William P. Youngworth III is Suing Netflix and TriBeCa Enterprises for $2,500,000 for defamation, emotional distress and loss of consortium.

 

William P. Youngworth III v. Netflix and TriBeCa Enterprises

William P. Youngworth III and his son, William P. Youngworth IV, are suing Netflix, TriBeCa Productions, the Barnicle Brothers, Inc. for $2,500,000 for defamation, emotional distress and loss of consortium. This civil action arises out of damages the Youngworths feel they received after the airing of the four-part documentary series based on the infamous art robbery that occurred at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18, 1990 in which a Vermeer, several Rembrandts, a Manet, and drawings by Degas were stolen. This documentary film series, which is entitled This is a Robbery and first aired on April 7, 2021, has been very popular among Netflix’ subscribers, which amount to over 200 million globally. Mr. William Youngworth III believes he was wrongly misrepresented in episode 3 entitled We’ve Seen It” and states his reputation has been damaged both in his business dealings as well as his personal life. While Youngworth has had legal issues in his past, he points out that over the last two decades he has devoted his life to providing for his son and raising him well, has been an outstanding citizen in his community and has built a reputable and successful business trading in antiques.

  

In episode 3 of the series, ex-Boston Herald Reporter Thomas Mashberg labeled Youngworth a “petty criminal” and also stated authoritatively that he knew Youngworth stole art and antiques from a hoard of stolen art and antiques that he was safeguarding for Myles Connor while Connor was serving time in prison. Mashberg is quoted as saying

 “…in talking to this guy (Youngworth) I realized that he at some point opened up Myles’ trailor and was basically selling off items without telling Myles”. Youngworth stated that Netflix aired the accusations in episode three freely without properly vetting Mashberg or his information, which Youngworth’s lawyers point out amount to unsubstantiated personal attacks against a private citizen.

 

In the We’ve Seen It episode, Tom Mashberg describes the events that occurred on the night of August 18, 1997 in which Youngworth drove him to Red Hook, Brooklyn and showed him Rembrandt’s painting Storm on the Sea of Galilee, which was one of the artworks stolen from the Gardner Museum. Mashberg wrote about this sighting in the now famous We’ve Seen It article in the Boston Herald. The authorities were not satisfied and refused to grant Youngworth full immunity to produce the paintings so Mashberg requested more “proof of life.” A manilla envelope arrived with photos of the stolen art. A highly respected Gardner Museum Trustee named Arnold Hiatt was convinced Youngworth was the key to the recovery of the stolen art.

Mr. Youngworth recently told me in an interview that Tom Mashberg claimed in an article that he wrote for the March 1998 issue of Vanity Fair that Youngworth was not present when he was transported to the Red Hook warehouse and shown the Rembrandt. Now Youngworth questions why Mashberg changed the story in the Netflix series and told the interviewer that Youngworth actually drove him to Brooklyn himself and handed the painting to him after retrieving it from a tube. 

 

The March 1998 Vanity Fair Magazine in which Tom Mashberg describes his visit to a warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Thomas Mashberg also received a vile with paint chips that the Boston Herald had examined by an expert named Walter McCrone. McCrone stated that "the paint chips looked like something Rembrandt plain produced. It looked exactly like the paint layers and pigments that was produced in Holland at that time. Everything was just perfect for a Rembrandt paint layer.” The paint chips were next sent to the Gardner Museum and were examined under their experts’ microscopes. The Museum officials pointed out that they saw that the color in the chips had not been used in any of the Rembrandts that were stolen from the Gardner Museum. They stated that the chips may have been from the 17^th century but the colors didn’t match the colors in the paintings, so they couldn’t be from their Rembrandts. But Youngworth insists that no one ever stated the paint chips were from the Rembrandts. Mashberg points out in the episode that the color was Red Lake Madder and that pigment was used in The Concert, the painting by Vermeer that was also stolen on March 18, 1990 from the Gardner Museum. The paint chips were re-examined in 2003 by a Vermeer expert named Hubert von Sonnenburg.  Mr. Sonnenburg was the chairman of painting conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Sonnenburg’s tests determined that the paint chips were an exact match for the Vermeer. In a CBS investigative reporting piece in 2015, F.B.I. Special Agent Kelly, who worked on the case out of the Boston F.B.I. Office for years, admits that the paint chips appear to be from the Vermeer.

 

This lawsuit, which has been filed in the Department of Trial Court in the Common Wealth of Massachusetts, is just another part of the thirty-two year long, and  complicated, drama that is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art robbery saga.

View the CBS investigative reporting from 2015 in which F.B.I. Special Agent Kelly states that the paint chips appear to be from the Vermeer: 

Boston Herald Reporter Thomas Mashberg and William P. Youngworth III; oil on canvas, 2009; detail of a larger painting that is currently in art storage, by Charles Vincent Sabba.

Portrait photo of Myles Connor holding a samurai sword from his collection. This photo was taken by Charles Sabba in Myles' abode in Blackstone, Massachusetts in 2009.

