What was the feel-good, ersatz Antiques-Roadshow story of the summer may soon be one of the most prominent art law issues in the country. A painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir entitled “Paysage Bords de Seine” that was purchased at a flea market in 2010 for $7 and authenticated this year as genuine may turn out to have been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
“Flea Market Renoir” May Have Been Stolen Decades Ago, Confusion Abounds
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 28, 2012 at 9:49 AM
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Topics: Forgery, Doreen Bolger, Collections, Baltimore Museum of Art, Washington Post, connoisseurship, Paysage Bords de Seine
Change to New York Art Consignment Statute Adds Protections, Risks
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 27, 2012 at 9:46 AM
New York has passed an amendment to its Arts & Cultural Affairs law, N.Y. Arts & Cult. Aff. Law §12.01(2012), that is important for artist, galleries, and dealers alike. It affects the consignment relationship and creates critical new duties—and liabilities, for the dealer on consignment. Most importantly, it makes using any form of agreement drafted under the old law risky, particularly for the gallery or consignee. Signed by Governor Cuomo this week, the law takes effect November 6, 2012.
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Topics: Legislation, consignment, attorneys' fees, Collections, breach of fiduciary duty, Trusts, Salander O'Reilly
Happy (early) Birthday to the Art Law Report!
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 14, 2012 at 6:18 AM
We launched the Art Law Report one year ago tomorrow. Several dozen posts, thousands of visitors and many more views later, a very special thank you to everyone who has read and followed the blog. The connections made literally all around the world are humbling and enlightening. We continue to strive to provide an interesting selection of legal updates and issues, while offering an opinion and perspective that tries to improve the understanding both of those familiar with legal concepts, and those less so. The continuing developments in copyright, FSIA, immunity from seizure, and other resitution issues in particular are certainly keeping us on our toes, and collections issues like the Barnes case are never too far away either. Your links and comments are appriated, and we will keep linking to all those viewpoints from which we are learning too. Here's to another year of substantive conversation.
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Topics: cultural property, Immunity from Seizure, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Copyright, Immunity from Seizure Act, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity, Art Law Report, Barnes Foundation
"Restitution and Repatriation, the Return of Cultural Objects" at DePaul University Next Month
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 13, 2012 at 6:25 AM
Next month's symposium at DePaul University College of Law Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law entitled "Restitution and Repatriation, the Return of Cultural Objects" looks terrific. The keynote speaker will be Lynn Nicholas of The Rape of Europa fame, and other topics include provenance research, museum acquisitions, and the moral and ethical quandaries posed by restitution and repatriation claims. The speaker lineup includes museum professionals and attorneys. Hope to see you there.
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Topics: cultural property, Lynn Nicholas, Restitution, World War II, Antiquities
Velvet Underground’s Copyright Claim Against Warhol Foundation is Dismissed, Trademark Case Goes On
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 12, 2012 at 11:36 AM
The U.S. District Court in Manhattan has dismissed the copyright claim filed by the Velvet Underground against the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts over the iconic “banana” image from the cover of the legendary The Velvet Underground and Nico album. Without reaching the merits of the claim, the court ruled that the Velvet Underground had agreed previously not to sue on any copyright theories. Reporting of the decision has been spotty at best, however, ranging from declaring a “win” for the Foundation, to suggestions that the copyright question was decided. In fact, the Court did not reach the copyright issue, and the Velvet Underground still has other trademark-based claims that remain very much alive and unaffected by the decision.
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Topics: Copyright, The Velvet Underground and Nico, the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol
U.S. Asks Court Not to Sanction Russian Defendants in Chabad Library Case—What Now?
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 5, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Casting further doubt on the practical possibility of using the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to recover cultural artifacts, the U.S. Government has at long last weighed in on the Chabad plaintiffs’ request for contempt sanctions against the Russian defendants, defendants who have defied for more than two years a judgment to return the library of the late Menachem Schneerson. Rightly or wrongly, this is another example of the waning utility of the FSIA to seek restitution of works held abroad, and does not bode well for the ongoing embargo by Russian museums against cultural artifact loans to the United States.
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Topics: Russian art embargo, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad, Art Law Report
Court Denies Request to Amend Complaint Seeking Forfeiture of Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on August 2, 2012 at 6:33 AM
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Topics: Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, St. Louis Art Museum, Collections, Customs, Civil Forfeiture
Barnes Foundation Relocation Under Attack Again but Unlikely to Come Out Differently
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on July 5, 2012 at 1:13 PM
The Barnes relocation, and challenges to it, are both in the news again. Apparently former Barnes CEO Kimberly Camp—who held that office when much of the push was made to justify the need to relocate to Center City in Philadelphia—posted a blog entry about the financial condition of the Foundation at the time. She writes:
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Topics: Donn Zaretsky, Lee Rosenbaum, Cy Pres, Collections, Friends of the Barnes, Barnes Foundation
Government Tries to Save "Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer" Case Against St. Louis Art Museum, but Did U.S. Miss Its Own Deadline?
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on June 14, 2012 at 10:10 AM
After the U.S. District Court denied the government’s Motion to Reconsider its earlier dismissal of the claim to the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer in the St. Louis Museum of Art, the government has tried another procedure to revive the case, one that is normally unremarkable. A review of the filings in the case raises the question, however, of whether that attempt is too late and the government’s only hopes now rest on an appeal. That is, the government may have promised the Court that it would file any request to file a new complaint of the sort it just did by no later than two weeks ago and missed its own self-imposed deadline.
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Topics: Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, St. Louis Art Museum, Collections, Restitution, 19 U.S.C. § 1595a, United States v. Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, Customs, Civil Forfeiture
Best Case for Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (S.B. 2212) May Have been Made by its Sponsors
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on June 5, 2012 at 5:23 AM
Perhaps lost in the coverage about Senate Bill 2212 (the Art Law Report no less than anyone else) to amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to preclude claims against defendants whose “commercial activity” is limited to the loan of artwork whose ownership is in dispute, is the case made by the sponsors of the bill themselves, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D, CA) and Orrin Hatch (R, UT).
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Topics: Nazi stolen art, Malewicz v. City of Amsterdam, Dianne Feinstein, Immunity from Seizure, 28 U.S.C. 1605(a)(3), FSIA, Restitution, Orrin Hatch, Senate Bill 2212, World War II, IFSA, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity
