Dr Mona Ackerman and Robin Symes

Detail of Apollo.
Source: the Schinoussa Archive

The Huffington Post has carried a feature on the sale of the art collection formed by Dr Mona Ackerman (Katherine Brooks, "Dr. Mona Ackerman Art Collection: Works By Pablo Picasso, Jean Arp And Egon Schiele Head To Christie's", April 12, 2013). One of the pieces, a marble Apollo, is shown in her apartment. The report quotes Paul Provost, Deputy Chairman of Christie's:

Provost explained that Dr. Ackerman worked closely with Peter Marino, an apartment designer, who helped to arrange the eclectic mix of masterpieces in her expansive New York City apartment. One particularly beautiful display included a figurative marble work by Jean Arp as well as a Roman marble torso of Apollo. Both sculptures were displayed in front of the ample apartment windows overlooking the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a subtle juxtaposition of Ackerman's far-reaching tastes.

"Arp has human forms in many ways, about the same size of this Roman torso from the 1st or 2nd A.D," said Provost. "There is a millenia separating them, yet they are harmonious as two beautiful marbles with tremendous symmetry and balance. A significant amount of thought went into this juxtaposition."

It is perhaps significant that the Apollo seems to be the one that features in the Schinoussa Archive of photographs.

The appearance of such Symes material on the market is clearly seen as problematic by some major auction houses. [See overview.]

What is the full collecting history of the Apollo? Will the Italian authorities be interested in this piece?

I am grateful to Christos Tsirogiannis for making this identification from the Schinoussa Archive.