VIENNA | Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:51pm EST

VIENNA (Reuters) - Romani artist Ceija Stojka, whose work helped expose the Nazis' persecution of the Romani people, died in a Vienna hospital on Monday aged 79, her publisher told the Austria Press Agency on Tuesday.

Holocaust survivor Stojka wrote one of the first Romani autobiographical accounts of Nazi persecution, the 1988 book "We Live in Seclusion: The Memories of a Romani", and dedicated decades to telling her people's story through music and art.

The Romani people, like the Jews, were sent to concentration camps by Germany's Nazis during the Second World War. Up to 1.5 million were murdered in an attempted genocide.

Austrian-born Stojka survived internment in the Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Ravensbrueck concentration camps, along with just five other members of her 200-strong family.

"I reached for the pen because I had to open myself, to scream," the activist said at an exhibition in Vienna's Jewish Museum in 2004.

The Budapest-based European Roma Cultural Foundation on Tuesday described Stojka as an "outstanding Austrian Romani woman ... and a key figure for the history, art and literature of Romani culture in Europe".

The foundation's executive director, Timea Junghaus, wrote in an email to Reuters: "She was a role model for the present generation and an inspiration for the future generations of Roma in Europe."

Stojka began painting at the age of 56, often using her fingers or toothpicks instead of brushes to apply acrylic paint and ink.

Her works, many of which are recreations of her experiences in the concentrations camps, have been described as "eerie" and "childlike" by viewers of her exhibitions around the world.

Romani people are still subject to forced assimilation or segregation, cultural repression, eviction and other forms of discrimination in many countries, especially in Europe.

The European Union estimates there are between 10 and 12 million Romani people in Europe, making them the continent's largest ethnic minority, although populations are hard to count, since many choose not to register their ethnic identity.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Louise Ireland)

View the original article here

1 of 5. Giant Panda cub Xiao Liwi is shown for the first time on public display after the section of the exhibit frequented by the five-month old bear was opened to the public at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California, January 10, 2013. The bear was born on July 29, 2012 from mother Bai Yun.

SAN DIEGO | Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:14pm EST

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Xiao Liwu, the newest surviving giant panda born in captivity in the United States, made his public debut on Thursday at the San Diego Zoo by shunning the media but shining for the public.

During an hour-long, pre-opening introduction to the media and zoo volunteers, the 6-month-old, 16-pound male cub rolled in mud and hay, ignoring visitors, then climbed into a moat at the edge of the enclosure and fell asleep on his face.

He woke up once the public arrived and poured on the charm, climbing a tree and posing for photos.

Giant pandas are endangered, and experts estimate there are fewer than 1,600 in the wild, all in the mountain forests of central China.

Xiao Liwu (pronounced zhai lee-woo), which means little gift, was born on July 29 to Bai Yun, the zoo's 21-year-old, 223-pound adult female panda. He is her sixth cub, one of five with mate Gao Gao. Her first cub resulted from artificial insemination.

"He's shy and very loving," said Kay Ferguson, the zoo's panda narrator. "He's inquisitive and he likes to play with balls. He's very different from Bai Yun's other five cubs."

Despite stormy weather and cool temperatures, hundreds of panda fans lined up for the two-hour viewing. Previous glimpses of the cub and its mother were restricted to observations through the zoo's PandaCam.

Bai Yun is one of only two captive pandas worldwide to give birth at age 20, relatively old for pandas. Fewer than a dozen pandas have been born at U.S. zoos, including a female cub that died at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in September, making Bai Yun the most prolific breeder in captivity outside China.

Bai Yun mostly ignored the baby during the public display. She chomped on bamboo, taking a break only to get a drink of water while the cub played in a nearby tree.

"With the first cub or two, she was very attentive, but the last, she doesn't worry about them at all," said Vivian Kiss, a panda fan. "You just want to pick him up and hold him."

The cub, roughly the size of a stick of butter when first born, is still nursing and does not yet eat solid food, Ferguson said. "She'll nurse him until he's 18 months old, until she gets so grouchy she kicks him out," Ferguson said.

(Reporting by Marty Graham; Editing by Steve Gorman)

View the original article here

1 of 6. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple walks in a snow-covered cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem January 10, 2013.

