eirinnphotography.com

An Enchanted House Becomes a Family’s Curse

VanGogh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:05:13 +0000

By MICHAEL Z. WISE

Belgian banker Adolphe Stoclet and his wife, Suzanne, wanted a home that was a shrine to art, a sumptuously appointed abode where nothing would be left to chance. After the Palais Stoclet in Brussels was completed a century ago, designed by Josef Hoffmann and embellished by a cavalcade of Viennese artists, a guest described it as having “the enchantment of one of the basilicas of Ravenna.”

Enlarge Image

Wayne Andrews / Esto

THE PALAIS STOCLET. Gustav Klimt contributed to its interior design.

It still glitters as a European Taj Mahal, albeit one with reclusive owners and pressing conservation needs that keep it more tightly sealed than the cave of Lascaux. Now the Palais Stoclet, considered the best surviving realization of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” faces an uncertain future as it marks its centennial. For the past decade this Jugendstil masterpiece has been a battleground for the four sisters who inherited it, even as they seek to protect the coveted private property from the ravages of decay, pollution, theft and the prying eyes of the public.

Hoffmann, founder of the Wiener Werkstätte artistic collective, drew up the geometrically refined exterior clad in white Norwegian marble with undulating gold-leafed trim; Werkstätte members including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and Michael Powolny brought splendor to the interiors. The designers placed every item within the house and its grounds, supplying specially created artworks, gardens, furniture, light fixtures, cutlery and silver toilet articles.

For the dining room, Klimt crafted a dazzling marble mosaic encircling a table with 24 chairs. Silver candleholders and tureens studded with malachite cabochons sit atop polished ebony sideboards. Chandeliers strung with pearls heighten the magic.

All is intact as on the day the Stoclets moved in. “It seems as if it were still 1911,” said Alfred Weidinger, deputy director of Vienna’s Belvedere Museum. “You don’t sense the passage of time.” An exhibition about the collaboration between Klimt and Hoffmann is on view through March 4 at the Belvedere, with a focus on the Palais Stoclet, including a reconstruction of its central hallway. “We got farther than anyone else in getting into the house,” Mr. Weidinger said of his research. “We took thousands of photos, but we can’t use a single one since the family won’t allow it.” Family members had indicated a willingness to lend furnishings for the show, but reneged at the last minute.

Stoclet, a financier and engineer who met Hoffmann while working in Vienna, died in 1949 as did his wife. They bequeathed their home to their children, after creating a shareholders’ association aimed at preserving everything unchanged, and it was occupied until 2002 when Stoclet’s daughter-in-law Anny died and her daughters opted not to move back into what they once considered a “maison enchantée.”

Far from anything enchanted, in their adulthood the house has been a source of strife for the sisters. Although the building was listed as a Belgian landmark in 1976, fears arose that the contents might be dispersed. Many non-Wiener Werkstätte artworks from the Stoclet collection have already been auctioned off in the past 10 years. The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought a Duccio Madonna from the Stoclets in 2004 for a reported $45 million—then the New York museum’s costliest purchase ever.

Around the time the Duccio was sold, an inventory of contents was apparently leaked to Brussels authorities, who designated the specially designed furnishings as integral to the landmark. Three of the sisters, Catherine, Nèle and Dominique Stoclet, appealed to Belgium’s Council of State, arguing that the move constituted expropriation without compensation. They lost in February 2011 when the fourth sister, Aude, and her son Laurent Flagey successfully fought to keep house and contents together, while suggesting it be run by a foundation. None of the sisters—now ranging in age from their late 60s to their early 70s—nor Mr. Flagey and the lawyers involved would respond to queries for this article.

Perhaps Hoffmann’s vision of a fully aestheticized domain was doomed from the start. In 1900, well before the Palais Stoclet’s completion in late 1911, Adolf Loos published an essay, “The Poor Little Rich Man,” satirizing the Gesamtkunstwerk concept. It foretold the fate of a wealthy client who submitted to the dictates of an obsessive architect, only to find himself robbed of self-expression and personal history. “It is something inhuman,” Christian Witt-Dörring, a specialist on the Wiener Werkstätte, said by telephone. “It’s an enormous burden for the family. The house belongs not to the occupant, but the other way around.”

Opening the Palais Stoclet, named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2009, as a museum “would mean death,” said Mr. Weidinger, because of the house’s intimate interior scale and the risk of imperiling the fragile furnishings and wood floors. “It’s a small house inside. . . . Hoffmann built a home for a family with a few children,” he added.

“There have been many thefts and deterioration,” said Marc Hotermans, a conservator working there for more than 20 years. Philippe Stoclet, born in the house and a cousin of the sisters, said in a telephone interview: “I am afraid that one day a Russian oligarch or an Arab sheikh may offer to buy the house for $200 million and they’ll sell.” Billionaire Ronald Lauder and the Austrian government have made unsuccessful offers to buy the Palais, whose value has been estimated as exceeding $130 million.