Storm on the Sea of Galilee, oil on canvas, by Rembrandt van Rijn. Property of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; current location is unknown.

The Concert, Oil on canvas, by Johannes Vermeer. Property of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; current location is unknown.

Welcome to the Art. 9 Art Consultation Journalistic Blog.

Welcome to the Articolo 9 Art Consultation Journalistic blog. This news platform keeps its readers informed about current, significant art world news regarding cultural heritage protection, art theft and art crimes, art markets, art exhibitions and more. Frequent posts will be made on this blog media platform.

Occassionally, this art crimes investigative journalist team gathers.  From left to right: Jill Rackmill, Charles Vincent Sabba, Brian Ross and William P. Youngworth III. This photo was taken at the New York Athletic Association located at 180 Central Park South, New York, N.Y.

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We at Art.9 Art Consulting News have a mission to bring to our readers significant art world news and are dedicated to providing thoroughly vetted stories, writings and news that has been verified as true and reliable.  We will discuss the art world and its operatives in a fair and impartial manner and will guard our reputations and honor in our reporting and work. In the State of New Jersey, a blogger is viewed as a legitimate journalist under the State's shield law and qualifies for the protections that the law provides. The judiciary considers whether or not that blogger has a connection to news media and whether his/her true purpose is to disseminate news. The judiciary also considers whether the blogger obtained his/her information through professional news gathering techniques and activities, such as talking to reliable sources, attending events, and the use of Open Public Records Acts and other similar methods used by news media organizations. The work product must prove newsworthy. 

Our previous art crimes investigative journalist team. This photo was taken at Luciano's Ristorante, Rahway, New Jersey.

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The State of New Jersey first adopted a reporter's privilege in 1933 and today N.J.s news reporter privilege offers some of the strongest in the nation. The N.J. Supreme Court has ruled that "the legislative intent in adopting this statute ...as seeking to protect the confidential sources of the press as well as the information so obtained by reporters and other media representatives to the greatest extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States and that of New Jersey."The definition of reporter has been given a broad definition. Because of the strong nature of New Jersey's Reporter Privilege, reporters cannot be forced to give up their sources. Subpoenas are rarely served to reporters and they are swiftly withdrawn after the reporter's lawyer invokes the privilege in writing.

Part of our mission is to protect our sources identities. This responsibility will be maintained without exception.

Portraits of former ABC Primetime Anchor Brian Ross in conversation with Jill Rackmill. Oil on canvas, detail of larger painting, 2009, Charles Vincent Sabba Jr. 

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Obviously, not all bloggers are considered mainstream media but journalists do blog and the protections they receive from the First Amendment and all of the various states and their supreme courts are the same as if they were reporting using traditional news platforms. There is no such thing as government licensing of journalists in the United States of America and now much of the mainstream media uses the world wide web to disseminate their news. Regarding the question of whether or not a blogger was journalist when they claim the reporter's privilege in court,  the federal appellate court crafted a test that examined the blogger/journalist's intent and the work they are performing. "We hold that the individual claiming the privilege must demonstrate, through competent evidence, the intent to use material sought, gathered or received to disseminate information to the public and that such intent existed at the inception of the news gathering prossess."  Kurt B. Opsahl is an attorney that represents the Electric Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization that fights for the civil liberties of journalists who use the internet and other new technologies. Opsahl has stated in the past that the news media is changing and he feels it is necessary that bloggers who practice journalism should receive the protections of reporter's privilege. He was once quoted as saying "the democratization of media inherent in blogging allowing any individual with limited investment to get on that soapbox and speak to an audience of millions is adding great things to the public debate and it is critical to the free flow of information that this new form of media be able to promise confidentiality to their sources."

Portraits of investigative journalist Jill Rackmill in conversation with the late Harold Smith (fine art loss adjuster). Oil on canvas, detail of larger painting, 2009, Charles Vincent Sabba Jr.

Portraits of Billy Youngworth in conversation with Tom Mashberg, a former reporter for the Boston Herald. Oil on canvas, detail of larger painting, 2009, Charles Vincent Sabba Jr.

From left to right: Brian Ross, Charles Sabba and Jill Rackmill. 

William P. Youngworth III and Brian Ross. This photo was taken at the New York Athletic Association located at 180 Central Park South, New York, N.Y.

William P. Youngworth with artist/ art loss consultant/ art world investigative journalist Charles Vincent Sabba Jr.

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Charles Sabba aand Savona Bailey-McClain, State of the Arts NYC at the WBAI 99.5 studio in Brooklyn.

Some of my earliest reporting was coverage of the Italian Government's legal fight to recovery the Euphronious Crater and the Morgantina Silver (these art treasures were returned to Italy, the Euphronious Crater in 2008 and the Morgantina silver in 2010). I authored and published numerous articles on art crime and cultural property protection in the newspaper America Oggi, N.Y. Italy, La Voce di New York and on the Roll Call blog page of Your Brush With the Law, to name only a few.

Further reporting of mine and my colleagues has been on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery that occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990. This will be a subject that we cover often in the future on this journalistic blog and we are dedicated to unearthing new information about the heist and the whereabouts of the stolen artworks.

