The New York Times reported yesterday that the German Lost Art Foundation had removed several paintings once owned by the Viennese cabaret actor Fritz Grünbaum from the Lost Art database. While the history of these objects is hotly contested, it was a particularly strange choice given that Grünbaum’s heirs just won a judgment earlier this year that the works by Schiele must be returned to them—by reason of Nazi duress. For a database that has never been suggested as an adjudication of rights but rather as a repository of notice to the world of possible title issues, it was a perplexing choice. Against the backdrop of the party that the German government and the foundation are throwing themselves in November for which few outsiders have been able to register, the explanation appears much less benign particularly against the backdrop of the government’s historical revisionism in U.S. federal court litigation.
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Topics:
laches,
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Germany,
Nazi-looted art,
res judicata,
Die Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste,
Holocaust,
Magdeburg,
Fritz Grünbaum,
NS Raubkunst,
Bavaria,
Egon Schiele,
Mathilde Lukacs,
Task Force,
New York Times,
National Gallery,
A Tragic Fate,
German Lost Art Foundation,
Kieslinger,
Woman in a Black Pinafore,
Woman Hiding her Face,
Charles E. Ramos,
Seated Woman With Bent Left Leg (Torso)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld the judgment against Marei von Saher on her claims against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to recover Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Cranachs belonged to Von Saher’s father-in-law Jacques Goudstikker, a renowned Dutch Jewish art dealer who fled the Netherlands. Yesterday’s decision was the latest in a complicated case, holding that the claim could not proceed because it would conflict with a judgment made by the Dutch government—in a case about paintings that no one disputes were looted by the Nazis but which the Norton Simon refuses to return. Notably, the Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal entered two years ago by the District Court, but for different reasons. Where the trial court had held in 2016 that Von Saher was not entitled to the paintings by applying substantive Dutch post-war law, the Ninth Circuit yesterday held that it could not entertain the question because it involved a so-called “Act of State,” a doctrine under which courts will decline to review certain kinds of cases that implicate sovereign acts. It was not a complete surprise—the appeals court had hinted at the possibility of applying the doctrine back in 2014 when it remanded the case on one of its multiple trips to the appellate court—but was a curious application of it to a sale by the Dutch government, an act that is quintessentially commercial, not sovereign. It remains to be seen what Von Saher will do next. Von Saher is a complicated dispute that deserved its day in court, not the back of the hand out of “respect” for an “official” act that never actually happened, or an official act that this most recent decision actually contradicts.
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Topics:
Alois Miedl,
Act of State,
Jacques Goudstikker,
Nazi-looted art,
Hermann Goering,
Restitution,
Marei Von Saher,
Ninth Circuit,
HEAR Act,
A Tragic Fate,
George Stroganoff,
Commisssie Rechtsverkeer in oorlogstijd,
Royal Decree 133,
Royal Decree A6,
CORVO,
Royal Decree 100
Since the passage in 2016 of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, many commenters (here included) have grappled with what the implications of the law will be on the scope and frequency of future claims. Even as litigants are faced with policy arguments about whether individual claims belong in U.S. courts—arguments that the HEAR Act should have put to rest—it is occasionally worthwhile to consider how prior cases would have been affected. Such analysis can draw into relief why the law was such a significant step forward. This week, news that a painting by Vincent Van Gogh once owned by Elizabeth Taylor will go to auction again provides one such example. A beautiful painting in the collection of the biggest movie star in the world makes for a great sales pitch, but missing in the coverage is any mention of Margarethe Mauthner, a German Jew who owned the painting before fleeing the Nazi regime. The exact circumstances under which she lost possession of the painting are unclear, but those circumstances might have had the chance to be determined had the HEAR Act been passed earlier. The importance of that opportunity is worth considering as the law is assessed going forward.
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Topics:
Margarethe Mauthner,
Nazi-looted art,
Van Gogh,
Christie's,
Holocaust Victims Redress Act,
Sotheby's,
Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act,
HEAR Act,
A Tragic Fate,
Vue de l'asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy,
Alfred Wolf,
Elizabeth Taylor,
Paul Cassirer
I am very pleased to be in Chicago on February 26, 2018 at the Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law to discuss my book, A Tragic Fate—Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art. DePaul's cultural heritage law program is at the pinnacle of art, museum, and cultural property study, and it is a great honor to be invited.
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Topics:
DePaul University of Law,
A Tragic Fate,
Wayland Public Library
I am pleased to report that A Tragic Fate—Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (Ankerwycke) has been named one of Kirkus Reviews’ 100 Best Indie books of 2017.
A Tragic Fate received a star review from Kirkus in June, one of only 10% of reviews to receive that designation. Now, A Tragic Fate has been honored as a selected “Best of 2017” from among those small number of starred review.
