Art Daily has an interview with Art Recovery Group’s founder Christopher Marinello, whose work investigating claims of Nazi-looted art and stolen works has made him a trusted authority on reclaiming lost art.  “This is one of our specialities,” Marinello says of his recent case returning a stolen Rodin to a Los Angeles family. “Getting in the middle of a case and finding a way to twist everybody’s arm to settle the case.”  (more…)

An Auguste Rodin sculpture stolen 24 years ago has been recovered after it was offered for sale to Christie’s, and returned to the owner. “In accordance with the insurance policy to which this work was subject, Young Woman with Serpent was offered back to the theft victim upon its successful recovery,”says Spokesman Jerome Hasler of Art Recovery Group, the company that assisted in the recovery of the piece.  “In this instance, however, the victim has decided that the work should be sold, and it will now be consigned later this year for a new owner to enjoy.” (more…)

La Coiffeuse, a 1911 Pablo Picasso painting stolen from a Centre Pompidou storage room in 2001, has been recovered, after customs officials at the Port of Newark found it in a package marked with the words Merry Christmas.  “A lost treasure has been found,” said US Attorney Loretta Lynch.  “Because of the blatant smuggling in this case the painting is subject to forfeiture to the United States. Forfeiture of the painting will extract it from the grasp of the black market in stolen art so it can be returned to its rightful owner.” (more…)

Nine works valued at $10 million, and stolen less than a decade ago have been recovered in Los Angeles, the LA Times reports.  The works, stolen from an Encino home in 2008, included Marc Chagall’s Les Paysans, and Diego Rivera’s Mexican Peasant.  Federal authorities arrested Raul Espinoza in connection with the theft.  (more…)

An Henri Matisse painting stolen 10 years ago from a Venezuelan museum has been returned to its home in Caracas.  Odalisque in Red Trousers was recovered in Miami Beach in 2012 after a couple tried to sell it to undercover FBI agents for $740,000. (more…)

Rockaway! Festival, photo via Art Observed

The art world decamped to the Far Rockaways this weekend, as MoMA PS1 initiated its new public arts festival at the increasingly popular Queens beachfront.  Sponsored by the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) to celebrate the reopening of Fort Tilden, as well as to benefit the ongoing recovery of the area following the immense damages wreaked by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the event included exhibitions, performances and an after-party at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club.

James Franco Reads Walt Whitman during Rockaway! Festival, via Art Observed (more…)

A pair of paintings by Gaugin and Bonnard, stolen from a London collector in 1970, have resurfaced in the home of an Italian autoworker, the Guardian reports.  The pieces were purchased at auction in 1975 for a sum of 45,000 lira (€39 or £32, equal to £300 today), and sat in the kitchen of his home for many years, before the owner’s son noticed a similarity between the works and other Impressionist masterpieces.  “The worker, it seems clear, didn’t know what they were,” says Mariano Mossa, commander of the Italian heritage police. (more…)

The global recovery rate for stolen art has been placed at a strikingly low 1.5%, The Art Newspaper reports.  Partially caused by the low priority given to such crimes by most police forces, the field is generally led by private companies, which charge a high percentage of the work’s value for recovery, leaving many dreaming of a better system.  “There is a certain need for an international database,” says Mark Dalrymple, a loss adjuster at London’s Tyler and Co. (more…)

Street artist Swoon is currently working on a new piece at the corner of Houston and Bowery in downtown New York,part of the Groundswell Community Mural Project.  Taking on the themes of destruction and renewal brought last year by Hurricane Sandy, the piece looks to feautre several swells of populist imagery, centered by a ghostly female figure.   (more…)

A 1975 drawing by Joan Miró has been discovered in the offices of a Spanish art handling company.  The work disappeared in 2010, following an exhibition at the Kursaal Arts Centre in San Sebastián, but was not noticed missing until 2011.  An investigation into the disappearance of the work is underway. (more…)

The New York Times profiles the tactics and approaches of the Art Loss Register, an independent investigation agency that specializes in locating and returning stolen or lost works of art around the world.  Accused of occasionally crossing ethical and legal lines, the agency has nevertheless maintained a reputation for its top-notch database and effectiveness. “When you’re doing a sting operation, for example,” Says company owner Julian Radcliffe, “you don’t say, ‘By the way, I’m lying to you.’ ” (more…)

Longstanding New York arts institution The Kitchen is still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy last November.  While the space was able to reopen by the end of November, the organization is still scrambling to cover the losses suffered during the storm, including damages to speakers, lighting fixtures, electronics, and the theatre stage.    (more…)