Missing Dutch artworks found in British warehouse

Published: February 16, 2012

More than 400 works of art by the celebrated 20th-century Dutch expressionist Karel Appel have been found in a British warehouse a decade after they went missing.

The artist, who died in 2006, was devasted when the sketches and drawings disappeared as they were being moved to the Karel Appel Foundation in Amsterdam in 2002.

Eight boxes, filled with artwork, were found by a UK storage and logistics company that had bought the warehouse before Christmas last year. Staff were unaware of their real significance until a warehouse employee researched the name Karel Appel, whose signatures appear on most of the lifetime's worth of drawings, sketches and notebooks. Intrigued by the works, a manger took around 30 paintings to auction house Bonhams for valuation and was astonished to discover the artwork was on Art Loss Register's (ALR) computerised database of more than 350,000 "most wanted" missing, stolen and disputed art.

Christopher Marinello, ALR's lawyer and chief negotiator, said: "After five weeks of intense negotiation with the logistics company... a settlement was finally reached with the company agreeing to release their claim to the artwork."

He said that logistics companies often store and move valuable art every year, "but they rarely check with the ALR whether the works are missing." He noted the problem of many owners "reluctant to perform due diligence searching, for fear that they will lose business to competitors who may guarantee a more discreet service".

He added: "Unless... fine art storage and shipping companies... agree to police themselves, it may be necessary to push for legislation requiring [more transparency]."

The artist's widow, Harriet Appel, has identified the works. She said: "I am extremely happy that the Karel Appel Foundation have recovered the lost drawings and am impressed by the successful and professional way in which this case was handled by the ALR."

Appel was a painter, printmaker, ceramist and sculptor, who was represented in the Tate and other public collections.

The logistics company declined to be identified or contacted.