Rodin sculpture found in New Jersey
MADISON, N.J. — A bust of Napoleon by French sculptor Auguste Rodin long thought to be lost was found on display in a New Jersey borough hall where it sat for 85 years.
The bust’s origin was confirmed in 2015, but officials waited to reveal the multimillion dollar artwork was a long-lost piece by Rodin on Wednesday. The owners of the bust announced it will be leaving the Madison borough hall on loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Record reported.
The authentication was made in person by Jerome Le Blay, an international expert in modern sculpture.
Philanthropist Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge purchased the sculpture after it was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1915 to 1929. Officials believe Dodge donated the bust along with other art to the borough hall around 1942. There, the bust sat for decades as its record was lost to time.
Madison Mayor Robert Conley was impressed by the news that confirmed town rumours.
“I’d always heard the rumour it was a Rodin, but of course you hear all sorts of rumours. So to have it actually verified was quite impressive,” Conley said. “To think that we’ve had people walking past it for years, not realizing the great piece of art they were sitting next to, or standing next to during a council meeting.”
The sculpture is estimated to be worth between $4 million and $12 million, according to experts.
Hartley Dodge Foundation president Nicholas Platt isn’t sure when the Rodin will return to its home in the borough hall. The Met has expressed interest in the bust, according to Platt.
Conley is happy with plans for the borough’s piece of history.
“Art is meant to be appreciated, and the more it can be appreciated the better,” Conley said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Police detectives in New York City and London are taking a fresh look into sexual assault allegations against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein now that some 30 women have accused him of inappropriate conduct.
New York Police Department spokesman Peter Donald said Thursday investigators are trying to determine whether there were any additional complaints involving Weinstein. That includes reviewing police files to see if any women previously reported being assaulted or harassed by him.
So far, no filed complaints have been found, he said, other than one well-known case that prompted an investigation in 2015, but authorities are encouraging anyone with information on Weinstein to contact the department.
Also Thursday, British media reported London police are investigating an allegation of sexual assault involving Weinstein. London’s Metropolitan police force said it had received an allegation of sexual assault from the Merseyside force in northwest England.
Merseyside police said the allegation was made Wednesday and concerns “an alleged sexual assault in the London area in the 1980s.”
Some 30 women – including actresses Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow – told The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine for recent stories that Weinstein had sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. Weinstein was fired Sunday by The Weinstein Co., a studio he co-founded with his brother.
In The New Yorker expose, a former actress, Lucia Evans, said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 when she was a college student.
At least one other unnamed woman said she was raped by Weinstein, but the article did not disclose when it happened. A third woman, actress Asia Argento, told the magazine that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 1997 at a hotel in France.
Under New York law, making someone engage in oral sex by physical force or the threat of it is a first-degree criminal sexual act. There’s no legal time limit for bringing charges.
Weinstein, through a spokeswoman, has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.
I’d always heard the rumour it was a Rodin, but of course you hear all sorts of rumours. — Madison Mayor Robert Conley