My Word Christmas 2013

The holiday season and the end of the year is always a time for thanks and reflection. This has been the best year from a business perspective since we opened for business in November of 1974. We now have two interns which you will meet in this Newsletter. It seems strange to even say that this summer we finished shooting season 18 of Antiques Roadshow and have plans to shoot many more. The gallery is also expanding into the auction business, so with all that we do in appraisals and authentications it looks like 2014 will be an exciting year.

The holiday season started this past week with family visits and an ice storm which was the worst in fifteen years  that literally shut down Dallas with over 250,000 homes losing power. We lost power twice and were camping out a bit dealing with temperatures in the low twenties and chill factors under 10. Ice was and still is everywhere. For you northerners that are challenging our collective manhood, try it all with not one sand truck anywhere in sight. These folks here don't do snow and ice. And this is early in our very short winter.

In this final Christmas issue of the Newsletter I have purposely avoided many of the topics we have covered in the blog. Because of  ongoing events we have updates here of both the Detroit bankruptcy
 and the Hopi mask sale in Paris.

Eve Auction House Owner Alain Leroy Interviewed on Hopi Sale in Paris

Owner: Katsinam 'Not Entitled to Specific Rights'

Dominique Godreche

12/9/13

Today, an auction of American Indian art is occurring in Paris that will once again prove controversial -- as with a similar sale earlier this year, attempts to stop or delay the event have failed, and items sacred to the Hopi and other tribes will be sold to the highest bidders. This time, it's the auction house EVE that will be handling the sale.
A year ago, Eve's owner, discussing an auction called "From Yukon to Rio Grande," spoke with an ICTMN correspondent. “The French market views Native art in a different way than the American,” said Alain Leroy. “The French consider anthropological issues as secondary. The most important is the visual, aesthetic shock, from Yukon, to Rio Grande”.
“In Paris, any collector experiencing an esthetic emotion, and a direct contact with an item, will buy it,” he added. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s Maori or Hopi.… And when you have the chance, you have to pick it up!”
An interesting interview with the Eve Auction House prior to the sale..


PARIS - ICTMN "The second auction of katsinam takes place on Monday, December 9, at 2pm -- in

other words, now -- at Salle Drouot, in Paris. Many of the pieces scheduled to go on the block were expected to sell in the range of 3,000 to 15,000 euros; higher-ticket items include "Jemez" (expected price: 15,000 to 20,000 euros), "Angwushshay" (expected price: 60,000 to 80,000 euros) and a group of four katsinam, “Pueblo Andamamae” (expected price: 60,000 to 80,000 euros). At a December 3 hearing, Survival International lawyer Pierre Servan Schreiber, argued against the sale, but his efforts failed to convince the French judge.
Prior to the current auction, Leroy took a few moments to speak with ICTMN, to describe his position on this sale and, more generally, on the sales of sacred items on the contemporary art market.
Maître Leroy, what is your perception of this new auction?
This auction is very similar to the last one ["From Yukon to Rio Grande"], with the same topic, related to the Southwest of the United States, with some more ancient pieces this time for that section, as well as Plains Indians objects, and pre Colombian art. Only twenty-five pieces were requested to be taken away from the auction this time.
How do you see the evolution of that market?
This area of the market attracts a growing audience; that is why we will continue the auctions. Today we have pieces from the Southwest, the Plains, the Eskimo, and all of the United States.
You declared, on television, that France being a secular country, there was no issue related to the religious, or “sacred” aspects of the objects, as these types of pieces have always been on the market. Furthermore, France respects Buddhism, Judaism, or any other religion, and those objects are no different -- thus, the request of Survival international was not valid?
That is what the judge said; cult, or “sacred” objects, are not excluded from the sales, because the state is secular, and does not privilege one religion over another. So those objects are not entitled to specific rights.
And it is a world position, as long as a state does not have a single state religion.
The United States respects all religions, but sacred objects are not prohibited from the sales there; the law says that they can be possessed by private owners, and can circulate on the market. It is in the Fifth Amendment. Sacred objects can be owned privately.
So your understanding is that there is no valid reason to accommodate Survival International’s request?
Well, I am not saying that, it is the judge who says so, referring to the law; she felt that it applied. Those objects are allowed to be sold in the United States. And in the first place, it would be appropriate to define how those pieces came out from their original locations.
Would not the bottom line of the debate be a fundamental conflict between the perception of the “sacred” among spiritual, or traditional societies, and the secular ones?
Well, yes, each person sees a religious object like he wishes to, according to his religion.
You mean that the katsina are looked at like any religious objects, in any religious institution, like for example, objects belonging to the Judeo Christian religion?
Yes: they are religious. What other meaning would there be? Each religion is the foundation of a people -- this is the principle of religions.
So your opinion is that this is just another kind of art, and with those pieces being part of an art trend, the present request is not legitimate, as it not part of modernity, and just restricted to a historical approach, a strict reference to history?
Certainly: Native American religions have followed an evolution. Like any other religion.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/12/09/paris-auction-house-owner-katsinam-not-entitled-specific-rights-152623

