Lost artworks by Karel Appel recovered in warehouse in Britain

Feb 15, 2012, 12:57 GMT

London - More than 400 artworks by leading Dutch expressionist Karel Appel which were lost a decade ago have been found in a warehouse in Britain, the Art Loss Register (ALR) in London said Tuesday.

Appel, who died in 2006, was at the time reported to have been distraught at the loss of his works, which were discovered by the owners of a logistics company in a warehouse the firm acquired just before Christmas.

The collection, which included drawings, experimental works, sketches and personal notebooks, disappeared in 2002 en route from his studio to the Karel Appel Foundation in Amsterdam, Christopher Marinello of the ALR told dpa.

The ALR, which keeps a data base on lost or stolen art works, had registered the eight boxes discovered in the warehouse as 'most wanted' stolen art.

Marinello said the firm at whose premises the works were found wished to remain confidential. He also declined to place a value on the items found.

The company which found the art had agreed to relinquish their claim to it after five weeks of intense negotiation, Marinello said.

Staff at the warehouse, apparently unaware of the significance of what they had found, took the items to Bonham's auction house in London, from where they made their way to the ALR.

Appel was a leading expressionist and member of the avant garde Cobra group formed in 1948. He was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and ceramist whose paintings are admired for their thickly-painted, swirling depictions of grotesque animals and humans.

Marinello said the works had been identified by Harriet Appel, the artist's widow. The foundation said it was delighted as the missing drawings would be added to 'a more correct and complete' catalogue of the artist's works on paper.