[MSN] Large Shipment of Rare Paintings Reported Missing in Europe

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Large Shipment of Rare Paintings Reported Missing in Europe
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Collection of Prominent Art Critic En Route to US Missing in Croatia

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A shipment of 67
Croatian Naive reverse glass paintings destined for the recently opened
Croatian Naive Art Gallery & Museum Collection in St. Petersburg, Florida,
was reported missing in the capitol city of Zagreb, Croatia yesterday. The
large wooden crate measuring approximately 100CM (36") square and weighing
210 Kilos (462 lbs.) was picked up from the packing company by FedEx in
Zagreb on April 11th and expected to arrive at its final destination in St.
Petersburg on Saturday, April 14th or sooner. Eleven paintings from the
personal collection of prominent Croatian art critic Marijan Spoljar were
the "heart" of the shipment. The remainder of the 67 paintings was from
about 12 of the most famous Croatian Naive artists alive today, many of
whom are considered Modern Masters. FedEx has been unable to locate the
crate in either Frankfurt or Paris, two possible first European stops for
shipments to the US. The Gallery is optimistic the shipment will simply
show up, but fears that it was stolen are creeping in as the 9th day
missing draws to a close.
    Croatian Naive Art is a genre of art begun in the late 1920s
predominantly by self-taught farmer artists where the artist paints in
reverse in oils on the back side of a normal piece of glass. The artist
must sign his signature first backwards so that when you view the finished
work from the front it reads properly. Details and foreground are also done
before anything else. Former communist suppression has kept this art form a
European phenomenon until now. Most Croatian Naive Artists have been
painting for 35-50 years and are internationally recognized as having taken
this art form to the highest level.
    Contact: Sue Cooper-Street, Director, Croatian Naive Art Gallery &
Museum Collection, 300 Beach Drive N.E., St. Petersburg, FL 33701,
727-824-2800, Nannen at CroatianNaiveArt.com <mailto:Nannen at CroatianNaiveArt.com>, Web site:
http://www.CroatianNaiveArt.com

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