Author Archives: Alexander Herman

About Alexander Herman

Alexander is Director of the Institute of Art and Law. You can find him on Twitter @artlawalex and on LinkedIn. His book 'Restitution - The Return of Cultural Artefacts' is out now.

2023 Year in Review

Posted on: December 21, 2023 by Alexander Herman

What can be said about art law in 2023? Of course, developments in our sector are often linked to trends in the wider world. This year saw the sad continuation of the war in Ukraine and an unprecedented conflict between Israel and Hamas that erupted after the terrorist attacks of 7 October. Azerbaijan has fully […]

Andy Warhol decision at US Supreme Court: a whimper, not a bang

Posted on: May 22, 2023 by Alexander Herman

Pity the Andy Warhol Foundation. Not only did the Foundation have to close its associated authentication board in 2012, but now it has lost what was probably the most high-profile artistic copyright lawsuit of a generation. Although Warhol’s artworks and his brand continue to enjoy high levels of popularity and financial success, the Foundation has […]

Export deferred Portrait of Mai to be co-purchased by NPG and Getty

Posted on: April 3, 2023 by Alexander Herman

An incredible piece of news dropped on the rather inauspicious time of Friday afternoon. This was the announcement of a plan by the National Portrait Gallery in London (NPG) and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to jointly acquire the famous ‘Portrait of Omai’ by Joshua Reynolds (left), a work that has been export deferred […]

The ups and downs of Turkish repatriation in New York

Posted on: March 24, 2023 by Alexander Herman

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, is a busy man. Not only is he the one deciding whether to bring charges against former President Donald Trump, but he has also been occupied with repatriation events this week. Such handover ceremonies are of course only the final stage in longstanding investigations undertaken by the D.A.’s Antiquities […]

The year ahead

Posted on: January 9, 2023 by Alexander Herman

It is dangerous to make predictions. Too precise and they can be proved wrong. Too vague and they tend not to offer much of use. So it is a difficult line to tread… What do we have to expect from 2023 in the world of art law? If we consider the big developments from last […]

2022: Year in Review

Posted on: December 19, 2022 by Alexander Herman

2022 was a year of great change, both in the world at large and for art law in particular. We saw the end of most of the worst effects of the covid pandemic, accompanied by what appears to be a final farewell to the era of lockdowns. We saw war in Europe for the first […]

Museums, restitution and the new Charities Act

Posted on: September 25, 2022 by Alexander Herman

An important change to charity law that will affect the ability of museums in England and Wales to return collection items was passed by Parliament in February as part of the Charities Act 2022 and is due to come into force this autumn [update, see below]. Charity law is especially important in the cultural sector […]

Benin Bronzes Joint Declaration signed between Germany and Nigeria… but what about the UK?

Posted on: July 5, 2022 by Alexander Herman

At the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on Friday, a joint declaration on the return of the Benin Bronzes was signed by Germany’s Foreign Minister and Commissioner for Culture and Media, and by Nigeria’s Minister of Culture and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. By all accounts, it was an emotional occasion. ‘Today we have […]

Accessory charges brought against former Louvre Director

Posted on: June 10, 2022 by Alexander Herman

“I’m confident in saying there will be more seizures and more prosecutions arising out of this investigation…” Those were the words of Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, speaking to Ben Lewis last year on the Art Bust podcast. He was referring to an antiquities trafficking ring he’d uncovered that had been dealing in artefacts smuggled […]

Fabergé in London – Russia sanctions and immunity from seizure

Posted on: May 25, 2022 by Alexander Herman

On 8 May, the exhibition Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution concluded at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Several of the pieces on display had been lent by collections in Russia, namely those of the Kremlin in Moscow and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The exhibition, which opened on 20 November 2021, began in a […]