Manet's Chez Tortoni, Stolen From the Gardner Museum; fingerpainted in fingerprint ink on an official police fingerprint card that was tinted with burnt siena oil paint, 2004, by Charles Vincent Sabba Jr.

William P. Youngwoth and Brian Ross, who served as Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC News until 2018. Brian joined the Law & Crime Network in 2018 as Chief Investigative Correspondant.

Glenn Miller’s Death: Government Cover Ups Are Not New

 

La Voce di New York

Glenn Miller’s Death: Government Cover Ups Are Not New

Big band musician, composer, and bandleader, Glenn Miller volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army but his plane mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Enhlish Channel.

by Charles Vincent Sabba Jr

A young Phillip Gluck while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in England

Glenn Miller.

Aug 04 2017

On December 15, 1944,  Miller departed England for Paris on a small, single-engined UC-64 Norseman that was being flown by a pilot named John Morgan. He was traveling with Lt. Col. Norman Baessell but the plane disappeared while flying over the English Channel and the government blamed it on bad weather and also an issue with the plane's carburetor. He was 40 years old.

Phillip Gluck is from our greatest generation. Phillip is a WWII veteran who was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. His brother, Nathan Gluck, was an accomplished artist and a close friend of Andy Warhol's (in fact, Nathan was Andy Warhol's studio assistant for twenty years). Phillip has three of Nathan's art works hanging in his apartment. Both Nathan and Phillip served the U.S.A. in WWII, Nathan was a Chaplain's assistant and served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific and Phillip served in the Army Air Force from 1942 through 1945 and was a munitions handler and was stationed at Alconbury, England. 

Phillip told me: "I was fusing bombs. After the bombs were placed on the planes, I came along and put fuses on the nose and the tail of the bombs. A squadron of planes, maybe 8 to 10, would leave our base, meet up with squadrons from other bases and cross the English Channel and drop the bombs over their targets. They had to drop all of their bombs before they returned to England. Any planes with fused bombs were prohibited from landing on the bases because it was too dangerous. If they crashed while landing the whole area could blow up. So they had a designated area in the English Channel where they jettisoned any of their unused bombs prior to returning to base. All unused bombs were dropped in this designated area and there was a prohibition against private planes flying in the area."

When the famous band leader Glenn Miller was 38 years old, he was too old to be drafted, so he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army and convinced them to let him lead an army band so he could entertain the troops. He quickly earned rank and eventually was promoted to major. He was transferred to the Army Air Forces. He was entertaining troops in France in 1944. On Dec 15, 1944,  Miller departed England for Paris on a small, single-engined UC-64 Norseman that was being flown by a pilot named John Morgan. He was traveling with Lt. Col. Norman Baessell. The plane mysteriously disappeared while flying over the English Channel and the government blamed it on bad weather and also an issue with the plane's carburetor. Miller was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Listening to Phillip Gluck discuss his army years is very interesting, but especially when Phillip recounted a strange story of government tough guys who appear to have been involved in a huge government cover-up and scared the life out of him when he was a young, low raking serviceman. He is very frustrated that he was forced through fear tactics to keep quiet all these years and now feels he must get someone to listen to him.  He recently attempted through his family members to inform the Glen Miller Archive but they wouldn't take him serious. About the cover-up, Phillip stated:  "Photography was my hobby, so I always hung around the photo lab. One day, I was asked to to report to the photo lab because they needed someone there to process some film. I think the usual guy who worked there was on leave or something. A reconnaissance plane had just come back with film. The reconnaissance planes would come back and have their films processed and those prints would be swiftly transported to the 8th Airforce Headquarters at High Wycombe for analysis. The film was really good prints. They were 8 by 10 contact prints and I was using a special machine with 48 lights to make them. I had the red light on outside the room which means no one should enter because the film could get ruined if they opened the door, but in this case I was almost completely done. As I was standing next to the chromium plated drum, which puts the gloss on the film, two really scary, big tough guys barged in. They were government agents dressed in suits and they barged right in and took all of the film, prints and negatives. They told me in a very threatening matter 'You never saw these!' I was a kid, only 20 or 21 at the time, and I was scared out of my wit. They told me 'you never saw these photos' but I really did see them and can't forget them. At my age, I'm 95 years old,  you forget small things in the distant past but something like this from your youth you never forget. I remember it vividly. The photos from the reconnaissance plane showed a bomber that was returning to our base dropping its bombs over the designated spot in the English channel, but right under the bomber was a small plane. That small plane shouldn't have been flying there. The bomber plane had many little bombs and it showered the small plane underneath it. A bomber can have a large bomb on it or it could be loaded with many small bombs. I think the small bombs were two hundred pounders. This plane jettisoned a whole load of small bombs on the smaller plane below it. The agents took everything. It all happened so fast. Not long after that, we all heard the news of Glenn Miller's plane disappearing. The government blamed it on a carburetor issue. But I knew it was his plane I saw in those photos. Why would they forcefully take all the photos and negatives and scare me into silence? Why would they lie? Back then they lied all the time. I guess they had to, we were at war. News of the war wasn't shared so easily like it is today."

