The German magazine Focus broke a story over the weekend that could be the biggest restitution news since Portrait of Wally or Altmann v. Republic of Austria: roughly 1,400 paintings were found in a Munich apartment that may have been seized, looted, or sold bought under duress by the Nazis in the 1930s as part of their drive to purge what they called “degenerate”—but extremely lucrative—art (the Focus coverage is extensive and excellent, though fair warning, in German). The paintings, which were apparently recovered not recently, but in 2011 as part of a customs seizure related to a currency declaration of all things, include works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Emil Nolde, Franz Marc, Max Beckmann, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Liebermann and Albrecht Dürer, from collections traced back to Paul Rosenberg and others who had to abandon their property during the war, all long thought lost to the destruction of the war. They are valued in excess of 1 billion euros.
Nicholas O'Donnell
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Paintings Targeted by the Nazis Found in Munich, Could be Biggest Discovery Since the War. What Now?
Topics: Stephanie Barron, unbekannte Meisterwerke, Focus, Hildebrand Gurlitt, S. Lane Faison, Linz Führermuseum, Max Liebermann, WWII, Monuments Men, Alt Aussee, Gurlitt Collection, Max Beckmann, Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Naz, Albrecht Dürer, Auktionshaus Lempertz, Entartete Kunst, Nazis, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Entdeckung verschollener Kunst, beschlagnahmte Bilder, Restitution, 1939 Galerie Fischer auction, World War II, degenerate art, Los Angeles County Musuem of Art, Erben, Raubkunst-Bildern, Altmann v. Republic of Austria, Portrait of Wally, Löwenbändiger, Franz Marc, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, München, Pablo Picasso, Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservat, Nazi Raubkunst, Henri Matisse, Emil Nolde
A New York Supreme Court judge dismissed the claims filed against the Metropolitan Museum of Art over whether its admissions policy was inconsistent with city law and the museum’s charter. Lost in many of the headlines, however, is that the entire lawsuit was not dismissed; another claim for misrepresentation is, for the moment, still alive.
Topics: Theodore Grunewald, Metropolitan Museum of Art, TomášNadrchal, Filip Saska, Patricia Nicholson, Stephen Michelman, City of New York, Litigation, Museums, Manhattan County Supreme Court, Shirley Werner Kornreich
A recent loan to the National Gallery in London has grabbed headlines discussing the history of the painting, Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, by Gustav Klimt, surrounding World War II and the persecution of Jews in Austria. Somewhat puzzlingly, the coverage has downplayed the fact that that very painting was already the subjective of an exhaustive proceeding in Austria that denied restitution, a decision reviewed and affirmed by the Austrian Supreme Court (though, apparently, also the subject of more recent requests for reconsideration). Should a claim for restitution or seizure be filed while the painting is outside Austria, in the UK or the US, it could have a troubling effect on respect for final judgments, as well as unintended consequences for restitution claimants who may find their judgments collaterally attacked elsewhere. As difficult as it may seem, the painting cannot be disturbed without putting a great deal more at risk.
Topics: Maria Altmann, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Jonathan Jones, National Gallery London, the Guardian, Vita Künstler, Dr. Erich Führer, Beethoven Frieze, Belvedere, the United Nations Convention on the Recognition a, Jugendstil, Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, Hermine Müller-Hofmann, Amalie Zuckerkandl, Restitution, Neue Galerie, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna in 1900, Kokoschka, Secession, Secession Museum, Austria, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, Fin de siècle, Gustav Klimt, Vienna, Anschluss, UNCITRAL
A last reminder that on Monday, there will be a panel discusion at Columbia Law School entited "Selling the Museum's Collection: Is Deaccessioning Ever Appropriate?" From the event description:
Topics: Donn Zaretsky, Roberta Smith, Deaccession, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Cornell University, Graham W. J. Beal, Richard Levin, Frank Robinson, Pippa Loengard, the Art Law Report, Events, Selling the Museum's Collection: Is Deaccessioning, Williams College Museum of Art, Nicholas O'Donnell, Rhode Island School of Design, New York Times, Detroit Bankruptcy, Samuel Sachs II, Detroit Institute of Art
Next Friday November 1, 2013, the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation is holding its annual conference, and hosting and event entitled "The Monuments Men, Social Media, the Law and Cultural Heritage." It is being held at Fordham Law School, Lincoln Center Campus, 140 W. 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023, from 8:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Scheduled speakers include Robert Edsel and Lynn Nicholas. This is an all-star cast.
