354 artworks worth 300 million Euros by Anselm Kiefer, Markus Lüpertz and Renate Graf allegedly withheld from MAP Collection

Germany based MAP Collection accuses German company Bell Art GmbH. and its managing director Ma Yue of not returning hundreds of works of art, including: 99 Kiefer works, 152 Lüpertz works, and 103 Renate Graf works. Already on July 3, 2019, Maria Tu had reported the case to the Beijing police.

At the press conference to be held at the St. Regis Beijing today, it is anticipated MAP collection owner Maria Chen Tu and famous German artist Lüpertz will allege that Bell Art GmbH (Ltd.) and its managing director, Ma Yue, refuses to return all of the works back to the MAP collections.

Mr Ma was apparently entrusted with the works as part of a cultural exchange project between China and Germany by her, explains Ms. Tu. The works by Markus Lüpertz were exhibited in the China Art Museum Shanghai (August 2016), Tsinghua University Art Museum (March 2017), the Wuhan Art Museum (September 2017) and the Shandong Art Museum (December 2018) and the works by Anselm Kiefer were exhibited at CAFA Art Museum Beijing, (November 2016), the Baijiahu Museum Nanjing, (March 2017), the Shandong Art Museum (2017) and in the Li Zijian Art Museum in Changsha (October 2018).

After that run of exhibitions, the relations between MAP collection and Bell Art deteriorated. Ms. Tu stated that Bell Art GmbH, Ma Yue and related staff tried to sell some of the works without the knowledge or permission of MAP collection. She also accused Ma Yue of extortion, asking 10 million Euros from her to release of the works back to MAP collection.

Mr Ma Yue denies such allegations. His company, Bell Art, is a limited liability company registered in Hamburg, Germany. He maintains he had the right to offer the works for sale and does not withhold the works from their owner, Ms. Tu and MAP collection, and that the artworks are in storage in China. However, there are unresolved disputes about the management and handling costs.

What further complicates matters is that both parties apparently agree that there has never been a written agreement between the two parties.

* This article was updated after MAP Collection confirmed that 99 works by Anselm Kiefer are involved and not 87 pieces as originally reported.