Miller's plane was never found and he is still listed as missing in action. There is a log book of a 17 year old amateur plane spotter named Richard Anderson that surfaced years later that claims he saw Miller's plane in a different area then the restricted zone where bombers jettisoned their bombs on aborted missions. There are many different records and government findings that would dispel Phillip's claim, but logs, records and government findings in those years were easy to doctor up and manipulate. This isn't the first time this theory of RAF Lancasters returning from an aborted mission dropping their bombs on Miller's plane has been discussed, but as far as I know, it is the first time we have a living eye witness (of sorts, he saw photos). This is the first time we are hearing the testimony of a witness who experienced the fear associated with a government cover up. Was the plane that Phillip saw in the photos getting showered with bombs the same plane Glenn Miller was flying in? We can't be sure, but he is adamant there was a plane in those photos and that two government agents went to great lengths to eliminate any trace of evidence. Whether or not it was Miller's plane, it was a plane just the same; a plane with victims on board that disappeared without a trace. Phillip is certain of what he saw and is determined to share his experience with the world. He firmly believes the plane he saw in the photos was none other than the plane Glenn Miller was on and he feels it is time the truth is finally told. He has lived with this secret for 73 years now and the fact that he feels the government lied about it has eaten at his sense of justice for too long. We are living in an era of government intrigue and cover-ups, but obviously in our great Republic of the United States of America, intrigue and cover-up are not new to the political landscape.

Charles Vincent Sabba Jr

Charles Vincent Sabba Jr. is an artist who, in the past, has written articles about international art crimes and cultural property protection for US Italy and America Oggi.

 La Voce di New York

Roberto Conforti, the General who Protected the Italian Heritage, died at 79

He served in the Carabinieri for more than 42 years . He started his career in 1961 fighting organized crime

by Charles Vincent Sabba Jr

Aug 03 2017

In 1991, He took command of the art crimes unit called the TPC (Tutela Patrimonio Culturale) until he retired in 2002. Under his command, the TPC had over three hundred carabinieri assigned to it who worked to protect the artistic patrimony of Italy. General Roberto Conforti's career was a perfect fusion of article 1 and article 9 of the Italian Constitution.

The Italian Constitution is a real masterpiece of art. Italians who love the enormous artistic riches of Italy should be proud of the protection that our constitution gives to art and cultural heritage.  Article 9 of the constitution states: “The Republic promotes the development of culture and scientific and technical research. Protect the beauty of the nation and the historic and artistic patrimony of the nation.”

On 26 July 2017, the Republic lost a commander who dedicated his life to the mission of protecting Italy’s art and cultural patrimony with all of his heart and soul. General Roberto Conforti, who passed at the age of 79 years old, served in the Carabinieri for more than forty-two years. He started his career in the Carabinieri in 1961 fighting organized crime. In 1991, he took command of the art crimes unit called the TPC (Tutela Patrimonio Culturale) until he retired in 2002. Under his command, the TPC had over three hundred carabinieri assigned to it who worked diligently to safeguard and protect the artistic and historic patrimony of Italy.  During his career, his unit recovered thousands of works of art that were stolen from private collections, galleries and museums, and churches, as well as artifacts trafficked from illicit archeological sites, and they became one of the most respected art crimes investigative units in the world.

Many Italians really appreciate Article 1 of the constitution that states that “Italy is a democratic republic, founded on work.” We can see that General Roberto Conforti’s career was a perfect fusion of both article 1 and article 9 in that his daily hard work was ardently dedicated to the protection of the artistic and cultural patrimony of Italy.

È morto Roberto Conforti, il Generale che tutelava il patrimonio dell’Italia

Scomparso all'età di 79 anni, è stato in servizio per più di 42 anni nei Carabinieri. Ha iniziato la sua carriera combattendo la criminalità organizzata

di Charles Vincent Sabba Jr

03 Ago 2017

Nel 1991 ha preso comando del nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale fino alla sua pensione nel 2002. Sotto il suo comando, il nucleo aveva più di trecento carabinieri assegnati che hanno lavorato diligentemente a salvaguardare e a proteggere patrimonio storico e artistico. Nella sua carriera, la perfetta fusione degli articoli 1 e 9 della Costituzione

La Costituzione italiana è un’opera d’arte. Gli italiani che amano le enormi ricchezze artistiche dovrebbero essere orgogliosi della protezione culturale che la nostra costituzione da all’arte e al patrimonio. L’articolo 9 della costituzione dichiara: “La Repubblica promuove lo sviluppo della cultura e la ricerca scientifica e tecnica. Tutela il passaggio e il patrimonio storico e artistico della nazione”. Il 26 luglio 2017, la Repubblica ha perso un comandante che ha dedicato la vita alla missione di proteggere l’arte e il patrimonio culturale dell’Italia con l’anima e il cuore: il Generale dei Carabinieri Roberto Conforti, scomparso all’età di 79 anni, è stato in servizio per più di 42 anni. Ha iniziato la sua carriera nell’arma nel 1961 combattendo la criminalità organizzata.

