The Appellate Division First Department in New York has affirmed the trial court’s ruling in Reif v. Nagy that the heirs of Viennese actor and Holocaust victim Franz Friedrich (Fritz) Grünbaum are entitled to the return of two Egon Schiele drawings, Woman Hiding her Face (1912) and Woman in a Black Pinafore (1911). The ruling is a momentous victory for the Grünbaum heirs, and features several recurring characters in many Nazi-looted restitution disputes. We were doubly gratified to see the First Department’s citation to our own case, Philipp v. F.R.G., 894 F.3d 406 (D.C. Cir. 2018) for the proposition that sales under duress are void and violate international law consistent with the policies of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016. It is a landmark ruling and a testament to the perseverance of the Grünbaum heirs and their legal team.
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Topics:
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Galerie St. Etienne,
Nazi-looted art,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act,
Galerie Gutekunst,
Holocaust,
Fritz Grünbaum,
NS Raubkunst,
Egon Schiele,
Mathilde Lukacs,
Franz Kieslinger,
Anschluss,
Welfenschatz,
HEAR Act,
Ankerwycke,
A Tragic Fate,
Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art,
Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016,
Woman in a Black Pinafore,
Woman Hiding her Face,
Seated Woman With Bent Left Leg (Torso),
Reif v. Nagy,
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals,
Eberhard Kornfeld,
Philipp v. F.R.G.,
New York Law Journal,
Gutekunst & Klipstein,
Jonathan Petropoulos
This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the Washington Conference on Nazi-Era Assets and the corollary Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated Art that have driven much of the conversation since then. Apollo magazine published my thoughts on the impact of the Washington Principles, which I reproduce below (British spelling, thank you), as well as a thoughtful piece by Martin P. Levy (a member of the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel, one of the commissions created in response to the Washington Principles).
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Topics:
Nazi-looted art,
SPK,
Advisory Commission,
Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Washington Principles,
HEAR Act,
UK Spoliation Advisory Panel,
Apollo Magazine,
Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016,
Washington Conference on Nazi-Era Assets,
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport,
National Gallery in London,
Claims Conference,
JUST Act
The recent announcement of the launch of the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAA) is exciting and intriguing news. There is nothing peculiar to the art market or the art world about the existence of disputes—any businessperson in a wide variety of industries can testify to that. But what is promising about this initiative is the opportunity it presents to streamline an important segment of art world disputes, and in so doing to create a larger body of legal guidance that will in itself be useful in and outside of formal controversies. It does not supplant civil litigation in courts, nor does it make any pretense of doing so. It could, however, become an important complement. Critical will be enough buy-in from lawyers in particular to become willing to recommend its inclusion in contracts, for example. I would certainly include myself in that group, depending on the specific circumstances.
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Topics:
Stropheus,
Judith Prowda,
Sotheby’s Institute of Art,
London,
AAA,
Geneva,
Pryor Cashman LLP,
Tom Brady,
Megan Noh,
New York,
HEAR Act,
CAA,
Authentication in Art,
Arbitration,
JAMS,
The Hague,
NAI,
Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016,
Quinn Emanuel Urquart & Sullivan LLP,
Court of Arbitration for Art,
Netherlands Arbitration Institute,
William Charron,
Cahill Cossu & Robinson LLP,
Luke Nikas
