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
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
UPDATE: Court Denies Government's Request to Amend Case to Reclaim Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer from St. Louis Art Museum
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on June 1, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Fresh on the heels of our coverage here and here and in the Atlantic, the U.S. District Court in St. Louis has rejected the U.S. government's efforts to save its case to reclaim the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer.
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Topics: Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, St. Louis Art Museum, Collections, Customs, The Atlantic
The Ethical Questions Raised by the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer Case in this Month’s Atlantic
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on May 31, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Malcom Gay in the Atlantic reports on the dismissal of the federal government’s civil forfeiture action under U.S. customs laws United States v. The Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, and the broader quesions about what a museum should do when faced with such claims. In April, the U.S. District Court allowed the St. Louis Museum of Art's Motion to Dismiss and issued a stinging rebuke of the case for seizure of the Mask under customs laws.
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Topics: Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, St. Louis Art Museum, Collections, Customs, The Atlantic
Court in Chabad Library Case Solicits Views of the United States on the Foreign Relations Impact of Holding Russia in Contempt
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on May 24, 2012 at 10:44 AM
Despite some predictions (!) of a swift ruling on the Chabad plaintiffs' motion for contempt for the Russian state library defendants' refusal to comply with an order two years ago to return the library of Menachem Schneerson, the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC today solicited the views of the United States on the possibility of holding the Russian defendants in contempt for their non-compliance with the orders of the Court and their general disregard of the legal proceedings. Russian state museums have refused for more than a year to lend cultural objects into the U.S. because of the ruling, despite multiple and unassailable levels of assurances that loans of objects other than the Schneerson library are safe from any seizure related to the Chabad case.
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Topics: Russian art embargo, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Chabad
Despite Criticism of S.B. 2212’s Proposed Amendment to the FSIA, New Law Would Not Enable Stolen Art
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on May 24, 2012 at 6:04 AM
Doreen Carvajal of the New York Times this week addressed Senate Bill 2212, (the “Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act”) this week, a bill approved in March by the House of Representatives.
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Topics: Legislation, Russian art embargo, Nazi stolen art, Russia, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2459, Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, IFSA, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Portrait of Wally, Immunity from Seizure Act, New York Times, Chabad, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity
