These paintings were found in the open at the harbour front, near a fishing trawler that had arrived earlier that day.
It is unknown at this time whether the trawler arriving that day was linked or is purely coincidental.
The paintings in question were not protected from the elements and experts say that is very fortunate that the weather was good last night as the paintings could have been easily ruined by rain or salt water from the waves.
Missing portraits by Emilie
The paintings have been identified as portraits by Emilie. So far the recovered paintings recovered were mostly of the Tempelhof area, with the notable exception of the previously unknown nude that was donated to the museum. As Emilie was famous for her paintings of the locals this recovery is considered quite important.
The authorities have said that they are happy for the Emilie Museum to hold and display the paintings until the rightful owners are identified.
Tempelhof in SL views these paintings of great cultural significance to the island and encourage resident and visitors to go to the Emilie museum to see them.
An anonymous benefactor has acquired the house that local artist Emilie used to live in and has donated it to Tempelhof along with his own 2 pieces of work by Emilie to the people of Tempelhof. The museum will be operated as a trust for the benefit of the public. The 2 pieces donated have never been seen before as they were private commissions as well as Emilie's sketchbook. As the benefactor of these pieces is anonymous there is quite a lot of interest in the art world about the exhibition of these paintings.
After being informed of the opening of the Museum Tempelhof in SL has put pressure on the local authorities to allow the display of the four Emilie paintings that have so far been recovered from the collection that was stolen. We are proud to announce that these paintings will also be displayed in the Emilie Museum until such time as the rightful owners are identified and the items are claimed, and that all further pieces that are recovered will also be displayed at the Museum.
The Emilie museum will be open to the public at no charge however donations will be accepted for the upkeep of the museum.
EDITORS NOTE
The Emilie Museum is actually privately rented from Tempelhof, it is done so to add to the atmosphere for the benefit of residents and visitors to Tempelhof.
While the museum is not run by Tempelhof itself, all donations collected from tip jars will go straight into Tempelhof's accounts for the upkeep of the entire sim. Tempelhof is a spectacularly unique location in SL that should be supported.
Some of the missing paintings by Emilie have been found by authorities in the back room ofHafenmeister, located next to the Unsink Bar on the harbourfront.
The paintings were found by a structural engineer who was examining the building to see if it could be brought back into use.
Hafenmeister (Harbour Master's Office)
The Hafenmeister building has been abandoned since there was an unexplained grenade accident there which took the Harbour Master's life. When asked about the paintings being in the back room the Engineer said "I have no idea what these paintings are doing there, obviously no one should be using the building at all at present. There is a sewer entrance in that room and I believe the paintings may have been put into the room from there, which would explain how someone got into the building without being noticed walking with a number of large paintings along the sea front."
As of yet authorities have not been able to establish why these paintings were there or who may have taken them in the first place.
Evidence of sewer access
Upon investigation it does indeed appear that there is sewer access to this room.
It must be noted that only four of the missing paintings have been found and this represents only a very small portion of the missing collection.
It has come to the attention of Tempelhof in SL that all of the paintings by beloved local artist Emilie have disappeared from The Kommandantur since we told her story and gave you a free copy of the song about her in our 20 May edition "The Legend of Emilie."
Prior to the war the Kommandantur was a Casino, which was taken over to use as a command post by the Nazis at the beginning of the war. Following the Nazis departure a large stash of artwork was found by the local residents, so of the art is local, others are famous pieces from across Europe. The locals decided to display the art in a public place both out of respect of the art and to make the place look prettier until the pieces can restored to their rightful owners. Because of this the Kommandantur currently houses most of the fine art in Tempelhof and so the disappearance of these locally cherished pieces of work will cause great distress to the local residents.
Ironically it has been suggested that the owner of the largest collection of Emilie paintings was in fact the Casino, and so it is quite possible that the items that have been stolen were the only art work that truly belonged in the building to start with.
It has been speculated that the paintings may have been stolen as a result of the attention that Tempelhof in SL had brought to them by linking the song Emilie to the specific artist that inspired it, and that the firm link may lead to an increase in the paintings value.
There has been no official comment regarding the disappearance of these paintings of the Tempelhof area and its residents and this is further fuelling speculation into what has happened.
Tempelhof in SL calls for a public enquiry into the disappearance of these most beloved art works and asks that anyone who has any knowledge of what has happened to them to assist in finding them so that they can be returned to their rightful place here.
On the hill overlooking the harbour their stands a house, where before the great war lived a young artist named Emilie.
Emilie moved to Tempelhof straight out of art school, and even though was an outsider her quick wit and charm was very appealing to the community and she was quickly accepted by the locals as one of their own
Although Emilie was never really that well known to the greater public, she was very skilled and she did have a reputation locally and in the art world for creating the most memorable paintings of the Tempelhof area, particularly of the residents and the village of Tempelhof itself.
Bar on harbour front
Emilie's work was very popular in the village and she was considered somewhat of a local treasure, always friendly and with a whimsical sprit. She enjoyed spending a lot of her time "people watching," as they worked in the harbour and the theatre, on a weekend late in the evening she would go down to the bar on the harbour front, and just sit and watch people interact as they drank. Occasionally Emilie was known to sing with a local folk band there. Emilie did not have a strong singing voice, but was considered very memorable, her voice has been described as a musical whisper that was enchanting to those who heard.
Emilie spent quite a bit of time talking to fishermen at the harbour and became quite interested in the sea and talking about how she wanted to capture the "Emotion of Ocean." She spent ages painting the sea from all different directions on Tempelhof, the most wonderful scenes of the sea, but she was never satisfied with the results no matter how much people praised them.
Emilie came to the conclusion that the only way she could really paint the sea was to understand it better, so one day Emily simply took a small boat and went out to sea with her painting kit, while out the sea started to get choppy and the fog rolled in taking Emilie from sight of the shore and Emilie was never seen again.
Many local residents claim that on certain days when the sea is rough and the fog rolls in you can still hear Emilie's whispering song in the wind.
While Emilie's paintings never became that well known, the story itself inspired the song "Emilie."
As a special offer "Tempelhof in SL" offers a free copy of a record of the song Emilie with the purchase of this edition.(Click the Youtube link below)
EDITORS NOTE
This story was actually inspired by this song which was written and performed by "The Box" a French Canadian (Québécois) band that mostly performs in English and was from the album "Closer Together." The lead singer Jean-Marc Pisapia was an early member of Men Without Hats (you may remember them from the song "Safety Dance"). He recruited guitarist Guy Florent and bassist Jean-Pierre Brie for the band, The band was originally known as Checkpoint Charlie before settling on the name The Box. This song may be far from everyone's taste but as a child I found it very moving and emotional and so I wrote this story as an excuse to share the song with you.
Special thanks to Clyde Barrow for finding this song online for me.