For the moment, the Brussels regional government has drawn up a $1.7 million plan for partial restoration, with half the cost of renovating the exterior and 40% of the cost of fixing the interior paid by taxpayers. Since the house faces the heavily trafficked Avenue de Tervueren, exhaust fumes necessitated refurbishment of corroded marble cladding and the quartet of sculptures surrounding the cupola.

But there’s discontent with this arrangement. “I don’t think that public funds should be used to fill private coffers,” Michel Draguet, director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, said by telephone. “It makes me uneasy when there’s no will to open to the public. I’m convinced that there is a way to create a visitors center outside the house to learn about it.” Meanwhile, the house’s inaccessibility has only heightened its allure, in turn intensifying a sense of siege among the sisters.

“Every time anything is published, they get hundreds of letters and pressure to get in,” art historian Anette Freytag said. “They just want their privacy.” Yet time will inevitably bring change. Catherine Stoclet died in December, and Belgian authorities and art experts hope the next generation—seven great-grandchildren stand to inherit shares—will allow greater entrée. “I have seen a progression already because more experts helping with the restoration could get in,” Ms. Freytag said. “It’s very slowly opening up.”

Mr. Wise is the author of “Capital Dilemma: Germany’s Search for a New Architecture of Democracy” (Princeton Architectural Press).

Doctors ‘Disgruntled’ And Frustrated By Looming Medicare Cuts

VanGogh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:05:13 +0000

Story By: by Julie Rovner

- Robert Wah, reproductive endocrinologist, and chairman of the board of trustees, American Medical Association

Wah says many physicians are also small businesses. So the uncertainty of knowing how much â or in some cases whether they’re going to be paid to see their Medicare patients, is more than just an inconvenience. “Because they have to continue to pay their rent and their insurance and their electric bill and the salaries of the people that work in their office,” he says.

Until now, the public hasn’t had a lot of sympathy for the plight of America’s doctors and their Medicare woes. Despite their complaints, doctors still earn a lot more than the average American. And surveys showed that most doctors continued to treat Medicare patients.

This problem with how Medicare pays doctors is the result of a funding formula enacted in 1997 that’s since gone awry. It affects many members of the military, too, because rates for the TRICARE health program are tied to those for Medicare.

But over time it has been gradually eroding what doctors earn to care for those patients. That’s because while Congress mostly hasn’t let the scheduled cuts take effect, it also hasn’t given doctors a raise, either. The result, says Wah, is “there’s now a 20 percent gap between… the cost of taking care of the folks in the Medicare and TRICARE system and the lack of increase in our fee schedule.”

Now that’s starting to have an impact on patients, says Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a health research think tank. Ginsburg says most Medicare patients aren’t having trouble getting care because they’re not changing doctors. But with many doctors not taking new Medicare patients, there is starting to be an access problem.

“Someone who needs another doctor, either because they’ve moved, or their doctor is retired or they just don’t like their doctor anymore; those are the people bearing the brunt of whatever access limitation we have,” Ginsburg says.

But Ginsburg says he’s also worried about something else â the increasing gap in pay between primary care doctors, like family practitioners, and internists and specialists. Particularly now, he says.

“We really are looking to primary care physicians to play a bigger role, to coordinate care, to manage chronic disease, and not just to do piece work,” he says. But “at the same time we’re envisioning a changed role…we’re making primary care much less attractive.”

Those changes to the health delivery system are the result of the 2010 health overhaul. And it did include some payment increases for primary care doctors in Medicare. But it didn’t fix the overall doctor payment problem â largely because it cost too much.

And while there were a few hints that Congress might be getting ready to fix it using unspent funds from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that didn’t happen. Which is why Wah and his colleagues are getting increasingly frustrated.

“Our organizations are committed to helping Congress develop better ways to pay physicians and deliver care to patients,” said a joint statement from the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeone, and American Osteopathic Association. “(B)ut Congress must do its part and enact permanent repeal of the (current funding formula) âbefore 2012 comes to a close.”

McCain hopeful on Egypt NGO row

VanGogh — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:05:13 +0000

Egypt is working "very diligently" to resolve the case of foreign workers facing charges, the country's military ruler has told US Senator John McCain.

Visiting Cairo, Mr McCain said Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi had assured him Egypt was seeking to resolve the issue.

Mr McCain expressed "guarded optimism" the case could be brought to a close.

Egypt's ruling military council has accused foreign groups of funding street protests against them.

At least 43 NGO workers, including 19 Americans, are facing charges and have been banned from leaving Egypt.

