Sotheby's Oceanic and African Art Sale Earns $8.4 Million

Sotheby’s concluded its June sales of Oceanic and African art in Paris on Wednesday, achieving a total of $8,448,741.

Of the 82 lots on offer, 12 works from the collection of Marsha and John Friede spurred a fierce bidding competition, with many pieces exceeding their estimates. The highest-earning work in the sale was an early-19th-century Hembigurea ancestor figure from the Congo, which fetched $1,042,109 above the high estimate of $619,150. This June marks the 50th anniversary of the Congo's independence.

Other top lots included a 42-inch carved female figure by a craftsman of the Inyai-Ewa People, which earned $685,133; the work had previously been in the collection of Douglas Newton, a former curator, who built The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Another crouching female figure that had been included in the first show of Oceanic art in the U.S., at Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1934, was sold for $476,897, a price that more than doubled the high estimate.

Oceanic art has inspired numerous modern masters such as Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti, and Pablo Picasso. The sales in New York last month and Paris on Wednesday showed a continued global interest in collecting this category as they achieved strong prices far exceeding the estimates.

Source: artinfo.com
By: Louise Chen

Deal gives de Young most of Oceanic art works

By John Cote - San Francisco Chronicle

Most of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum's cornerstone collection of Oceanic art will stay put under a deal that San Francisco officials have struck to resolve an inheritance dispute that threatened to have the collection dismantled.

The tentative settlement, confirmed Tuesday by attorneys involved, will give the de Young clear title to 274 of 398 pieces of Papua New Guinea artwork housed at the city-owned museum - a compilation that nation's ambassador to the United States hailed as an "unparalleled and extensive collection of masterpieces."

The fate of the remaining 124 pieces at the de Young Museum, dozens of them on loan from Sotheby's, is still unresolved and could result in some of the pieces being sold to satisfy a roughly $20 million debt to the auction house.

New York philanthropists John and Marcia Friede collected 4,000 or more pieces of New Guinea tribal art over four decades and promised the prized works to the de Young Museum in a series of agreements dating to 2003.

The de Young Museum specifically designed an 8,000-square-foot gallery named for the couple to house the collection when it rebuilt its Golden Gate Park home.

The artwork, named the Jolika Collection after the first letters in the Friedes' three children's names, was to be transferred over a period of years.

But the couple also used the works to secure loans from Sotheby's to acquire more pieces and, at the insistence of John Friede's brothers, put the collection up as collateral in an inheritance dispute following the 2005 death of John Friede's mother, Evelyn A.J. Hall, sister of publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg.

The result was a series of legal battles in California, New York and Florida.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera went to court in September 2008 to try to prevent John Friede's two brothers from seizing the collection and selling parts of it to raise up to $20 million after a Florida judge ruled that Friede had violated the terms of a legal settlement involving their mother's estate.

In that case, John Friede had agreed to pay his brothers $30 million and put up the Jolika Collection as collateral, despite already having pledged it to the de Young. He values the entire collection at about $300 million.

John Friede had paid his brothers more than $22 million of the $30 million, but legal fees and interest made the shortfall around $10 million, court documents show.

In April, the city agreed to sell 76 works not at the museum to help pay the Friedes' debts. Only some have been sold.

Under the settlement, the balance John Friede owes his brothers will be set at $5.65 million and will be paid from three sources: John Friede's one-third share of the Pierre Bonnard painting "Le dejeuner" that he owns with his brothers; a portion of a $3.7 million payment from his mother's estate that was to go the de Young to pay for upkeep, promotion and study of the Jolika Collection; and proceeds held in escrow from the sale of some of the works not housed at the museum, lawyers involved in the case said.

The brothers, Thomas Jaffe and Robert Friede, agree to give the de Young clear ownership of 168 works at the museum, on top of the 106 collection pieces the de Young indisputably owns.

"We've achieved a great result in protecting the museum's works from the brothers' claims," Deputy City Attorney Don Margolis said. "Everyone compromised to some extent."

Rosemary Halligan, an attorney for Friede's half-brother, Thomas Jaffe, noted that the agreement is tentative.

"We're not there yet, but we're hopeful that we'll get there," Halligan said.

