The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-22
RUSSIAN ART m SAD PLIGHT.
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ftfoa nnd nrt objects only .t 1f seven have
Icon anlI ~ pr,4rnt lur imperial ~.
IIu4t " In tho unpla ~ M" 7 aitel States
custom. nni,iiit AMI p nrIi IN @Nir"1rroa
here ln huui
What vll hcc,mc ~ tho pictures is ~
drHidcd interest toH lut N people Including
GrunvplIt. whra trpunlna nt present are
almost mprc than b' onn bear The p"'plo
shn hulI claims against the collection are
wondering wherc thoy nrn going 80 Rc,
tpoir money The Russian Government
wants The pictures back in ~. Petersburg,
nut the creditors don't want "a take tho
chance ~ litigation m Russian cuJrte,
Tho Treasury Department b. waiting -
30, what tho Russian artists Who own tho
picture, Will do before taking action
n the arti.t4 get together aud pat up
the cash tu the creditors, cr " the Russian
Government assumes the responsibility ~
payment. the complications can bo straight
puod out. GrluUgldt, who went broke
rushing tho collection, hopes that the
art..s. yutIl VyugY fla alulfVna md ~ - him
time to sell tho pictures over hero. II u
about his only chance OF getting Out ~
the hole, he says, II none Of those things
happen there are bound to he some curious
legal complications.
The Russian Government was too badly
tied up by the Japanese war To accept ~
invitation to take part officially in the ~.
Louis Exposition. This was a keen disap-
continent, particularly TO Russian artists.
who saw an opportunity to boost Russian
art and make their fortunes, The artists
went to Grunwaldt, a leading merchant 81
st. Petersburg and Councillor of Com
nerce. and asked h i'm to take charge of a
COLLECTION they would get to gether for st.
Louis. There were las of these artists from
en- different art societies and two art schools,
including members of the Imperial Academy
cf Arts like Repin, Vladimir, MakofSky,
pubofsky, Kasatkin, Voldoff, S~oukhorofsky,
Verestchagin (now dead and Won Lieb-
bardt.
Councillor Grunwaldt says the artists
made an agreement with him by which thu
pictures were to he sold at the st. Louis
Exposition, he to get for his trouble and ex-
pense one-third of the selling price of each
picture and a fixed amount when tbs PIC
ture sold for more than II was listed at,
Trouble started right there for tho pro-
moter. The Russian painters We're gr eedy,
he says. and thought American co nnois-
eeurs would fall over themselves for a chance
to buy Russian paintings,
Therefore they put prices on the paint
ings so high that they were practically
prohibitive. When the pictures were
brought over and the customs authorities -
fixed duties at 20. per cent, and admitted
them TO bond until sales were made, Grun-
waldt found that he would have to stick
to the prices set by the artists in order to
square duties with the United States.
The imperial exhibit was a fiat failure
from the start, There were a number OF
reasons why the collection didn't take
First were the excessive prices demanded.
Then again, it was bad time for pushing
anything Russian. Sentiment wasn't very
strong for products OF Russia about That
time.
Also many Of the pictures were on brutal
and cruel subjects and didn't appeal at all
to Americans who didn't want TO hang on
the walls of their homes such pictures as
Laying the Foundations of the kremlin,'
VI "InNl ~ nh NabS i"N Wv -, !
fented us dragging a young peasant girl
to the foundation stone excavation in order
to bury her alive there. or a painting de-
ricting Ivan the Terrible c~omplacently
watching a half-Start ed peasant gnaw. at
Il chunk OF ra W meat. Gurnwaldt says hat
American art dealers persistently knocked
the exhibit since it was the only collection
Of Russian pictures in the country and they
couldn't see where they could make anything
out Of 1t.
BY the time st. Louis had proved a dis;
appointment Grunwaldt was out q good
many thousand dollars, He decided to
for exhibition, thinking that he would
stand a better chance in New York than
in Missouri. He hired rooms at 2S0 Fifth
avenue, the customs authorities c~ourteously
considering the exhibition rooms a ware
house. He charged so cents for the privilege
OF viewing his art treasures, but somehow
PEOPLE here didn't get a bit enthusiastic.
There weren't enough hfty-cent pieces
taken in to pay the rent of the rooms, ,Grun;
waldt had fitted them up extensively. and
had borrowed money to make good, giving
chattel mortgages on the pictures, believ-
ing, he says, hat he had a right TO take any
legitimate means OF disposing OF them since
he was responsible for them,
Things got to a pretty serious pass with
Grunwaldt. He decided to sell the paint
ings at public auction on March @, 7,s ande
last. The auction went badly, because
Grunwaldt couldn't authorize the auc-
HCS tAy f'NNS'S o. -
price than the artist had set on it. Five
or six were sold, however, and the customs
authorities collected the 20 per cent. duties
on these.
Then the Russian artists, hearing that
things were going badly and that Grun-
waidt was heavily in debt, got the Russian
Government to make representations to
Washington, Coudert Bros, representing
the Russian Government, got Secretary
Shaw Of the Treasury Department to call
the auction of on its third day and transfer
the pictures to a Government warehouse
here. That was the last straw for Grun-
waldt.
He is a dark oomplexioned Russian, very
bald and big. He has a luyurlant black
mustache and q very small back goatee;
the ways of American Orators and bunco
artists, who have preyod on him to some
extent.
Il am an honest man." he said yesterday
in his imperfect English, "but l have met
with misfortune that are without a
~arallel. / have spe mt two years Of my
time, lost my private fortune and have been
reduced to a nervous wreck, and for what?
r.. ...L.-- -. 49, tkoan man in II Scin