JERUSALEM | Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:35am EST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The worst snowstorm in 20 years shut public transport, roads and schools in Jerusalem on Thursday and along the northern Israeli region bordering on Lebanon.

Elisha Peleg, an official in charge of emergencies with Israel's municipality for Jerusalem, urged the city's residents to remain at home and stay off the streets, telling Israel Army Radio the area had overnight seen its greatest snowfall since 1992.

He said 10 to 15 centimeters (4 to 6 inches) of snow had piled up in the city centre and more than that in outlying areas. "The downtown area is bathed in white," Peleg said.

"The elders of Jerusalem don't remember such a snowstorm in years," Peleg also said.

Public transport had ground to a halt, and many vehicles that ventured onto roads were stuck, he added, urging citizens to remain at home.

"Make it a family day. In the afternoon, the temperatures are supposed to rise and you will be able to head out for some shopping," Peleg added.

Israel Radio said a highway linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv was blocked, and that much of the northern Galilee region was paralyzed by snow, with 30 cm (12 inches) said to have accumulated in the city of Safed.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Eric Walsh)

View the original article here

LONDON | Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:48am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - London's theatres earned 530 million pounds ($830 million) in 2012, a marginal rise on 2011, and although the Olympic Games had a noticeable impact on the West End during the summer it was not the "bloodbath" one leading producer had predicted.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) showed 2012 gross ticket sales at 52 major theatres in the capital rose 0.27 percent on the year before while attendances, at 14 million, were up 0.56 percent.

The increases would have been greater had it not been for the London Games, SOLT officials said, with public attention surrounding the opening ceremony dampening demand and warnings of transport disruptions putting off theatre-goers.

London's flamboyant Mayor Boris Johnson was singled out as a factor, after his recorded messages warning of travel congestion on public transport during the Games were quickly dropped when the concerns proved unfounded.

"I don't think most of the (SOLT) members were relishing the Games and the impact of the Olympics was viewed with trepidation," said SOLT president Mark Rubinstein.

"It's surprising, amazing, wonderful we are standing here today saying 2012 was another record-breaking year."

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, one of the most influential theatre impresarios in Britain, had predicted a box office "bloodbath" during the summer due to the Games.

Rubinstein said there was a sizeable drop in takings during the third quarter of the year due to the Olympics, but that overall the figures were better than many had predicted.

In outright terms, the revenue figure was a new record, while attendance was not far from its 2009 peak of 14.3 million.

REGIONAL CUTS A WORRY

Producers showed restraint, perhaps with an eye on economic gloom in Britain and much of Europe, with average ticket prices last year at 37.86 pounds compared with 37.97 pounds in 2011.

Musicals dominated the West End again, accounting for eight million attendances, a fall of three percent on 2011, while play attendances were up nine percent at 4.1 million.

Hits last year included the Royal Court's transfers of "Posh", "Jumpy" and "Constellations" and the success of the National Theatre's "War Horse" and "One Man, Two Guvnors".

While London showed resilience in the face of competition from the Olympics and a stagnant economy, there was greater concern for regional theatres, some of which face major spending cuts from central government and local authorities.

Newcastle City Council in northern England, for example, announced it planned to cut all funding to arts organizations in the city, and other regions including Derby and Darlington have been badly hit.

Rubinstein said cuts to arts spending in the regions could have a devastating impact on theatres which were "part of the ecosystem" of British stage and helped make the West End great.

"We need to support those theatres and make sure the politicians support those theatres," he said.

Advance ticket sales for 2013 suggested another strong year ahead, he added.

Julian Bird, SOLT's chief executive, also announced that commercial channel ITV would broadcast the Olivier Awards for West End theatre on April 28.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

1 of 8. A visitor looks at ''Madame Manet in the Conservatory'' from 1879 by Edouard Manet in an exhibition entitled ''Manet: Portraying Life'' at the Royal Academy in London January 22, 2013.

LONDON | Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:17pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Bold claims have been made on behalf of 19th century French painter Edouard Manet - that he invented modern art, or was the man who bridged realism and impressionism.

A major exhibition of his work, dubbed a "blockbuster" by the media for its scale and some euphoric early reviews, opens at London's Royal Academy on Saturday and seeks to underline Manet's importance which few recognized during his lifetime.

