Large Shipment of Rare Paintings Reported Missing in Europe

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. -Source: http://www.prnewswire.com