(Germany’s highest court issued a much-anticipated ruling on a challenge by a collector to the listing of his painting in the so-called Lost Art database in Magdeburg, Germany. The Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) ruled that the listing will not be deleted where “based on true facts.” The ruling underscores the informative, rather than legal, nature of the database, which describes itself as documenting “cultural property that was either demonstrably seized from their owners between 1933 and 1945 as a result of Nazi persecution, or for which such a seizure cannot be ruled out.” Insofar as the case just decided involves a well-known victim of Nazi-persecution, the clarification is a welcome and important one. As always in this area, however, the hard cases are harder. The case stopped short of resolving more nuanced cases, or addressing what recourse a collector might have in situations where a listing effectively makes a painting impossible to sell. Perhaps the best course would be to take heed of the way the court decided this case: the database is a critical tool of information, but a less useful one when it comes to sorting out legal rights.
Read More
Topics:
Lost Art Database,
Germany,
Bundesgerichtshof,
Van Gogh,
Magdeburg,
Nazi persecution,
BGH,
IFAR,
Art Loss Register,
A Tragic Fate,
Girl from the Sabine Mountains,
Francis Xavier Winterhalter,
Vue de l'asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy,
Elizabeth Taylor,
German Lost Art Foundation,
Calabrian Coast,
Kalabrische Küste,
Concordia University,
Zentrum für Kulturgutverluste,
ALR,
Düsseldorf,
Bettina Brückner
It has been a great source of pride that in the last year, the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee of the International Bar Association has remained active and engaged with issues of art and cultural property law despite the pandemic. We had a very exciting in-person program organized and ready to go for June, 2020 at the Ecole du Louvre, where I snapped this picture in February 2020 expecting to be back just four months later. Fate intervened, of course, but with thanks to my co-chair last year Giuseppe Calabi, and my co-chair starting January 1 of this year Anne-Sophie Nardon, we have held a webinar in June, a panel at the IBA’s Virtually Together conference, and stayed active in our publications and newsletter. Cultural property and commercial art law certainly hasn’t taken a break for the pandemic, and while I very much miss our in-person gatherings, it has allowed us to reach new members and grow the ranks of our officer team. We are ever larger and more diverse, with officer representation from every continent except Australia (and Antarctica--so far!).
Read More
Topics:
Karen Sanig,
Anne Laure Bandle,
Sullivan & Worcester LLP,
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
Mishcon de Reya,
Art Loss Register,
Court of Arbitration for Art,
Sharon Hecker,
Anne-Sophie Nardon,
Borel & Barbey,
Olivier de Baecque,
Giuseppe Calabi,
Davina Given,
Armstrong Teasdale LLP,
Stan Putter,
Angell Xi,
Jingtian & Gongcheng,
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain,
James Ratcliffe,
CBM & Partners Studio,
Klaus-Jürgen Kraatz,
Kraatz & Kraatz,
Noor Kadhim,
Smallegange,
Steve Schindler,
Schindler Cohen & Hochman
I am pleased to be speaking on a panel at the upcoming Global Auction House Summit presented by Invaluable, the leading technology partner for online auction services. I will be presenting on the issues of Managing Reputation & Risk, and look forward to a lively discussion. The conference schedule is reprinted below, and registration is available here.
Read More
Topics:
Auctions,
London,
Melanie Gerlis,
The Art Newspaper,
Sullivan & Worcester LLP,
Events,
Sotheby's,
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
Art Loss Register,
Real Estate Development,
Affordable Housing,
Institutional Shareholder Services,
Proxy Voting Policies,
John Albrecht,
US Trust,
ARTMYN,
Cuseum,
Andrea Danese,
Athena Art Finance,
Jakob Dupont,
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art,
Lori Hotz,
Lobus,
Bas Kuiper,
Sophie MacPherson,
Julian Radcliffe,
Global Auction House Summit,
Leonard Joel,
Martina Batovic,
Dorotheum,
Evan Beard,
Anna Brady,
Anthony Calnek,
Brendan Ciecko,
Pierre Fautrel,
Obvious,
Andy Foster,
Phillips,
Financial Times,
Dr. Anna-Sophie Hollenders,
Raue LLP,
AMFAD,
Christopher McKeogh,
Gene Shapiro,
Sarah Wendell Sherrill,
Mary-Alice Stack,
Creative United,
Rob Weisberg,
Invaluable,
Georgina C. Winthrop,
Grogan & Company,
Shapiro Auctions
I am speaking at a conference on March 23-24, 2017 at the University of Cambridge (UK) entitled “From Refugees to Restitution: The History of Nazi Looted Art in the UK in Transnational Perspective.” My presentation will address the various national panels created in response to the Washington Conference by European countries to address claims for Nazi-looted art in state collections. The roster of speakers is impressive (present company excluded), and it promises to be a fascinating two days. The program is available here, and the conference website is here.
Read More
Topics:
Wiesbaden,
London,
Holocaust Art Restitution Project,
Paris,
Art Recovery Group,
Constantine Cannon LLP,
Emily Löffler,
Pierre Valentin,
Events,
Johannes Nathan,
Karlsruhe,
Marc Masurovsky,
Sotheby's,
Nicholas M. O'Donnell,
Emmanuelle Polack,
Leopold Museum,
Frankfurt,
Jewish Claims Conference,
Victoria Louise Steinwachs,
Debbie De Girolamo,
Tabitha I. Oost,
Bianca Gaudenzi,
Jewish Museum Prague,
Robert Holzbauer,
Tessa Rosebrock,
Staatliche Kunsthalle,
Laurel Zuckerman,
Shlomit Steinberg,
Richard Aronowitz-Mercer,
Maike Brueggen,
Nathalie Neumann,
Simone Gigliotti,
Royal Holloway University of London,
Anne O. Popham,
Ulrike Schmiegelt-Rietig,
Isabel von Klitzing,
Landesmuseum Mainz,
Michaela Sidenberg,
Mary Kate Cleary,
Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art,
Fluchtgut,
Diana Kostyrko,
Elizabeth Campbell,
University of Denver,
Evelien Campfens,
Leiden University,
Angelina Giovani,
Jennifer Gramer,
Agata Wolska,
Nathan Fine Art GmbH,
Potsdam,
Friederike Schwelle,
Art Loss Register,
Provenance Research & Art Consulting
