The Financial Times has an sad story about the bitter ending to a promising show of African art. It all comes down to a dispute over the shipper’s bill of €709,000:

Hundreds of pieces exhibited at the World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar in December should have been returned by February. Instead, they are being held uninsured by LP Art, the Paris-based fine art handlers, because of a dispute over the size of the bill.

The artists include established names such as the US sculptor Mel Edwards, up-and-coming British Trinidadian Zak Ové and William Kentridge, the South African draughtsman and animator.

Sokari Douglas-Camp, the award-winning sculptor whose £23,000 “School Run” is among the missing pieces, said it was equivalent to the contents of the Venice Biennale being hijacked.

William Webber of the Art Loss Register, the global database of stolen or missing artwork, said it was unprecedented for an entire exhibition to be held in this way.

African Art Show Ends in Standoff Over Bill (Financial Times)