Nel 1991 ha preso comando del nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale fino alla sua pensione nel 2002. Sotto il suo comando, il nucleo aveva più’ di trecento carabinieri assegnati che hanno lavorato diligentemente a salvaguardare e a proteggere patrimonio storico e artistico.  Durante la sua carriera, il suo nucleo ha recuperato migliaia di lavori d’arte rubati da collezioni private, gallerie e musei, e chiese, come anche artefatti trafugati da siti archeologici ed è diventato uno dei più rispettati unita di investigazione di crimini d’arte nel mondo.

Tanti Italiani apprezzano tanto l’articolo 1 della Costituzione che dichiara che “L’Italia è una Repubblica democratica, fondata su lavoro”. Vediamo nella carriera del Generale Roberto Conforti una perfetta fusione degli articoli uno e nove in cui il suo buon lavoro quotidiano era dedicato ardentemente alla protezione del patrimonio artistico e culturale dell’Italia.

https://www.lavocedinewyork.com/en/news/2017/08/03/roberto-conforti-the-general-who-protected-the-italian-heritage-died-at-79/

John Myatt: Art Forger Turned Professional Artist. Interview by Charles Vincent Sabba

 John Myatt: Art Forger Turned Professional Artist. 

Interview by Charles Vincent Sabba.

Charles Vincent Sabba and John Myatt in Chichester, England.

The artist John Myatt was involved in what Scotland Yard described as the biggest art fraud of the 20th century. John painted over 200 fakes of artists such as Giacometti, Klee, Chagall, and Van Gogh, to name only a few. These paintings were then sold by a master con man that John was associated with. John was arrested and in 1999 served four months of a twelve month sentence. When he was released from prison he swore that he would never paint again. the Scotland Yard detective who had arrested John commissioned him to paint a family portrait. This detective, who is now retired and one of John's close friends, helped convince him to return to his easel where he belongs. He is now fast becoming one of the United Kingdom's most accomplished artists. Here John Myatt discusses his art and the art world.

John Myatt,  oil on canvas, 8" x 10", by Charles Vincent Sabba. John Myatt posed for this portrait in Chichester, England.

Charles Sabba- You had an art show in May 2006 at St. Paul's gallery in London. How did it go?

John Myatt- It was a great success! It was lovely. The gallery wants to keep the unsold paintings on a semi-permanent display. Eventually I will want to get them back though. I like to look at my old paintings with fresh eyes and possibly re-work them. 

Sabba- Tell me about your art studio.

Myatt- We have one room which is shaped like a dining room. I purposely put down an old carpet so I can get messy while I work. I go back and forth to the easels and paint gets splattered all over the floor and walls. I don't use a palette but mix my paints directly onto a table. It is rather interesting how the studio is set up. The house was built in the 1700s. When you leave my messy, worked in modern studio, you enter a very clean, old home with neat and tidy bookshelves.

Sabba- What does your studio sound like? What kind of music do you listen to when you work?

Myatt- I listen to classical music, quite often Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, but usually Mozart.

Sabba- Would you like to share any thoughts on the contemporary art scene?

Myatt- I am not really part of that. I like to see all artists earn a living, but have no sympathy for the more challenging aspects of contemporary art. I view many of their operations as more or less stunts.  Here in the U.K., the government sponsors the arts council. Public money is spent on the arts and they are afraid to look old fashioned, so they feel they must always promote art that is cutting edge. The government needs to leave contemporary artists alone to get on with it. Good art has always been commercial, even the old masters. Artists need to make a living, but when you have a Stalinist type approval in which the government approves the art to be chosen it distorts the process entirely. The government needs to get out of the art business. The whole thing is corrupted by politicians and art experts. I'm not in the business of calling art work rubbish though. I like to see artists earning a living on their art. If they are supporting themselves on their art they are heroes.

Sabba- Have you ever visited the huge Chelsea gallery district in Manhattan? 

Myatt- We have not been to the gallery district. When we did get to New York, we spent a few days in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My time at the Met was well spent. I spent a lot of time studying Monet's Morning on the Seine because I had received several commissions to paint this picture. I noticed that hairs from Monet's brushes had fallen off and stuck to the paint. This was also happening to me as I painted this scene and I had been painstakingly removing the brushes hairs. All in all, I like New York very much. 

Sabba- Many young artists in New York complain that Chelsea is a well greased money making machine and they believe that the conformist art world needs rebels. You certainly entered your art career on a devious path, that is to say, a less normal road traveled. Do you consider yourself a rebel? 

Myatt- In a way yes. What happened, the crime that was committed, did show that the whole system of experts and history of painting was silly and stupid. It made a lot of experts look silly. I quite like that. People are not ready to use their own eyes when looking at paintings. You do not need three years in a university before you can look at a painting and decide whether you like it or not. When you look at a fake, you feel alright saying you don't like it. Knowing that it is a fake gives you the power to say "I don't like it" or "I like it." When you look at an original painting you spend too much time reading the card on the sides, looking at the signature, listening to the audio. People think to themselves "oh, I have to go and study this artist and this painting." We have to give people the confidence to look at paintings and just enjoy them. The last thing people want is to feel stupid, so they wait for someone to tell them what art to like and dislike.

