the AGNSW over the post-theft financial pressures that jeopardize operating costs and security systems in Boston and Rio.

The AGNSW and the Chácara do Céu, Gardner and Van Gogh Museum art theft experiences keynote the dual importance of insurance coverage and of security systems.

Art sleuth Smith listed among Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft vulnerabilities side entrances unprotected by a second door, unenclosed watch rooms and unsecured telephone lines. Burglar alarms, motion detectors and security cameras made no difference when mangled during the armed, daytime Chácara do Céu Museum art theft and Gardner third-shift experiences. They nurtured similar roadblocks when after-hours access nudged Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft suspects through a roof hole and out a window before police arrivals.

Alarms, cameras and detectors operate at a disadvantage when coverage occurs in some rooms and not others, as in the case of the AGNSW art theft.

Claude Monet's Marine (Portuguese: Marinha), 1880-1980 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

The 1970 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft suspect perplexed a guard with bagged, smashed light bulbs and pockets Rembrandt's postage stamp-sized self-portrait for several months. The 1989 Chácara do Céu Museum art theft qualified as an even shorter extraction with arrests in Praia de Botafogo and artwork recoveries within three weeks. Two American English-speaking 1991 Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft suspects removed 20 paintings recovered 36 minutes later from garment bags in an abandoned Volkswagen Passat.

The 2002 Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft recovery in Italy Sept. 25, 2016, and restoration for public Amsterdam viewings March 21, 2017, support happy endings. Van Gogh Museum Director Axel Rueger's words, "The children are safely returned now and they really are safe," tell Boston, Rio and Sydney to tweak hopefulness.

Pablo Picasso's Dance (Portuguese: A Dança), 1956 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rio de Janeiro's Museu da Chácara do Céu (Chacara do Céu Museum), site of Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, theft of four artworks: Ministério da Cultura do Brasil, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museu_da_Ch%C3%A1cara_do_C%C3%A9u_01.jpg

Salvador Dalí's Two Balconies (Portuguese: Os Dois Balcões), 1929 oil on wood stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Claude Monet's Marine (Portuguese: Marinha), 1880-1980 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Pablo Picasso's Dance (Portuguese: A Dança), 1956 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

For further information:

Amore, Anthony; and Vicki Oliveri. Stolen Cavalier: Dedicated to Recovering a Cavalier by Frans van Mieris through Crowd-Sourcing Information. Blog at WordPress.com.
Available @ https://stolencavalier.wordpress.com/

Canellos, Peter S. 19 March 1990. "Secret Collector's Passion or Ransom Seen as Motive." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/1990/03/19/secret-collector-passion-ransom-seen-motive/uexhMgL27LCo2pqcUXgzVL/story.html

Escritt, Thomas. 21 March 2017. "Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Back in Amsterdam After 14 Years." Reuters > Edition: United States > Life > Arts > Lifestyle.
Available @ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-vangogh-idUSKBN16S15J

Hill, Lisa. 6 February 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Announces Date for Return of Stolen Paintings to Amsterdam." Sutton > Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam.
Available @ http://suttonpr.com/assets/Press-release-Van-Gogh-Museum-announces-date-for-return-of-stolen-paintings-to-Amsterdam.pdf

Kurkjian, Stephen. 13 March 2005. "The Gardner Heist: Secrets behind the Largest Art Theft in History." The Boston Globe > Boston.com > News > Special Reports > Globe Special Reports. Available @ http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/gardner_heist/heist/

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 March 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Dead-ends to the Gardner 13." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_31.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Mashberg and Massachusetts." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/04/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 April 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Robert Wittman and Corsica." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/04/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 March 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Theft Return by Gardner Museum Art Theft Anniversary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/van-gogh-museum-theft-return-by-gardner.html

Montgomery, Paul L. 15 April 1991. "Lost and Found: Huge van Gogh Theft Fails." The New York Times > Arts > International Arts.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/arts/lost-and-found-huge-van-gogh-theft-fails.html

Skidmore, Thomas E. 1999. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change in Latin America. Latin American Histories series. New York NY: Oxford University Press.