In December it was announced that the University of Oklahoma and Leone Meyer had reached a tentative settlement in the litigation over Meyer’s claims to La Begère by Camille Pissarro, a painting stolen from her father Raoul during the Vichy regime. Yesterday the final agreement was made public. As reported by Graham Bowley at the New York Times, title to the painting will reportedly be confirmed as Meyer’s, and the work will be displayed on a rotating basis in France (where Meyer lives) and the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art (where it has been) until such time as Meyer donates it to a French museum (either during life or in her will). It is a remarkable development in a case that the Oklahoma defendants defended vigorously, and a credit to the participants and lawyers involved on both sides that they were able to bridge the gap and reach an agreement.
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Topics:
Léone Meyer’s,
University of Oklahoma,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,
Restitution,
World War II,
Camille Pissarro
A recent report by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) has made strong criticisms of American museums with respect to their handling of Nazi-looted art claims. In particular, the report criticizes the assertion of timeliness defenses such as statutes of limitations. The report focuses in particular on cases involving the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum at the University of Oklahoma. There is no state control over the vast proportion of art in America the way there is in most European countries, and thus, no possibility of singular, nationalized approaches. In response to the report, some of the museums mentioned have defended their strategies, though in some cases the players are talking past each other. What is undeniable is that whether as a function of the nature of U.S. museums (largely private, rather than public), it is hard to say there is a coordinated approach to the issue, good or bad. The report is lengthy and detailed, and well worth a read in depth that space here does not permit. In some ways, the question it poses boils down to this: is determining the historical truth the obligation of everyone involved or is there some room to prevail without addressing the larger issues?
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Topics:
Toledo Museum of Art,
Street Scene in Tahiti,
Léone Meyer’s,
American Association of Museums,
Two Nudes,
La bérgère,
AAMD Task Force on the Spoliation of Art during th,
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection,
Rue St. Honoré après-midi êffet de pluie,
University of Oklahoma,
Cassirer,
Nazi-looted art,
Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum,
Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art,
World Jewish Restitution Organization,
WJRO,
Association of Art Museum Directors,
Restitution,
American Alliance of Museums AAM,
World War II,
Paul Gaugin,
Camille Pissarro,
Oskar Kokoschka,
Museums,
Museum of Fine Arts Boston,
AAMD,
Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena
When the U.S. District Court in New York recently transferred Leone Meyer’s case seeking restitution of the Camille Pissarro painting La bergère rentrent des moutons (which it had earlier dismissed), we wondered whether the move closer to the painting might prove useful for Meyer. That is to say, would renewed attention prompt non-judicial activity? The Oklahoman has taken notice too, with an in-depth article recently (I am quoted in the print article).
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Topics:
Fred Jones,
University of Oklahoma,
La bergère rentrent des moutons,
Restitution,
World War II,
Leone Meyer,
Camille Pissarro,
Paul Wesselhöft,
Museums,
Jr. Museum,
The Oklahoman
A U.S. District Court judge has taken the recent invitation of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and transferred to Oklahoma a lawsuit by Léone Meyer over ownership of a Camille Pissarro painting at the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum at the University of Oklahoma. The case will now proceed in Oklahoma, where the museum seems likely to assert both sovereign immunity under Oklahoma law, as well as an argument that transfers in Switzerland conferred legal title to the museum as a successor to those transfers. However counterintuitive it seems, it may yet be that a court could agree with Meyer that the painting was stolen, but agree with Oklahoma that a Swiss litigation in the 1950s about whether it was sold to a good faith buyer means that Oklahoma holds full title and ownership.
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Topics:
David Findlay Jr. Inc.,
due process,
third party beneficiary,
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Raoul Meyer,
Nazi Occupation,
American Alliance of Museums,
University of Oklahoma,
Aaron and Clara Weitzenhofer,
Judge Colleen McMahon,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,
AAM,
Vichy,
La bergère rentrent des moutons,
Association of Art Museum Directors,
Restitution,
David Findlay Galleries,
World War II,
CPLR 301,
Switzerland,
Leone Meyer,
long art statute,
Camille Pissarro,
Museums,
personal jurisdiction,
AAMD,
Christoph Bernoulli,
Swiss judgment,
Rep. Mike Reynolds
An interesting development happened last week in the case seeking restitution of a Camille Pissarro painting held by the University of Oklahoma. The plaintiff Leone Meyer appealed the May 14, 2014 judgment that found that the courts of New York lacked jurisdiction over the Oklahoma-based defendants affiliated with the University of Oklahoma (the painting is in the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art). Without ruling on the jurisdictional basis for dismissal, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the matter back to the trial court for consideration of whether the case should be transferred to Oklahoma. It seems likely that it will be, or even if not, that she will file a new case there and the matter will continue. It’s splitting hairs, but many of the headlines suggesting that the Court of Appeals had revived Meyer’s claims are not quite right; Meyer’s claims have still never been addressed on the merits (so they were never dead) and, as discussed below, another forum remains available to her. The larger point is that a second round is likely coming in Oklahoma.
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Topics:
David Findlay Jr. Inc.,
Raoul Meyer,
Nazi Occupation,
University of Oklahoma,
Aaron and Clara Weitzenhofer,
Judge Colleen McMahon,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,
Vichy,
La bergère rentrent des moutons,
Restitution,
David Findlay Galleries,
World War II,
Switzerland,
Leone Meyer,
Camille Pissarro,
Museums,
personal jurisdiction,
Christoph Bernoulli,
Swiss judgment
As we reported last week, the U.S. District Court dismissed claims against the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art, the University of Oklahoma, and associated Oklahoma defendants, over title to the Camille Pissarro painting La bergère rentrent des moutons (a case in which I represented the David Findlay Jr. Gallery).
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Topics:
David Findlay Jr. Inc.,
due process,
third party beneficiary,
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Raoul Meyer,
Nazi Occupation,
American Alliance of Museums,
University of Oklahoma,
Aaron and Clara Weitzenhofer,
Judge Colleen McMahon,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,
AAM,
Vichy,
La bergère rentrent des moutons,
Association of Art Museum Directors,
Restitution,
David Findlay Galleries,
World War II,
CPLR 301,
Switzerland,
Leone Meyer,
long art statute,
Camille Pissarro,
Museums,
personal jurisdiction,
AAMD,
Christoph Bernoulli,
Swiss judgment
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed the much-publicized claims by Leone Meyer against the University of Oklahoma and related Oklahoma public officials and insitutions for the return of La bergère rentrent des moutons by Camille Pissarro, currently in the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art. In full disclosure: I represented David Findlay, Jr., Inc. in the action, who was dismissed from the action last year by agreement.
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Topics:
David Findlay Jr. Inc.,
due process,
third party beneficiary,
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Raoul Meyer,
Nazi Occupation,
American Alliance of Museums,
University of Oklahoma,
Aaron and Clara Weitzenhofer,
Judge Colleen McMahon,
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,
AAM,
Vichy,
La bergère rentrent des moutons,
Association of Art Museum Directors,
Restitution,
David Findlay Galleries,
World War II,
CPLR 301,
Switzerland,
Leone Meyer,
long art statute,
Camille Pissarro,
personal jurisdiction,
AAMD,
Christoph Bernoulli,
Swiss judgment