 Also, once you like an artist, you can't afford to like his paintings because the prices are too high. Money limits the choices; that is where I come in. I paint pictures that people can afford. When I paint an artist's painting, it is quite hard to tell it from an original.

Sabba- Do you get a lot of commissions from New York?

Myatt- I get some of my most astonishing commissions from New York. I think Americans are fantastic people and are a pleasure to work with. They have a nice sense of humor and I like that. What I do is funny and you have to laugh. A New Yorker recently commissioned me to paint a very large Picasso. If I painted it the size he wanted, I could have never carried it out of my studio. I told him that the painting could be no larger than 6 foot by 6 foot and he just laughed and stated "that is okay John. You do it as large as I want it and then you'll find a way."

Sabba- You have mentioned Monet several times. As far as art history goes, who is your favorite artist?

Myatt- I would have to say Pablo Picasso. He had so many different periods to look at and choose from. He changed his artistic style almost every seven years.

Sabba- That is a very interesting point. It causes great pain to contemporary artists that dealers, critics and collectors reject any change in their style. When an artist is known for his or her work, they are expected by the market to stick to it and suffer consequences if they change.

Myatt- Yes, they get trapped. It is sort of like getting stuck in prison.

Sabba- So you love Picasso. I am very enthused about the early Paris days of Montmartre and Montparnasse.

Myatt- I would have loved to have been around in Montmartre at the Bateau Lavoir. I would have loved to spend time with all those artists like Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, as well as Apollinaire and all those poets. I would have loved to be there.

Sabba- You mentioned Apollinaire. Do you have any favorite poets?

Myatt- I have not read much of Apollinaire's poetry. I like older English poets the most, such as John Donne.

Sabba- Do you have any future exhibitions in line?

Myatt- I have one scheduled for December 2007 on Dover Street in London.

Sabba- I know you have been talking to television companies. How is that playing out?

Myatt- I am a little frustrated by it all. I have a good working routine in my studio. What I do is paint. I don't produce TV shows. I've been busy with the television producers and it is taking me away from my work. When I'm not painting, I feel like I'm wasting my time. After the health and happiness of your family, the most important thing in an artist's life is his or her work.

Charles 'Vicienz' Sabba and John Myatt in Chichester, England where he posed for an oil painting and conducted an interview.

The Artist Betty Tompkins: A story of Censorship, Repression of an Honest Artistic Voice, Jerry Saltz and Paintings of Heterosexual Intercourse

 The Artist Betty Tompkins: A story of Censorship, Repression of an Honest Artistic Voice, Jerry Saltz and Paintings of Heterosexual Intercourse

By Charles Vincent Sabba

7 December 2006

The artist Betty Tompkins moved to SoHo, New York in 1969. Betty began a series of black and white air brush paintings called Joined Forms, which were cropped paintings of heterosexual intercourse. The artist states that in these paintings, created during this beginning era of feminism, she was deliberately appropriating the male gaze. She showed these works in various galleries in SoHo, including LoGiudice Gallery and Warren Benedek. In 1973, Betty was invited to exhibit in Guy Loudmer's in Paris. This led to a ludicrous censorship by French customs officials and a of legal wrangling on the artist's part to recover the works.

Today, Betty can look back on the 1973 event and smile because her work has at last received the respect it deserves. Betty is represented by the Mitchell Algus Gallery in New York (she describes the owner of this gallery as the nicest most supportive of human beings) and has exhibited her work at the Lyon Biennale, the Whitney Biennial, the Centre Pomidou, Galerie Rodolphe Jansen in Brussels, Galerie Sho in Tokyo, and Galerie Caratsch in Zurich who represents her work there, to name a few.

In this interview, Betty, one of my all time favorite New York artists, discusses with me some of the most important issues facing the art world today, such as museum ethics in antiquities, censorship, and freedom of expression in an ever increasing ultra-conservative atmosphere. 

CVSabba: I believe you have a painting in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Is the Met very supportive of contemporary artists?

Betty: I don't have a painting in the permanent collection of the Met. No public institution so far in the USA owns a piece of mine. Centre Pompidou in Paris owns Fuck painting #1 which they showed last year in a recent acquisition show. As for the Met, as far as I know, they have an on-going program of purchasing and accepting donations of contemporary art so the support of contemporary art is built into the purchase program. Just not mine. So far. It is an interesting question Charlie. I really don't see institutions going for my work. It may very possibly have to do with its directness...I don't dance around the issues. I go straight into them and I don't give them much 'art' to hide behind. I really do demand a lot from my audience. Also, so far, no one has shown my work without a parental advisory sign on the door. Maybe Zurich. I will have to check.