Hopi Auction - A French prespective

Unfortunately, this article reveals more bias than facts. Although Wikipedia is not my usual go to source for research information, they do a far better job than the French press. NAGPRA is complicated and as Wikipedia notes also not easy to interpret.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Graves_Protection_and_Repatriation_Act

LONDON (Agence France-Presse ).- Activists vowed Thursday to block the proposed sale of sacred objects originating from Arizona's Hopi tribe at a Paris auction, just months after a similar controversy stoked outrage.

Tribal people's advocacy group Survival International said it would go to court in the French capital on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the sale of around 25 objects, known as katsinam, revered by the Hopi tribe.

The looming court battle is a replay of the legal saga that erupted in April when French firm Neret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou ignored internationals appeals to halt the sale of some 70 katsinam that eventually fetched around 930,000 euros ($1.3 million).

The latest sale is being conducted over two days by Alain Leroy of auctioneers EVE on December 9 and 11, despite please from the Hopi's religious authorities not to go ahead.

"It's a matter of enormous regret that another auction house seems prepared to defy public opinion and the feelings of the Hopi, who are these objects' rightful owners," Survival International director Stephen Corry said in a statement.

"The previous auction generated such a torrent of unwelcome publicity for the auctioneers that you might have thought anyone would think twice before doing the same thing again -- but clearly the large sums of money to be made from this immoral trade are too tempting.

"I hope the Paris courts will this time block the sale -- none of these objects should be sold."

Lawyer Pierre Servan-Schreiber, who led an unsuccessful bid to halt the previous sale in April, will head London-based Survival and the Hopi's latest courtroom battle.

Servan-Schreiber bought one of the katsinam sold at the April auction and later returned it to the Hopi.

The last auction was decried by activists, including Hollywood legend Robert Redford, who described it as a "criminal gesture" and "sacrilege."

The sale involved dozens of striking, brightly colored mask-like kachina visages and headdresses that the 18,000-strong Hopi say are blessed with divine spirits.

The challenge for the Hopi is that while the sale of sacred Indian artifacts has been outlawed in the United States since 1990 -- legislation that has allowed the tribe to recover items held by American museums in the past -- the law does not extend to sales overseas "

As noted above a bit misleading. .

NAGPRA defines Cultural Patrimony: "An object having ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an individual Native American, and which, therefore, cannot be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual regardless of whether or not the individual is a member of the Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and such object shall have been considered inalienable by such Native American group at the time the object was separated from such group. [25 USC 3001 (3)(D)]"

If the Hopi were to approach this in French court the way they would be required under NAGPRA in US court, they might have had more success in the first case and might have more success in the second. The central issue here is ownership.. whether it be by an individual or a group (clan). The truly fascinating question here is why aren't the Hopi pursuing this argument?.

Eve Paris Auction of Hopi Masks Goes Forward

This Reuters article is factually inaccurate on many levels; however, the point is that sale was not stopped. A little Google research might have helped the writer. We will have all the results when they are posted.