The gallery will stay open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays to cope with anticipated demand, and the Academy is organizing "exclusive" Sunday evening viewings in March and April to allow visitors to see the show with smaller crowds.

Those tickets, including a drink and media guide, will cost 30 pounds ($47), double the normal rate, and the exhibition ends on April 14.

For Lawrence Nichols, co-curator of the show from the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, where it was first displayed last year, seeking to define Manet's place in the history of European art risks missing the point.

"Was he the father of modern art? Was he the first impressionist? My answer to you is he was a creative, talented, self-reliant individual," he told Reuters at a press preview of the first major show in Britain to focus on Manet's portraiture.

"Cezanne loved him, Picasso loved him. He knew who he was. I'm quite convinced that many artists will come to this show over the next 12 weeks and equally be responding to this man's talent," Nichols told Reuters.

More than 50 paintings adorn the walls of the Academy's main gallery space, showcasing Manet's taste for black, white, grey and muted blues that are in stark contrast to the bright colors of the impressionists who followed him.

He portrayed Parisian society and the world in which it moved, blending genre painting with portraiture and succeeding more than most in capturing an era of transition.

Less celebrated than successors like Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, Manet nonetheless helped pave the way for their bold brushwork and sense of movement.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Manet's nod to the past and eye for the future is clear to see in two small portraits of artist and friend Berthe Morisot.

In the 1872 version, black is typically dominant, including his subject's eyes which were in fact green. The portrait is pretty, Morisot is composed and looks arrestingly at the viewer.

In an 1874 picture of similar size, Morisot is depicted in mourning. Her eyes are sunken, her cheeks hollow, and the brushstrokes are fast and loose, yet the painting manages to capture her sorrow and fragility.

Manet was a friend to the impressionists, and painted Monet and his family at Argenteuil. He once said of the younger artist: "Who is this Monet whose name sounds just like mine and who is taking advantage of my notoriety?"

He described Monet as "the Raphael of water" and yet distanced himself from the impressionists, refusing to exhibit with them and focusing instead on the Paris Salons which would reject his work as often as they accepted it.

Manet defied the critical preferences of his day, declining to give viewers a clear narrative in pictures like "Music in the Tuileries Gardens" and "The Luncheon", in which 16-year-old Leon, who may or may not have been the artist's son, stares blankly past the viewer.

Perhaps the greatest artistic scandal of his life, however, came with his infamous "Olympia" (1863), depicting the goddess Venus as a Parisian prostitute and exhibited at the Salon, though not loaned to the Royal Academy for the exhibition.

"Insults are beating down on me like hail," he wrote to his friend, the poet Charles Baudelaire. "I've never been through anything like it."

Another literary friend, Emile Zola, wrote an article defending Manet and his Olympia, support which led Manet to paint the novelist in a major portrait in 1868.

Manet appeared to understand that his status as a titan of modern art would come only after his death.

"Their vision will be better developed than ours," he said of future audiences.

Edgar Degas, one of the pallbearers at his funeral in 1883 along with Zola and Monet, was moved to say: "He was greater than we thought."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

View the original article here

House Energy and Power Subcommittee member Ed Markey (D-MA) speaks during the committee's second hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline on Capitol Hill in Washington February 3, 2012.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska/WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:30am EST

ANCHORAGE, Alaska/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shell may have moved an oil rig that ran aground off Alaska last week partly to avoid millions of dollars in taxes, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey said, raising even more questions about the oil company's decision on the timing of the move.

The letter from the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee adds to the already-intense political scrutiny of Royal Dutch Shell's ambitious and troubled Arctic drilling foray last year.

Shell's 30-year-old Kulluk drillship ran aground on New Year's Eve in what were described as "near hurricane" conditions while it was being towed south for the winter.

In a letter to Shell's top U.S. executive, Marvin Odum, Markey said the decision to move the rig "may have been driven, in part, by a desire to avoid...tax liability on the rig."

In late December, a Shell spokesman told a local newspaper, the Dutch Harbor Fisherman, that it was "fair to say the current tax structure related to vessels of this type influenced the timing of our departure." But Shell said in response to Markey on Thursday that its decision was guided by safety, not taxes.

Markey, an outspoken critic of the oil and gas industry, said his office received information about Shell and taxes from Alaska's revenue department.