Sabba: As you know, a lot of public awareness has been raised regarding American museums and their questionable buying policies of antiquities. The Met agreed to repatriate the Morgantina Silver and the Euphronious Krater, among other items. I know that New York artists love the Met and are proud of it. We all frequent the many amazing art exhibitions and no one in the art world can deny that access to the museum's collections is a great asset to an artist's work. That being said, artists are usually the most idealistic about art and are. very conscientious about social injustices. In the months following the commencement of the Marion True trial and the negotiations between the Italian government and the Met, we have heard plenty about this issue from lawyers, law enforcement officials, curators, dealers, and art experts. Do you have any thoughts you would like to share?

Betty: This is a complicated question Charlie, because it equates the making of art with moral high standards. The two don't actually follow as the night and day. It would be nice if they did, but ethics is not a required course in art school. Cynically speaking, is there a museum in the world with an antiquity collection that does not have pieces that were stolen or illegally removed from the native country? I mean over a hundred years, not just recently. The Elgin Marbles for example. For myself, I think it is an abhorrent practice of course and it is great that Italy is finally stepping up to the plate- just that it is awfully late to be doing it and as a visitor to the Met, and a lot of other museums, if all illegally gotten gains were repatriated, learning about them by seeing them in the flesh, so to speak, is going to get very difficult.

Sabba: Speaking of repatriation, you know first hand what it is like to fight to get your artworks repatriated. In 1973, French customs officials confiscated two of your paintings. Give us a description of the French event and the confiscation of your artworks.

Betty: In 1973, I was invited to be in a show at Guy Loudmer's in Paris. This was to be a show and an auction at the end of the show. The show was called Realism, New Realism and Photo Realism. The curator was Maurice-Frederick Calatchi. He came to my studio which was on Spring Street in SoHo and picked Fuck paintings #1 and #5 for the show. I don't remember who recommended me to him. Some of the other artists in the show were Bob Stanley, Richard Smith, Malcolm Morley, Yvonne Jacquette, Allan D'Arcangelo, Alex Katz and John Clem Clarke. So very good company for me for the time. Out of the 46 artists, there were four women- Me, Audrey Flack, Yvonne Jacquette, and Sylvia Mangold. Sort of typical for the day.

I was young. Only 28 years old. I had never had a solo show in New York and had only been in a few group shows. This was a very big deal. International. So a shipper came and took the works and the next thing I knew, I had a phone call from Maurice saying the works were stuck in customs. This was before email, before fax, before anything. International calls were expensive. I had no idea what to do.

Sabba: What explanations did the French officials give you? 

Betty: Maurice told me it was because of the subject matter. I never got an 'official' explanation from French government. Now that I think of it, this is pretty funny because the paintings were titled Joined Forms #1 and Joined Forms #5; these were the original titles of the Fuck Paintings. The titles Joined Forms were written on the backs, but I always called them the Fuck Paintings. Well, thats what they were. You have to put them in context of the times: both conceptual art and minimal art were in their heyday. Very heady (read intellectual) times. So a public fancy title but a privately accurate one which fortunately has prevailed. I think it was a crapshoot about being censored. France is a Catholic country. Who gets to inspect each crate is probably arbitrary. I got someone who got offended and who used his power. I was never told the word 'pornographic'. Everyone was polite, but it was obvious. I was so young and naive, I didn't know enough to go to the New York Times or the art magazines. I took it very personally and privately. 

Sabba: Tell us about your wrangling with the French government to get your art back to New York.

Betty: I wrote and called Maurice a gazillion times. The gallery owners too and whoever I could think of. It took a whole year to get them back. About the time I was told they were being repatriated to the U.S. , Andy Warhol was having problems with some sexually oriented pieces- I think penis drawings- that had been sent to Canada. Canada did not let them in and then on the other end of the bridge (my visualization anyway) the U.S. Customs people rejected them also. I read in the papers that they were just going back and forth. So I, of course, envisioned my paintings finally being let out of jail in France and being put on a boat to the U.S.A. and then not getting into the country and being set back to France, where once again, a customs official would be offended and hold them in limbo, etc., etc. I pictured my paintings having this international life crossing the Atlantic while I was never actually leaving my loft on Spring Street.

Kiss Painting #4, acrylic on canvas, 2012, Betty Tompkins.

Sabba: Now let me get into your feelings. How did it affect you? 

Betty: When the show opened, maurice sent me the catalogue with this letter:

Dear Betty,

I really felt sorry not to include you in this show but my letter told you why. I hope that nevertheless you'll like this catalogue.

Sincerely yours,

Maurice F. Calatchi

It does not take much imagination to sense how bad all this made me feel. I do my work honestly, from my gut convictions. I had no construct or structure to put this in.

Sabba: Over thirty years later your work was accepted to the Lyon Biennale. How did it feel after a triumphant return to France?

