Paeamble
Mr Dieter W. Liedtke has been known to me as an artist for more than 10 years. We first met in person in the spring of 1999. Due to his great commitment, I supported Mr Dieter W. Liedtke's Essen art open exhibition at that time in my capacity as second director of the Weimar Art Collections and responsible chief conservator of the paintings department with a precious painting by Rubens worth over DM 15 million.
Due to my vital interest in Dieter W. Liedtke's brilliantly new and fashionable approach to art, I have been intensively involved with his work and have been able to view many of Liedtke's works in the original in Germany and Spain in recent years. During my last two trips to Spain, I had the opportunity to study Liedtke's oeuvre in detail in December 1999 and again in July 2000.
Late last autumn, Dieter W. Liedtke asked me to act as an expert on his behalf. Due to time constraints, I have only now been able to comply with this request, and I would also like to emphasise at this point that I am preparing my expert opinion free of charge as a tribute to the innovative forces of the artist Dieter W. Liedtke.
I would also like to emphasise that I have written my expert opinion to the best of my knowledge and belief and that I am not pursuing any personal or other material interests
Expert opinion
The works in dispute are the following works by Dieter W. Liedtke:
I. Stolen or destroyed in Vineburg, Germany in 1994.
1.
white genes new
Magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
200 x 200 cm
2.
white areas DNA
magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
200 x 200 cm
3.
Magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
250 x 200 cm
II. 1999/2000 stolen or destroyed in Port d'Andreatx, Mallorca, Spain
1. - 12.
9 background paintings, untitled
(3 related diptychs of 2 panels each; 3 single works)
Acrylic on glass
1992
33 x 85 cm
The undersigned was unable to inspect any of the twelve works listed, as all of them must have been destroyed or stolen since 1994 or 1999/2000. A number of objectifiable circumstances, however, permit an appraisal of the works of art in the context of Dieter W. Liedtke's oeuvre.
1.
Dieter W. Liedtke's innovative artistic approach implies the representation of modern content and revolutionary statements by means of new stylistic devices and modes of expression. His radical spirit conveys the innovative statements of his works to less educated viewers of his art and lets the recipient participate in a playful way.
The presentation of his world of ideas in comprehensible stages of cognition literally demands a work in serial steps and work complexes that belong together.
Several serial work complexes can be seen in their original form in German and Spanish private collections, but above all in the Museo Liedtke in Port d'Andratx.
The two work complexes listed above, numbers 1 to 3 and 4 to 12, were each components of important series, some of which still exist in rudimentary form (supplementary to numbers 1 to 9) - or they represented a self-contained series produced for a clearly defined location or a complete work of art (numbers 4 to 12).
2.
The undersigned has before him an insurance policy from 1988o At that time, the renowned insurance brokers CV Gielisch GmbH arranged a policy from Nord-Deutsche Versicherungs AG in Hamburg for a major exhibition by Dieter W. Liedtke in the Sheraton Hotel in Essen from 22 April to 22 May 1988.
The insurance policy with all its ancillary clauses and subsidiary agreements was based on museum standards during the exhibition: for reasons of cost, co-insurance during the outward and return transport was waived at the time. Accordingly, in the present case, the premium of 2.75%, which is customary in the industry, related solely to the duration of the public presentation of Liedtke's artworks at the Sheraton Hotel in Essen during the period indicated.
The list of items meticulously lists 56 individual items from Liedtke's estate as well as 4 loans from private owners. The insurance values are carefully differentiated. The values of individual photographs are given as only DM 200 to DM 500; smaller works vary between DM 1,300 and DM 9,000; nine larger works are valued between DM 10,000 and DM 19,000 (including one loan). Only three major works are valued higher; among them the loan Gedankenflut at DM 50,000 as well as the works belonging to Liedtke Jean-Baptiste Henri died 1765 - Dieter W. Liedtke alive also at DM 50,000 as well as one of Liedtke's major works Aus der Sicht der 4- Dimension - Dimension at DM 100,000.
A minor claim in connection with this Essen exhibition or policy was settled by the insurance company without complaint in November 1988. This proves that the Nord-Deutsche Versicherungs-AG had fully considered and accepted the estimated values. Dieter W. Liedtke's duty of care towards his insurance partner was therefore beyond doubt.
Valuation
Numbers 1 to 3 (cf. sheet 2)
In the case of the disputed numbers 1 to 3, all three works were important major works by Liedtke from 1988. Individual works from this important series are preserved in the Museo Liedtke in Port d'Andratx, but their statement has been reduced by the painful loss in Virneburg.
The three artworks from 1988, measuring 300 x 180 cm (No. 1: white genes new); 220 x 200 cm (No. 2: white areas DNA) and 250 x 200 cm (No. 3: new inscriptions) respectively, were kept detached from the stretcher frames in three special cardboard boxes in Mr Liedtke's former exhibition hall or warehouse in Virneburg.
Their value is equal to the three main works of the Essen exhibition of the same year at the Sheraton Hotel.
Numbers 1 and 2 are therefore based on the mean of the valuation at that time, i.e. both works were worth DM 75,000 each.
With regard to the special position and artistic significance of number 3, reference is made to the main work of the Essen exhibition, the work From the Perspective of the 4-Dimension, Dimension 1, 2, 3, which was valued at DM 100,000 at the time.
Numbers 4 to 12 (cf. sheet 2)
The disputed numbers 4 to 12 were a self-contained serial Gesamtkunstwerk consisting of three diptychs of 2 panels each and three supplementary individual works. This total work of art was not only an important original work of art in each individual reverse glass panel, which presented the viewer with the artist's credo of the changeability of existence and its future in six or nine individual steps. The important series was also an important component of Liedtke's overall creative approach: a changed life and environment through art.
Dieter W. Liedtke conceived the entire museum and residential complex of his complex in Port d'Andratx in the sense of an architecture parlante with recourse to the art of the turn of the century and made it usable for his innvoative goals. Every change in detail, every conversion and every removal of individual components is tantamount to an amputation and distortion of meaning in the sense of his overall work of art. The removal or destruction of the important series of nine reverse glass paintings from the bar or restaurant area was thus, in addition to the destruction of artistic and material values, also a barbaric act of mindless ignorance.
The nine reverse paintings on glass in dispute, numbers 4 to 12, cannot therefore be divided into individual works in this context, because in the event of the loss or damage of only one painting, there would at least still be the possibility of either restoring the work or recreating it with additions from the artist's hand. The loss of the entire spatially incorporated series, however, can only be assessed as a whole.
In view of the importance of the series for the artist's work as well as its significance for the overall work of art of the Dieter W. Liedtke Museum Foundation Complex in Pott d'Andratx, the total value of the series of the nine important reverse glass paintings of numbers 4 to 12 is to be set at an amount of at least DM 900,000.
Summary of the valuation
I. Stolen or destroyed in 1994 in Vineburg, Germany
1.
white genes new
Magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
200 x 200 cmDM 75.000
2.
white areas DNA
magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
200 x 200 cmDM 75.000
3.
Magnetic tapes, acrylic on fabric
1988
250 x 200 cmDM 100.000
II. 1999/2000 stolen or destroyed in Port d'Andreatx, Mallorca, Spain
1. - 12.
9 background paintings, untitled
(3 related diptychs of 2 panels each; 3 single works)
Acrylic on glass
1992
each 33 x 85 cmDM 900.000
Weimar, 16 March 2001
signed Dr. Thomas Föhl