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Topics:
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
A Tragic Fate,
Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art,
Kirkus Reviews
As Germany puts on the much-anticipated exhibition in Bonn of Cornelius Gurlitt’s disputed collection, a strange story has developed not too far away in Düsseldorf. The Stadtmuseum, which is administered by the city itself, had organized—but now cancelled—“Max Stern: from Düsseldorf to Montreal.” The exhibition was scheduled to open in February in Düsseldorf, before traveling to the Haifa art museum in September of 2018 and to the McCord Museum in Montreal in 2019. The city’s acknowledgement that the decision was based on a claim for restitution from the Max Stern Estate is a disturbing development that provides no sound reason to cancel a show about an important dealer who, it is undisputed, was a seminal figure of Nazi persecution.
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Topics:
Nuremberg laws,
Cologne,
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Germany,
The Art Newspaper,
Köln,
Nazi-looted art,
Düsseldorf,
The New York Times,
A Tragic Fate,
Max Stern from Düsseldorf to Montreal,
McCord Museum,
Reichskammer der bildenden Künste,
Dr. and Mrs. Max Stern Foundation,
Max Stern Restitution Project,
Girl from the Sabine Mountains,
Max Stern,
Haifa,
Francis Xavier Winterhalter,
Mädchen aus den Sabiner Bergen,
The Artist’s Children,
Wilhelm von Schadow,
Düsseldorf Kunstpalast,
Andreas Achenbach,
Sicilian Landscape,
Norwegian Landscape,
Galerie Max Stern,
Mayor Thomas Geisel
I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking about my book A Tragic Fate: Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (now available in both hardcover and Kindle edition) and related topics on September 13, 2017 at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and the Institute of Art and Law. Entitled “Nazi-Looted Art: From Fair and Just Solutions to Litigation,” I will give an overview of the topic of the intersection between legal and ethical challenges that have surrounded efforts to restitute art looted by the Nazis and their allies. A panel discussion will follow with experts Tony Baumgartner of Clyde & Co. (and a member of the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel), Charlotte Woodhead (Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick and an instructor at the Institute of Art and Law) and Gregor Kleinknecht of Hunter Solicitors. There will be a reception and an opportunity to buy and have copies of the book signed.
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Topics:
Nazi-looted art,
Events,
A Tragic Fate,
Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art,
Tony Baumgartner,
Clyde & Co.,
Institute of Art and Law,
Centre for Commercial Law Studies,
Queen Mary University of London,
From Fair and Just Solutions to Litigation,
Charlotte Woodhead,
Gregor Kleinknecht,
Hunter Solicitors
The following is from the Kirkus Reviews starred review of A Tragic Fate--Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (emphasis added)
A comprehensive review of United States court cases involving art that was plundered by Nazis.
Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime was always keenly attuned to the power of cultural symbolism and eager to find new ways to disenfranchise Jewish people. These two preoccupations converged in their looting of privately owned art between 1933 and 1945. Some treasures were brazenly confiscated, while others were purchased at steep, coerced discounts. In the last few decades, there’s been growing interest in this large-scale larceny, and yet much of the stolen art will likely never be returned to its original owners. Debut author O’Donnell, an attorney, calls this the “central paradox posed by disputes in the last twenty years.” In this book, he diligently catalogs the many moral and judicial reasons for this absurdity, as well as the evolution of laws regarding claims. His study specifically focuses on cases that resulted in litigation in America, providing an exhaustive account of each and arguing that such litigation can be an effective legal strategy, despite complaints to the contrary. O’Donnell also includes discussions of landmark moments in art-restitution law, such as the London Declaration in 1943, the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets in 1998, and the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016, which was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The United States emerges in O’Donnell’s account as an early, forceful leader in international art restitution, despite the fact that some of its own laws, and even the Fifth Amendment, can complicate victims’ options. His mastery of the relevant law is nothing short of stunning, and his meticulous parsing of legal detail leaves no stones unturned.
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Topics:
Nazi-looted art,
Books,
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
A Tragic Fate,
Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art,
Kirkus Reviews
New book explores the historical, ethical, and legal consequences of stolen art
I am pleased to announce that my book A Tragic Fate—Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (Ankerwycke/ABA Publishing ) is available for purchase and delivery. I am proud to have composed the first comprehensive overview of looted art disputes in the United States, grounded in the historical and ethical perspectives that have shaped the debate over time. This has been a fascinating project that am very excited to share. As I hope readers of the blog will agree, my effort is always to provide a resource that those of general interest will find engaging but not hypertechincal, and which practioners will find useful as a resource.
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Topics:
Catherine Hickley,
Nazi-looted art,
Sullivan & Worcester LLP,
Books,
Georgina Adam,
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
Art Law Report,
ABA Publishing,
Ankerwycke,
A Tragic Fate,
Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art