Washington has warned it could review US aid to Egypt unless Cairo respects the rights of non-governmental organisation (NGOs).

Their trial is set to begin on 26 February.

Mr McCain is one of five US senators visiting Egypt, in a trip planned before the NGO workers were charged.

On Monday the senators met with representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and its political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, which now holds the largest voting bloc in Egypt's parliament.

"The speaker informed us they are working on a new NGO law to update the Mubarak era's rather restrictive and repressive NGO law," Mr McCain said.

US state department officials warned previously that aid to Egypt, including military support from the US, could be under threat if charges against NGO workers were not dropped.

Another senator in the delegation, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, told reporters it was still in US interests to help Egypt.

"It is in our interest economically, politically, and certainly from a national security point of view to help this young, struggling democracy, because if it turns out well, everything in this region changes for the better."

Mr Graham is a board member of one of the organisations facing censure, the International Republican Institute, and dismissed the charges.

"This was a politically motivated action," he said. "And as an American I'm offended that people would say things about these organisations."

The US groups deny they have done anything illegal and have accused Egypt's military rulers of derailing democracy.

Egypt's main accuser in the NGO case, cabinet minister Faiza Abul Naga, was appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak.

El banco central de China aumentará su apoyo al fondo de rescate europeo

VanGogh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:05:13 +0000

Dow Jones Newswires

BEIJING (EFE Dow Jones)– El gobernador del Banco Popular de China, Zhou Xiaochuan, continuó el miércoles con la retórica de apoyo a Europa, al señalar que el banco central del país se compromete a aumentar sus activos denominados en euros.

China ha invertido en activos en euros y seguirá aumentando su cartera, dijo Zhou en un evento sobre el euro en Beijing al que también asistieron el presidente del Consejo Europeo, Herman Van Rompuy, y el de la Comisión Europea, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.

Zhou reiteró los recientes comentarios del primer ministro chino, Wen Jiabao, que dijo que China aumentará su participación en el Fondo Europeo de Estabilidad Financiera.

Pero añadió que confía en que la eurozona y la Unión Europea puedan ofrecer productos de inversión más atractivos.

Pese a los compromisos de asistencia, las autoridades chinas se han cuidado hasta la fecha de ofrecer nuevas propuestas específicas de inversión en Europa y de comprar activos europeos.

China ha comprado regularmente bonos emitidos por el FEEF y también deuda soberana de varios países de la eurozona, pero el nivel de la inversión se desconoce.

Así mismo, el Banco central de China se comprometió el miércoles a mantener su actual política monetaria “prudente”, pero también a hacer ajustes cuando y como lo considere oportuno.

China se enfrenta todavía al riesgo de debilidad en el crecimiento económico, y a presiones inflacionistas, dijo el Banco Popular de China en su informe del cuarto trimestre sobre política monetaria.

“No se conseguirá estabilidad de precios sin condiciones ni de forma automática. Se necesita que las políticas macroeconómicas continúen manteniendo una buena intensidad y ritmo”, dijo el Banco Popular de China.

La entidad afirmó que usaría de manera flexible las tasas de interés y otras herramientas basadas en los precios para mantener la estabilidad general de la economía y los niveles de precios.

El Banco Popular de China también utilizará las tasas de interés de forma flexible para ajustar la demanda de capital y las decisiones de ahorro e inversión, informó el banco central.

Los precios de la vivienda en algunas zonas ya han comenzado a moderarse, y la subida excesivamente rápida de los precios de las propiedades ha sido “contenida inicialmente”, explicó.

El banco central dijo también que mantendría la tasa de cambio del yuan “básicamente estable y en un nivel razonable”, repitiendo el lenguaje habitual.

Shaker Ali regains top bowling standing

VanGogh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:05:13 +0000

Dubai: Defending champion Shaker Hussain Al Ali finally hoisted himself at the top of the standings in the Open competition, qualifying on the seventh day of the 3rd Dubai International Bowling Tournament being held at the Dubai Bowling Centre.

Shaker Ali rolled a fantastic second series of 722 to compliment the opening one of 688 and third series of 760 for a total pin-fall of 2,170 and an average of 234.11.

In hot pursuit is Filipino Jordan Evan who climbed up from eighth to second with series rolls of 759, 696 and 707 for a total pin-fall of 2,030 and an average of 225.56, while third place was occupied by Ali Ahmad Al Saffar with series of 703, 699 and 744.

UAE national squad members Hussain Al Suwaidi and Syed Ebrahim Al Hashemi are in fourth and fifth places while former UAE national coach Patrick Healy saw his scores of 690, 714 and 713 slip him to sixth overall, with a few more days of qualifying still remaining.

Article continues below

Rio Tasty Stuff

VanGogh — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:05:13 +0000

Enlarge Image