UN piece mission scours corridors for lost art
By Harvey Morris, at the United Nations
Published: March 2 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 2 2009 02:00

The lost items include a sculpture by José de Rivera, the 20th-century American abstract expressionist, and an oil painting entitled "Evening", a gift from Belarus.

Other missing works, including gifts from Mexico and China, do not even show up in the UN's official art register. Investigators had to rely on art books dating back to the 1960s to identify items that had gone astray.

Since the UN moved into the Manhattan complex in 1952, governments have donated hundreds of art works to be exhibited alongside items on loan from museums and private collections. They range from ancient Roman mosaics to a tapestry of Picasso's "Guernica" that hangs outside the Security Council.

The missing art came to light in an investigation by the UN's independent internal auditors. They discovered no single individual or department was responsible for ensuring artefacts were catalogued and conserved.

"The overall system of internal control over gifts management is weak," according to the audit report by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services.

However, management has succeeded in tracking down some of the missing items as the deadline nears for the UN's move into temporary accommodation in October before the $2bn (£1.4bn) renovation.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009