Shell could have been exposed to a state tax if the rig had remained in the state until January 1, as Alaska law says an annual tax of 2 percent can be assessed on drilling equipment on that date, Markey said in the letter sent on Wednesday.

The company spent $292 million on upgrades on the rig since purchasing it in 2005, so the liability could have been about $6 million, he wrote. In total, Shell has spent $4.5 billion since 2005 to develop the Arctic's vast oil reserves.

Jim Greeley, Anchorage-based petroleum property assessor for the Alaska Department of Revenue, explained that the tax applies to property used for exploration, production or transportation of oil or natural gas. He could not say whether the Kulluk would have been taxed or whether Shell's actions avoided a tax.

The issue was complicated by the fact that Shell's drilling was in federal waters.

"There's no tax precedent for that," at least in recent times, Greeley said, adding that department officials were researching the tax practices from two decades ago when there was a flurry of drilling offshore Alaska.

The decision would have to be made by the time the state publishes its tax rolls on March 1.

CONOCO LOOKS ON

Shell's Arctic work has been closely watched by many in the industry and especially by ConocoPhillips ahead of its planned Alaska offshore drilling program slated for 2014.

According to the U.S. government, the Beaufort and Chukchi seas hold an estimated 23 billion barrels of recoverable oil - equivalent to a tenth of Saudi Arabia's reserves.

A Shell spokeswoman said the plan for the Kulluk this winter was always to move it in December.

"While we are aware of the tax environment wherever we operate, the driver for operational decisions is governed by safety." She said an approved tow plan for the rig included weather considerations.

Winter transit in northern waters is not unusual for rigs. Just this month, a rig owned by contractor Seadrill was due to arrive in Norway to start work for Statoil, while another was headed to Canada for Exxon Mobil Corp.

The Kulluk accident is only Shell's latest problem in Alaska. Its 2012 Arctic drilling season was plagued by delays due to lingering ice and problems getting a mandatory oil spill containment vessel certified by the Coast Guard.

Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said late on Thursday it issued notices of violation for air pollution in 2012 for the Noble Corp-owned Discoverer, Shell's other Arctic rig, and for the Kulluk.

The EPA also terminated a temporary, more lenient permit granted to Shell in September for the Discoverer and said Shell's application for a less strict air permit was still under review.

The U.S. Department of the Interior said this week it would review Shell's Arctic oil drilling program to assess the challenges it faced and to guide future Arctic permitting.

Markey's committee does not have the power to stop drilling. His investigation would focus on why the rig was being towed along the coast down to Washington state in such severe weather and on Shell's safety policies, an aide to Markey said.

Any permitting changes or delays resulting from the Interior Department review could threaten Shell's 2013 drilling plans, as the company has a limited drilling window during the summer.

The Kulluk, before heading south, had previously been at a private facility in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor operated by Kirkland, Washington-based Offshore Systems Inc, which serves fishing and other vessels in Alaska. Harbormaster Jim Days said it was there for at least a month after completing its Beaufort Sea drilling.

The environmental impact of the Kulluk accident is so far limited. The incident response team has located all four survival ships and one rescue ship that were dislodged from the drillship when it ran aground. The survival ships all had 68-gallon-capacity fuel tanks and two had been breached.

None of the 155,000 gallons of fuel and other oil products aboard the Kulluk itself had leaked.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Callus in London and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by John Wallace, Jim Marshall, Tim Dobbyn, Dan Grebler, Phil Berlowitz and Matt Driskill)

View the original article here

JAIPUR, India | Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:33am EST

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Two authors who had books banned in their home countries featured prominently in the list of 10 nominees for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize, the judging panel said on Thursday.

Chinese author Yan Lianke and Russia's Vladimir Sorokin stood out from a list of nominees from nine different countries in the running for the 60,000 pound ($95,000) prize for global writers whose fiction is written in or translated into English.

"These are writers who we have found ourselves enduringly grateful to, who we will re-read," said Christopher Ricks, chairman of the five-man judging panel, at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India where the list was released.

"They write in ways that are astonishingly different."

Around 150 authors were considered for the prize, which will be awarded on May 22 in London, Ricks added.

Marie NDiaye, from France, is the youngest ever nominee for the prize, at 45, and joins Peter Stamm, Switzerland's first nominee, on the list.