"Paris December 9, 2013. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann)
French auctioneers sold a trove of Hopi Native American artifacts on Monday over the objections of the Arizona tribe, which considers them sacred, and a last-minute appeal from the United States.
The sale of about three dozen masks dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries followed a judge’s dismissal of a legal challenge last week brought on behalf of the tribe to cancel the sale by the Eve auction house in Paris.
To the Hopi, who still live on the high desert of the Colorado Plateau in northeastern Arizona, the masks are sacred, representing messengers to the gods and the spirits of ancestors and natural forces, whether plants, animals or the sun.
“At some point this has got to stop,” Pierre Servan-Schreiber, a lawyer for the Hopi, told Reuters, referring to the auction of the masks, the second this year in Paris.
“After having massacred them two centuries ago, after having put them in reservations one century ago, you now deprive them of what is at the heart of their culture,” he said.
The masks, made of animal skins, fabric and other natural materials and adorned with feathers, horns and hair, are worn by dancers during religious ceremonies to mark the seasons. With slits for eyes, the masks are painted in shades of blue, red ochre, black and green.
One of the most impressive is a turquoise blue “Crow Mother” mask flanked by two crow-feather wings, dating from about 1860-70. In the auction catalogue, the mask was described as “one of the biggest masterpieces of tribal art”.  It sold for 100,000 euros ($136,800), above an original estimate of 60,000-80,000.
A black and red mask from 1910 decorated with the imprint of a hand sold for 29,000 euros, well above an estimate of 8,000-12,000 euros.
Over 20 sacred effigies, called Kachina dolls, from the Hopi and the neighboring Zuni tribe of New Mexico were also included in the sale, as well as items from Arizona’s San Carlos Apache tribe.
The U.S. Embassy in Paris sent a letter to Eve auctioneers on Saturday asking them to postpone the sale so that the tribes would have the time to study the provenance of the objects. At issue is whether the Hopi would be able to recover the artifacts under a 1970 UNESCO convention, which forbids the illegal sale of cultural property.
American actor Robert Redford supported the Hopi cause in April when 70 such masks were sold in Paris by the Neret-Minet & Tessier Sarrou auctioneers for 930,000 euros.

Hopis Sue Again in Paris to Stop the Sale of Masks

In a few days the Hopis will know if they win or lose round two in a French court seeking to stop the sale of their religious masks. We have not seen the court documents but it appears that the arguments are the same as those used in the first case. It would seem that if they could prove that a particular object was owned by a clan rather than an individual their arguments would be stronger.

PARIS (AP) — The Native American Hopi tribe took a Paris auction house to court Tuesday to try to block the upcoming sale of 32 sacred tribal masks, arguing they are "bitterly opposed" to the use as merchandise of sacred objects that represent their ancestral spirits.
The Katsinam masks are scheduled for sale at the Drouot auction house on Dec. 9 and 11, alongside an altar from the Zuni tribe that used to belong to late Hollywood star Vincent Price, and other Native American frescoes and dolls.
Advocates for the Hopis argue that selling the sacred Katsinam masks as commercial art is illegal because the masks are like tombs and represent their ancestors' spirits. The tribe nurtures and feed the masks as if they are the living dead. The objects are surreal faces made from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers and painted in vivid pigments of red, blue, yellow and orange.
In April, a Paris court ruled that such sales are legal in France, and Drouot sold off around 70 Hopi masks despite vocal protests and criticism from actor Robert Redford and the U.S. government. The U.S., unlike France, possesses laws which robustly protect indigenous peoples.
Tribal lawyers filed a new lawsuit over the new sale, and a Paris court held a hearing in the case Tuesday. The judge will issue a verdict Friday, three days before the first sale.
The Hopis' French lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, remains optimistic that this time the judge will rule in their favor. His argument highlights an existing French law which prevents the sale of tombs, and gives these objects a special, protected status.
"The Hopis are saying that not everything can be sold and bought. The day that there are no more Katsinam masks, the Hopi tribe will exist no more," Servan-Schreiber argued in court.
"It's a cause worth fighting for. And like all good causes, you need to keep fighting. The Hopis
have been massacred, slaughtered, pillaged and for years deprived of what was theirs, and at some point this has to change," Servan-Schreiber said.
The tribe has said it believes the masks, which date back to the late 19th and early 20th century, were taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the early 20th century. Curiosity about one of the oldest indigenous tribes whose territory is now surrounded by the U.S. state first led collectors and researchers there.