Posted on: April 14, 2022 by Hélène Deslauriers
Let us consider recent developments in Belgium, both in relation to Nazi-looted art and colonial-era collections. First, a recent return of Nazi-looted art. On February 10 the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels returned a 1913 painting by Lovis Corinth, Flowers (left), to members of the Mayer family. The painting represents a bouquet of […]
Posted on: March 17, 2022 by Stephanie Drawdy
Just a year before the Spanish flu claimed him in 1918, Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele used hues of orange and red to portray his wife as she looked away, hands folded (left). Some 20 years later in Nazi-occupied Vienna, this portrait would be looted. And now, over 80 years after that, the work is the […]
Posted on: February 4, 2022 by Alexander Herman
On Wednesday evening, I spoke on an online panel organised by the Universities of Bonn and Tel Aviv entitled The Return of Beauty: Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art in Comparative Perspectives. I was asked to introduce the topic of ‘post-colonial’ claims for the return of cultural objects as a point of comparison with claims for the […]
Posted on: January 19, 2022 by Stephanie Drawdy
For just over one hour on Tuesday 18th January, the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument centered on procedural issues that will decide the next steps in the protracted case involving a Camille Pissarro masterwork.[1] The painting, Rue Saint-Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie, is currently held by Spain in its Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo […]
Posted on: July 27, 2021 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
The July issue of Art Antiquity and Law has now gone to press and hard copies of the burgundy journal will soon be landing on doorsteps around the world, with digital copies finding their way to inboxes. For those interested in subscribing, please see here. This issue contains articles and case notes on a wide […]
Posted on: January 7, 2021 by Stephanie Drawdy
In March 2020, the U.S. State Department issued the ‘Just Act Report’, a 196-page document with a laudable goal – furthering long-delayed justice for Holocaust victims, survivors and heirs. It is described as an “essential tool” to show the U.S. Congress where restitution efforts are lagging across the globe. The rather disheartening results show a […]
Posted on: January 5, 2021 by Alexander Herman
If 2020 taught us anything it’s that making predictions is a futile – perhaps perilous – exercise. Looking back at our predictions for 2020 from last January only confirms this. Who would have thought that a global pandemic would tear through the fabric of our cozy existence, all the while upsetting a number of accepted […]
Posted on: October 26, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy
The Cassirer heirs recently received another negative ruling in their lawsuit to recover a Nazi-looted painting by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro, but this case has not yet ended. The heirs indicated their intent to request a rehearing of the Ninth Circuit’s holding that, under Spanish law, title to the Pissarro is rightly held by the […]
Posted on: September 8, 2020 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
We are pleased to announce that the latest issue (Vol XXV, 2) of our journal Art Antiquity & Law is available now, please see below for details on subscriptions and access. Paul Kearns provides the readers with a comprehensive panorama of the international legal regulations on freedom of artistic expression, a fundamental but much overlooked and […]
Posted on: August 21, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy
A collection of ecclesiastical art known as the Guelph Treasure (Welfenschatz) is at the center of a U.S. restitution claim brought by heirs of Holocaust victims who sold it during the Nazi reign, previously discussed here. Having held the highly valued collection for approximately six decades, Germany is unwilling to part with what it considers […]