The United States has two nominees, Lydia Davis and Marilynne Robinson, the only writer this year to have been shortlisted for the prize in the past.

Canadian Josip Novakovich, Israeli Aharon Appelfeld, Indian U.R. Ananthamurthy and Intizar Husain from Pakistan complete the list of nominees.

The Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2013 consists of the scholar and literary critic, Christopher Ricks; author and essayist, Elif Batuman; writer and broadcaster, Aminatta Forna; novelist, Yiyun Li and author and academic, Tim Parks.

Philip Roth won the prize in 2011, Alice Munro in 2009, Chinua Achebe in 2007 and Ismail Kadaré won the inaugural prize in 2005. In addition, there is a separate award for translation and, if applicable, the winner may choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of 15,000 pounds.

The Man Booker International Prize is significantly different from the annual Man Booker Prize in that it highlights one writer's continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.

The 2012 Man Booker prize was won by British author Hilary Mantel for "Bring Up the Bodies", the second novel in her ongoing trilogy set in the court of Henry VIII. She also won in 2009 for the first novel of the series "Wolf Hall".

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

BRUSSELS | Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:24am EST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU officials are to debate a new set of tax proposals to promote clean fuel and erode fiscal advantages that have made diesel relatively cheap, a document seen by Reuters showed.

The Commission has long been seeking to change energy taxation, but some member states have repeatedly thwarted progress and are likely to continue to do so.

Taxation law in the European Union requires the unanimity of all 27 member states, which is almost impossible to achieve.

Luxembourg, for instance, has been generating revenue through particularly low taxes on diesel, meaning vehicles, notably lorries carrying freight, stop in the centrally located nation to refuel.

Ahead of a working party meeting on January 23 that will bring together representatives of member states, an internal European presidency note dated January 9 on minimum rates for energy products revives the idea of taxing fuels according to carbon dioxide emissions and energy content.

For now, fuel is taxed based on volume.

While trying to lower carbon emissions, the Commission, the EU executive, has said it is "fuel neutral" when it comes to setting minimum taxation levels.

Because a liter of diesel contains more energy and more carbon than a liter of gasoline, the changes under discussion, if agreed, could mean minimum tax rates per liter of diesel would eventually be higher than for gasoline.

Currently diesel is cheaper than petrol in nearly all EU states, with Britain a notable exception.

While offering some exemptions, the new proposals would over time provide incentives for sustainable biofuels, as well as natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

DIESEL WORRIES

Diesel use is a major concern for the Commission because the European Union's refineries cannot produce enough of it and the bloc often has to import diesel, while exporting surplus gasoline, sometimes at a loss.

Diesel fumes have also been named as a cancer risk by the World Health Organization.

Earlier this week, Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said it was crucial to reduce diesel emissions as part of efforts to improve air quality.

He is pressing to improve the accuracy of vehicle testing because, especially for diesel vehicles, there are major discrepancies between emissions recorded in the laboratory and "real-world" emissions generated in day-to-day use.

Algirdas Semeta, the European commissioner in charge of taxation policy, has sought to fend off potential opposition to any tax changes from diesel-engine giants, such as Volkswagen, saying a slow phase-in would give plenty of time to adapt engine requirements.

Environmental groups agree diesel needs to be taxed more.

A group of non-governmental organizations in December wrote to EU finance ministers in a letter seen by Reuters calling on them "to support a significant increase in the minimum levels of taxation of diesel fuel for transport purposes".

Luxembourg's diesel rates are good for generating revenue for it, but so-called "tank tourism" was negative for the nation's neighbors, said the letter, signed by more than 30 campaign groups.

Environment groups have also raised concerns about whether biofuels classed as sustainable really are.

The European Commission last year approved a scheme that would certify as sustainable transport fuel made from palm oil, which has been condemned by environmental groups as one of the most damaging sources of biodiesel.

View the original article here

The artwork ''Virgen de Tobed'' by Jaume Serra, dated in 1359, is seen in this undated picture provided by the Prado Museum in Madrid January 29, 2013.

MADRID | Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:23pm EST

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Prado museum received its biggest private donation in decades on Tuesday with the gift of 12 medieval and Renaissance works by Spanish artists.