Betty: When my New York dealer, Mitchel Algus, called me to tell me about being accepted to the Lyon Biennale, I was very cool to the idea. Mitchell said to me, "you don't sound very excited." I replied "what makes you think the paintings will get into the country?" He relied "they will, they worry about other things now." So I said okay and they got in. When my husband Bill Mutter and I arrived in Lyon by plane then train, we were met at the station by Laurent le Sergent who was working for the biennial. He was so great to us the whole time we were there. He made sure I never got lost and always showed up on time for the events. Laurent is a really great person. Before we went to the hotel, I asked him to take me to the exhibition site so I could see that the paintings were, in fact, there and hung on the wall. After that, I relaxed and had a good time. Seeing them convinced me that this was actually happening; it became real to me when I saw them on the wall. It was a beautiful room. My paintings and Steve Parrino's paintings were exhibited together. This was Bob Nicka's idea- how are work went at a similar idea from two different points of view, and so amazing that he convinced the other curators of it. The synergy between our works was electric. Bob is this amazingly perceptive visual person/curator. When he talks about anyone's work, it just takes my breath away. I was an unknown in this show. Steven was very famous in Europe. They came into the room because of him. He was amazingly generous to me: "Betty, we are the best fucking room in the show." I thought that was so generous of him. I liked him a lot. 

How did it feel? It felt very, very good. I didn't feel triumphant. I am not sure what that would feel like. I just don't relate. I felt very good and very validated. I thought it was about time.

Sabba: I love the stories about Chuck Close, Jerry Saltz and Mitchell Algus.  Would you be so kind to read them with our readers?

Betty: In 1994, Chuck Close told me that he had been to an opening of that year's Whitney Biennial and there were some younger artists doing sexual imagery and all he could think of was that my paintings blew them away and I should dust off my slides and send them around. I did, sent them to about 15 to 20 galleries. Good ones too. The slides beat me home from the post office. Total rejection again. In 2000, I sent a set of slides to the art critic Jerry Saltz, who I had never met, I heard that he was planning to do a sex show. I never heard from him but in late spring 2002, he took them over to Mitchell Algus and gave them to him. So Mitch came to my studio and in mid-September offered me a solo show of the paintings and drawings. We had two weeks to pull everything together, none of the drawings were framed and only one of the paintings were on a stretcher. The rest were rolled up under my pool table where they had been since 1975 when I had done a show with Paul Schimmel at the Houston Museum of Modern Art which was an artist-run space. I kept thinking that it was a good thing we were doing this so fast. I was sure that if the gallery had any time to actually think about this, they would back off. It was very good timing. There were two big feminist shows up- Guild Hall I think in the Hamptons and at White Columns here in New York. I wasn't included in either of them. I didn't even know about the show in the Hamptons, but had tried very hard to get into the one at White Columns. I went to my opening early, I was dressed, I was nervous, why stay at home, and Holland Cotter congratulated me on the show; he was beaming, he liked it so much, a very sweet moment for me and I said that I thought Mitch was very brave to show them. His big article the next day was about the two feminist shows and in the middle of the article, he wrote about my show calling my paintings 'formidable!' Unbelievable! The Village Voice was very supportive of the show also. And of course, Bob Nickas loved the show and put me up for the Lyon biennale with his work. So I feel very, very good about all this. Better late than never and a lot of coincidental events.

Sabba: Back to censorship and the unimaginative masses! Please explain the absurd deja vu in Japan- the confiscation of your art works there and the wrangling with the officials to get the works back.

Betty: In 2005, I was asked to be in a show at Galerie Sho in Tokyo. No problem getting the work into the country.A painting and a drawing. So earlier this year, 2006, the dealer Shoichiro Satake, asked me to be in another show. I said yes, of course. All the arrangements were made. He purchased three pieces for the show. Mitchell duly shipped them via FedEx. This time, they were held in customs and declared pornographic. I was totally blindsided by that. I was so upset when I got the email about it from the gallery. Most artists never get censored. Who gets censored twice? I immediately wrote to a few critics and curators I knew. I didn't know what else to do. So okay, reach out. They were all so supportive. I ran into Bob Nickas on the street that morning and he told me a lot about censorship in Japan and a lot of stuff about the culture there and Tom Morton in London said "where is the petition to sign?- It's art and I should know!" -and Elizabeth Lebovici wrote a piece for her blog. All of this was incredible and very welcome show of support. I was so grateful for it. The email I had gotten from the gallery had asked for anything I might have to prove my work was 'art'. Personally I don't even know what that means. But I spent a day scanning in all the reviews, press notices and museum writings  about this body of work and sent them off. Shoichiro was absolutely terrific. In about two weeks he had the pieces released from customs. One day I hope he will tell me how he did that. I would really like to know. I had been told by another gallerist in Tokyo that once your work is declared pornographic, it is impossible to get customs to change their tune. I was expecting to have to repatriate the pieces and then either resend or better yet, get someone to act as a courier and bring them into the country by hand. I wasn't looking forward to either scenario. However, Shoichiro Satake did it, the works were released in time to be in the scheduled show.

Women Words, Phrases and Stories, Installation at Flag Art Foundation, Betty Tompkins.

Charles Sabba scrutinizes the Gardner Museum security (2006).

 Charles Sabba scrutinizes the Gardner Museum security (interviewd was conducttd in Sabba’s art studio on 17th Street in New York (by Union Square Park).