News

It is always sad to face the loss of people who have been long-associated with IFAR. 



This announcement, however, is particularly sad, as we acknowledge the January 15, 2021 death of Franklin Feldman (1927-2021), an attorney associated with IFAR for almost 50 years. At his death, Frank was Chairman of IFAR's Law Advisory Council, a position he held for many years, but his association with us went back to the early 1970s, when he served as President of IFAR's Board of Directors. It was Frank who spearheaded IFAR's pioneering involvement with art theft in the 1970s and the creation of our Art Theft Archive (later a database) and the Stolen Art Alert, which is still published in the IFAR Journal. A corporate attorney at Stroock, Stroock and Lavan, Frank was also an artist and he combined these two interests in his work at IFAR. In 1984, he co-authored one of the first major textbooks in the still-fledgling field of art law, aptly titled Art Law.  Over the years, he was a cherished counsellor and advisor to IFAR, and also a friend.  An elegant writer, he authored dozens of articles in IFAR publications and spoke at many IFAR programs. A big loss to all.



Jan Maarten Boll (1942-2020), also a longtime member IFAR's Law Advisory Council (since 1991), was a distinguished Dutch attorney and a Member of the Netherlands Council of State for decades. A serious art collector, well respected in the Dutch museum community (his wife, Pauline Kruseman,  is a former Director of the Amsterdam Historical Museum), Jan Maarten had a particular interest in international art law and theft and repatriation issues, which is what drew him to IFAR. In the Netherlands, he played an important role in acquiring Mondrian's final, unfinished painting, Victory Boogie Woogie, for the Dutch state in1998. The painting now hangs in The Hague Kunstmuseum. Jan Maarten passed away in November 2020, but IFAR only learned about it recently. Another big loss.



William H. Gerdts (1929-2020), a member of IFAR's Art Advisory Council since 1987, passed away from Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic, when IFAR and New York City were on lockdown. A distinguished and prolific art historian of American art, Bill published approximately two-dozen books, and an incredible number of articles, catalogue essays, and reviews. He was closely involved with IFAR's Art Authentication Research Service and frequently examined works with us.  He was a great connoisseur as well as a scholar. Not that long ago he travelled with us to examine a purported painting by William Sidney Mount that was submitted to our Service alongside a close double in the New Britain Museum and his eye and insights were treasures. Together with his wife Abigail, a major art historian in her own right and also a friend to IFAR, Bill amassed an extraordinary art library and art collection; the library and some of the collection were donated to the National Gallery in 2018.  With his passing, the art world has lost a giant.

While these three distinguished gentleman served for years on IFAR's Art and Law Advisory Councils, were on IFAR's letterhead, and were an "official" part of our organization, we wish at this time also to acknowlege the recent passing of several other people who were long-time donors to our organization. We are a small nonprofit and know most of our loyal supporters personally, so their loss is not simply -- or even primarily -- a monetary loss, but a loss of friendship and intellectual nourishment. We appreciated their feedback and their attendance at programs, and were incredibly proud to include them in our list of annual donors. Among these are: Marilynn Alsdorf, Michael Bakwin, Elaine Rosenberg, John Young, Alfred Bader, Hester Diamond, and, most recently, Judith Bresler, Brenda Ballin, and Richard Feigen. Some, like Marilynn Alsdorf, were donors for decades. Her husband, James, served on our Board of Directors. But all were involved with us for years. We will miss them. 

Our sincere condolences to the families of all of these friends and colleagues.