The paintings and sculptures include "The Virgin of Tobed", the central panel of the altarpiece of a church in northeastern Spain and an exceptional example of Catalan Italo-Gothic painting attributed to Jaume Serra.

The collection, donated by a businessman from Barcelona in a ceremony attended by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, will join paintings by Spanish masters such as El Greco, Velazquez and Goya in one of Europe's most venerated museums.

"These aren't times of lavish state spending, so this donation is generous and tremendously timely," said Jose Pedro Perez Llorca, president of the Prado's board of trustees.

Spain is mired in a deep crisis which has forced the government to apply severe spending cuts to try to meet public deficit targets agreed with its partners in the European Union.

"The Prado is the memory of an ambitious nation that has never been stopped by hardship," Rajoy said.

"This donation enriches in an extraordinary way a museum...which is an indispensable element of our image as a country," he added.

The patron, Barcelona businessman and engineer Jose Luis Varez will receive the rare honor of having a room in the Madrid museum named after him.

The museum, which had 2.8 million visitors last year, did not say when the newly donated works will go on show.

(Reporting by Teresa Larraz; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

1 of 4. Three killer whales surface through a breathing hole in the ice of Hudson Bay near the community of Inukjuak, Quebec January 9, 2013. The three whales are part of a pod of several that are trapped in the sea ice of the Hudson Bay. The whales are taking turns breathing through a hole in the ice about the size of a pickup truck. Inukjuak's mayor has called upon the Canadian government to send an icebreaker to save them.

View the original article here

NEW YORK | Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:01pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman Henry Kravis and his wife have sued art collector Donald L. Bryant Jr. over three paintings by the renowned artist Jasper Johns that the Kravises say they bought jointly with Bryant with the intention of sharing them, then eventually donating them to New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Kravis, co-founder of New York-based private equity firm KKR & Co., and his wife, Marie Josee, decided to purchase the "Tantric Detail" series with Bryant in 2008, according to the lawsuit, filed on Thursday in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

They all agreed to transfer possession of the works to one another's chosen residence annually, so they each could enjoy displaying them until they were donated to the museum, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says the arrangement worked from 2008 through 2012. But it charges that Bryant refused to transfer the works to the Kravises on January 14 this year.

Instead, the Kravises say, Bryant is holding the works "hostage," until he gets a new agreement without the pledge to give the works to the museum.

"The pledge was a condition of the sale of the art works," the lawsuit says, "which Mr. Bryant now selfishly insists on disregarding."

A message left for Bryant, founder and chairman emeritus of the Bryant Group, a St. Louis employee benefits firm, was not immediately returned. A MoMa spokeswoman declined comment.

The museum announced the acquisition of the Johns works in a 2008 press release that said the trio of paintings were a "promised gift" of Bryant, then a MoMA trustee, and Marie Josee Kravis, president of the board of the museum, and her husband, Henry.

(Reporting By Karen Freifeld; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and David Gregoiro)

View the original article here

SYDNEY | Thu Jan 3, 2013 11:26pm EST

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A pair of "ghost gum" trees in Australia's outback made famous in watercolors by Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira have been destroyed in a suspected arson attack, shortly before they were due to be placed on a national heritage register.

Namatjira is credited with bringing ghost gums, native trees featured in Aboriginal Dreamtime stories and named for their white bark that glows in moonlight, to wider public consciousness as a symbol of Australian identity.

Northern Territory Indigenous Advancement Minister Alison Anderson said the pair of ghost gums that frame the West MacDonnell Ranges and feature in many of the late Namatjira's works were found burnt to the ground a few days ago.

"In his watercolors (Namatjira) brought the beauty of the Central Australian landscape to the world and helped make it a symbol of Australian identity," Anderson said.

Authorities believe the fire was likely deliberately lit.

Susan McCulloch, author of McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art, told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the destruction of the ghost gums was "appalling and a tragic act of cultural vandalism".

Born in the Northern Territory in 1902, Namatjira held his first exhibition in 1938 and painted for the next two decades, earning international acclaim before his death in 1959.

Aboriginal Dreamtime stories have been passed down through generations to recount indigenous beliefs about the creation of the world and its creatures by totemic spirits in an era known as Dreamtime.

(Reporting By Jane Wardell, editing by Elaine Lies)

View the original article here