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De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (other) *Lots of Thumbnail Images!* |
JenTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 16, 2006
Posts: 1817
From: An island in the bay
|  Posted: 2009-12-23 10:14 am Permalink
Most of the collection is safe! I've included the text of the article below, but click the link if you want the accompanying photos. Interesting that the articles states the estimated value of the collection is around $300 Million!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/23/MNED1B89F6.DTL
Deal gives de Young most of Oceanic art works
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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.
4,000-piece collection
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.
$10 million shortfall
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.
'Very, very pleased'
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.
E-mail John Cote at jcote@sfchronicle.com.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-12-24 07:39 am Permalink
Thank you for the update! Well that is two thirds, which is pretty good. But what about the rest of their original 4000 piece collection?  And how hard must you've been hit with the collector bug to put up part of your collection as collateral for bidding on more !??
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-05-12 09:30 am Permalink
Sotheby's will be auctioning off some incredible pieces of Oceanic art from the Friede collection at the end of this week:
I saw one "flute stopper" the was estimated between 1 and 1 and a 1/2 million bucks!
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christiki295
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3616
From: LA-2547 mls east Hawaii &5500 Easter Is
| Posted: 2011-06-14 11:52 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-09-24 08:07, Unga Bunga wrote:
Thanks for the pics.
This reminds me of some vintage mug. (peanut maybe?)
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Dominican Republic Tiki:
Mexican Mayan Tiki:
It comes together as this "South Pacific Room:"
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Jungle Trader
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 04, 2003
Posts: 3691
From: Trader's Jungle Outpost, Turlock, Ca.
| Posted: 2013-03-26 11:25 pm Permalink
I was there today. It's all still there. Another new display is 'Objects of Belief From The Vatican". Check it all out if you can. Good stuff.
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