Topics: Darius Arya, Leila Amineddoleh, Chasing Aphrodite, Thomas R. Kline, George Clooney, Lynn Nicholas, Richard B. Jackson, The Rape of Europa, Diane Penneys Edelman, Robert Edsel, Lucille Roussin, Lincoln Center, Fordham Law School, Jason Felch, Irina Tarsis, Elizabeth Varner, Salam al-Kuntar, Events, David D’Arcy, Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Program, Holocaust Restitution and Claims Practicum, National Art Museum of Sport, World War II, Monica Dugot, Anne Rothfeld, Portrait of Wally, Marc Masurovsky, Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservat, Corine Wegener, Laurie W. Rush, James McAndrew
Trial begins today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit over whether the city of Detroit is even eligible for the Chapter 9 bankrupcty protection it sought earlier this year. The major point of contention is whether Detroit may, under the Michigan constitution, seek bankrupcty in a way that would reduce pension payments (as it would reduce payment to all its creditors).
Topics: American Alliance of Museums, Ford Bell, Detroit, Bankruptcy, Detroit In, Kevyn Orr, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Bankruptcy
The Appraisers Association of America is hosting its annual Art Law Day on November 8, 2013 at the Kimmel Center at NYU. The schedule, from the event page, is below. This is always a content-packed and thought-provoking day. They keynote address about legislation for authentication experts should be fascinating, and is particularly timely. See you there!
Topics: Karen Sanig, Yuri Yanchyshyn, AXA Art Insurance Corporation, Christopher Robinson, New York University, ARIS Title Insurance Corporation, Steve Pincus, GV Art Conservation, John Cahill, Theresa Melchiorre, Citi Commercial Bank, Art Law Day, Judith Pearson, DePaul University of Law, Yael Weitz, Chris Marinello, Ralph Lerner, David Gorenberg, Appraisal, Jill Arnold, Laurie Rush, Betty Krulik, Events, Simon Hornby, DeWitt Stern Group, Elizabeth von Habsburg, iGavel Auctions, Herrick Feinstein LLP, Appraisers Association of America, Terry Shtob, Art Recovery International, Lark Mason, IRS, Crozier Fine Arts, Mishcon de Reya, Patty Gerstenblith, Dean Nicyper, Winston Art Group, Period Furniture Conservation LLC, Michael McCoullough LLC, Withers Bergman LLP, Gloria Velandia, Judith Bresler
The Center for Art Law has a thought-provoking piece about the intersection of property rights and Banksy’s “residence” in New York right now. Mayor Bloomberg went on record too as saying he considered graffiti, and implicitly the works themselves, “a sign of decay.” It’s hard to see a court making an exception in New York City for graffiti, no matter what the art world says.
Topics: David Hammons, Rock Fan, Public Art, Graffiti Art, Williams College, Michael Bloomberg, Banksy, Chapin Hall, Eugene Johnson, vandalism, Center for Art Law
A pair of recent disputes over sculpture, fair use and moral rights highlights the ongoing concern that Prince v. Cariou has made things worse, not better. The first concerns the estate of sculptor David Smith, and sculptor Lauren Clay. As Art in America put it, “Clay's works replicate the shapes of Smith's large metal ‘Cubi’ sculptures at tabletop scale in materials such as paper, and with faux wood grain or marble finishes.’ The Smith estate, through its reprsentatives at VAGA, took issue with this as a violation of Smith’s copyright. During the discussion, VAGA apparently proposed an agreement in which Clay would agree either not to sell the works, or only to display them with a disclaimer that the works were not authorized.
Topics: Donn Zaretsky, Yellow Submarine, Art in America, La Grande Vitesse, Prince v. Cariou, the Donald Smith Estate, Visual Artists Rights Act, Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, VARA, Alexander Calder, Copyright, Fair Use, Lauren Clay, David Dodde
Last night was a fascinating evening at the Sotheby’s Institute in New York, where Judith Prowda was celebrating the launch of her new book Visual Arts and the Law (Lund Humphries 2013). The book, not at all incidentally, is a must-have.
Topics: free speech, Richard Prince, Amy Adler, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Judith Prowda, Canal Zone, Patrick Cariou, Lund Humphries, Boies Schiller, American Society of Media Photographers, Yes Rasta, Kirkland & Ellis, NYU Law School, Events, Picture Archive Council of America, Shepard Fairey, Dale Cendali, Copyright, Hope, Visual Arts and the Law, transformative, First Amendment, Associated Press, Sotheby’s Institute, Fair Use