The Board of Trustees for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which oversees the de Young, signed off on the proposal Dec. 10.

John Friede said it is premature to comment before the settlement is finalized, but added that he is "very, very pleased with the progress."

Also unclear is what will happen to about 3,500 pieces at the Friedes' Rye, N.Y., home, which the couple has planned to gradually turn over to the de Young. Some could be sold to resolve the Sotheby's case in New York.

"We believe it's still (the Friedes') desire to bequeath these works to the museum," Margolis said.

Update on Tribal Art at De Young Museum

The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported on the John Friede collection at the De Yound Museum in San Francisco. This is a major victory for the city of SF and the De Young Museum. The articles notes:

In a victory for the city-owned museum, Judge A. James Robertson II kept in place a temporary order preventing works from the collection from being seized or sold off to pay part of a $30 million debt that de Young trustee John Friede owes his brothers to settle the division of their mother's estate.

"What this means is the art remains safe for public access," said Deputy City Attorney Don Margolis, who is representing the de Young. "The court is maintaining the status quo so that there can be an orderly determination of the competing claims."

Friede and his wife, Marcia, have pledged almost their entire collection to the de Young, including about 400 pieces already at the museum and thousands more at the couple's home in Rye, N.Y. But Friede also put up the artwork as collateral to settle the dispute with his brothers over the estate of their mother, Evelyn A.J. Hall, who died in 2005 and was the sister of publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg. - John Coté

You can read more at the SF Chronicle website: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/23/BA5H18TT46.DTL#ixzz0MmHVOENh

DE YOUNG AGREES TO SELL WORKS FROM FRIEDE COLLECTION

By John Cote - San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco has agreed to sell 76 pieces of tribal art pledged to the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in a bid to resolve an inheritance dispute that threatens the city-owned museum's cornerstone collection of Oceanic art.

But as the city is trying to help settle part of that inheritance fight among Annenberg family heirs, it also is battling one of the family members in court over a promised $3.7 million donation - money that is supposed to help sustain and promote a collection considered to be one of the world's finest compilations of Papua New Guinea art.

That nation's ambassador to the United States has hailed the compilation of items as an "unparalleled and extensive collection of masterpieces," one that the de Young Museum specifically designed an 8,000-square-foot wing for when it rebuilt its Golden Gate Park home.

The 4,000 or more pieces were compiled by New York philanthropists John and Marcia Friede over four decades and promised to the de Young Museum for public showcase in a series of agreements dating back to 2003. But the art has since been at the center of legal battles in California, New York and Florida, involving the estate of John Friede's mother, Evelyn A.J. Hall. Hall, who died in 2005, was the sister of publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg.

The latest legal twist came Tuesday when City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a court challenge that accuses John Friede's half brother of "malice and a desire to destroy the relationship between the Friedes and the museum" by opposing a $3.7 million payment to the de Young from Hall's estate. Herrera contends the half brother, Thomas Jaffe, has intentionally harmed the museum and public by trying to block the payment, which was promised by the Friede family for the upkeep, promotion and study of the collection.

The artwork, named the Jolika Collection after the first letters in the Friedes' three children's names, was to be transferred over a period of years. While more than 400 pieces are on display at the museum, the vast majority of it remains at the Friedes' home overlooking Long Island Sound in Rye, N.Y.

None of the 76 items to be sold is on display at the museum, and they are pieces that are either redundant or less significant than others in the collection, museum and city officials said.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we're wiling to swallow it," Deputy City Attorney Don Margolis said. "The city's overarching goal is to make sure (the collection) is available to the public."

Debt to brothers

John Friede's two brothers contend they have the right to seize the collection and sell up to $20 million worth of its art after a Florida judge ruled that Friede had violated the terms of a legal settlement involving their mother's estate.

In that case, Friede agreed to pay his brothers $30 million and put the Jolika Collection up as collateral, despite having pledged it to the de Young in a deal finalized a week earlier. Friede values the entire collection at about $300 million.

He so far has paid his brothers more than $22 million of the $30 million, but legal fees and interest make the shortfall around $10 million, court documents show.

In order to preserve the art collection for the city, museum officials and Friede agreed in March to auction off 76 items like masks, headrests and mortars. They expect to raise about $3.5 million, according to court documents.

