Authorities in FL Seize Painting from The Mary Brogan Museum of Art @TheBrogan

A 16th century painting on loan to a Florida museum was seized Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because it is suspected of having been looted during World War II. The Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, had loaned Girolamo Romano’s 1538 painting, “Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue,” to the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee in March as part of an exhibition of Baroque painting.

Once on display, descendants of a former owner, Giuseppe Gentili, identified the painting as one that had been looted by the collaborationist Vichy government in France and illegally sold at auction in 1941, after the Gentili family had been forced to flee the Nazis. The Pinacoteca acquired the painting in 1998.

The Gentili family and Italian officials have been negotiating over the status of the painting, which the Brogan kept for safekeeping after the rest of the Baroque exhibit closed in September. Chucha Barber, the Brogan’s chief executive, said the museum’s contract with the Pinacoteca had been extended to November 6th during the negotiations. But Ms. Barber said the family told her the negotiations had broken down.

On Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, Pamela Marsh, filed a seizure complaint and supporting affidavit in court.

“Agents from homeland security surrounded the building this morning,” as the painting was loaded into a white vehicle and taken to an undisclosed location, Ms. Barber said.

In a statement, Ms. Marsh said that federal law prevents the painting from being returned until the ownership disputes are resolved: “Our interest is strictly to follow the law and safeguard this work until the courts determine rightful ownership.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that a French court of Appeals in 1999 forced the Louvre Museum to return five paintings that had been owned by Gentili to the family after they had been sold at auction.
John Morton, director of customs and enforcement said; “It’s never too late to right a wrong.”

via artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

Interesting story...

Getting In On the Act - James Irvine Foundation Blog

Below is a blog entry about a new study commissioned by the James Irvine Foundation that shows that museum visitors  have a strong desire to engage in interactive activity.  The old model of wandering the halls passively looking at objects doesn't work for people who are addicted to touch screens, tweeting and all forms of spontenous social media. 

 

Here is the link to the fascinating blog.

The  report  by the James Irvine Foundation charts three levels of desired interaction:

In 'crowd sourcing,' museums provide some essential input or selection for the creative process (photos, paintings, voting, and so on).

 In 'co-creation,' participants contribute in a meaningful way toward an artistic effort by a professional artist or team (participatory theater, storytelling, and such).

 In 'audience-as-artist,' participants actually create and direct the outcome themselves.

Our new Creativity Center will be an opportunity for the Bass Museum to experiment with creating those new active experiences.  This space, which used to be  the museum's  gift shop, will be officially inaugurated in January of 2012,

Here  the museum's education department will have the opportunity to  create wonderful hands-on activities, such as inviting visitors to to explore our permanent collection online and create their own collection or a virtual exhibit.   This space already hosts the weekly Adult Art Club, which includes hands-on art classes taught by local artists, as well as workshops for school teachers and families who want to make art with their kids.   

 In the future, any visitor to the Bass Museum of Art will be able to walk into theCreativity Center at any time of the day   and choose from  a variety of project kits. Adults and kids will be invited to sit down and   paint, draw or  construct things that are inspired by our art collection and rotating exhibits.

The source of the text below is:

"Arts organizations and arts funders have long been discussing the rise of a more 'participatory' interest among arts audiences. Beyond 'butts in seats,' this emerging interest suggests that audiences increasingly engage in expressive activity throughout their lives (online, at home, among friends), and they value a similar engagement in other cultural consumption. The James Irvine Foundation has just released a new report that seeks to define and document this part of the arts universe.

Getting In On the Act: How Arts Groups are Creating Opportunities for Active Participation is essentially a field guide to participatory arts practices -- offering definitions to help you recognize the genus, and then specific examples to identify the species. It's a very handy guide for those who know they want to increase or enhance the participatory elements of their creative work, but need clarity and strategy (and examples) to do so.

The underlying model suggests that people can engage with artistic activity in many different ways. One way of slicing those experiences is by the relative control arts participants have over the art or the experience itself. Beyond the more traditional 'receptive' roles of Western cultural experience (spectating quietly, or spectating alongside some enhancement effort like a talkback or prep session), the report offers three levels of participatory practice, defined by how much the participants influence the outcome of the work.


In 'crowd sourcing,' participants provide some essential input or selection for the creative process (photos, paintings, voting, and so on). In 'co-creation,' participants contribute in a meaningful way toward an artistic effort by a professional artist or team (participatory theater, storytelling, and such). In 'audience-as-artist,' participants actually create and direct the outcome themselves.

The report is careful to state that participatory practice isn't the 'new normal,' and that even traditional forms of audience participation have active components. But for artists, arts organizations, and cultural communities seeking new ways to connect their friends and neighbors to creative endeavor, this report offers a useful map."