John Buchanan, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which includes the de Young, said the sale of those 76 items would have "minimum impact" on the overall collection.

Friede's half brother opposes the sale. In a letter to Margolis, Jaffe's attorney, Jonathan Bell, said the auction proposal contained unrealistic estimates, didn't include valuable enough items and didn't give Jaffe input into what should be sold. Jaffe is also a collector of Oceanic art, albeit a less prolific one, and John Friede has blamed the dispute in part on sibling rivalry.

"The basic interests of Tom - in having a few, high-quality, high-value pieces sold off to cover the shortfall - and of the museum - in keeping the 'good stuff' and seeing the less desirable pieces sold off - have always been in some conflict," Bell wrote.

Jaffe has also opposed the sale of a painting the brothers jointly own to cover the debt, even though "Le Dejeuner" by Pierre Bonnard has been valued at up to $10 million, court records show.

Family laundry

Even brother Robert Friede, who has regularly sided with Jaffe in the dispute, questioned Jaffe's opposition to those sales. In Florida court documents filed last week to compel the sale of the Bonnard painting, Robert Friede's attorney wrote that "Tom is, in essence, objecting to the very relief he previously sought and successfully obtained from this court."

Margolis called Jaffe's position "kind of perverse."

"Why are you frustrating efforts to get your debt paid?" Margolis said.

Bell refused to comment on specifics about the proposed sales, saying to do so could compromise settlement talks.

"Tom's interest is in getting all of the money he is owed paid to him on time," Bell said. "This is purely a business matter, purely a business matter. Any suggestions to the contrary are completely inaccurate."

Jaffe also opposes the disbursement of a separate $3.7 million payment from their mother's charitable foundation to the de Young to sustain and promote the collection, saying John Friede hasn't lived up to his obligations. The funds are being held by the trustee, JPMorgan.

The city maintains the payment of those funds is not tied to John Friede at this point, and is seeking court permission to sue over them.

"This just happens to be one of the most unique collections in the world," Herrera said. "We're lucky to have it, and we'll do everything we need to protect its integrity."

The players

John Friede: The eldest of three sons of Evelyn A.J. Hall. He and wife Marcia pledged the Jolika Collection to the de Young Museum over a period of years, then put it up as collateral on a $30 million payment to his brothers to settle an inheritance dispute.

Robert Friede: John Friede's brother. He initially sided with their half brother, Thomas Jaffe, in the inheritance dispute. Was owed $10 million by John Friede, now partially paid.

Thomas Jaffe: Half brother to John and Robert Friede. Was owed $20 million by John Friede in inheritance case, now partially paid. Has aggressively sought payment through legal action. A less renowned Oceanic art collector than John Friede.

Daniel Rootenberg

www.JacarandaTribal.com

2008 San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show

On Monday I returned to New York after a four day trip to San Francisco. The purpose of the trip was to attend the 2008 Tribal and Textile Arts Show.

The Gala Preview opening night of the show was well attended. Before the show, there was a certain amount of trepidation among the 108 dealers in attendance about the economy and the potential impact on the show. The fears generally turned out to be unfounded and most dealers reported doing respectable to good business.

As far as southeast African art, there was a fair amount of material to be seen. Patrick and Ondine Mestdagh had a number of good pieces including a large Swazi shield (pictured above) and a rhino horn club ex Bonhams (both sold). Tribal Gathering had a number of fine east African objects. Ben Hunter of Tribal Hunter had some Tsonga neckrests and Jean-Baptiste Bacquart of London had a fine old Shona/Tsonga neckrest. Clive Loveless (pictured top), as usual, had one of the most aesthetically pleasing booths with some very fine material from Rwanda and Uganda.


I also attended an event at the de Young Museum for dealers and lenders of Tribal art. John Friede gave a few remarks and then led an trip upstairs to discuss some of his pieces in the permanent collection. The museum is always a treat - lots of new pieces were on display including a great Lulua figure and a powerful and exceptionally rare Nukuoro figure loaned by Ed and Mina Smith.

All in all, it was a great trip and I look forward to returning next year.

Daniel
JacarandaTribal.com