Category Archives: Restitution

Chicago conference on art restitution and human rights

Posted on: September 30, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

Those of our readers from Chicago (or passing through the area) may be interested in a fascinating conference coming up called Art Restitution, Preservation of Cultural Heritage and the Human Right to Identity hosted by the John Marshall Law School, running on 15-16th October 2015. The programme includes presentations on the return of Nazi-looted art, the protection of cultural sites during […]

Two important recommendations on Nazi-era loot

Posted on: September 24, 2015 by Alexander Herman

The Spoliation Advisory Panel, the UK body that hears disputes relating to Nazi-looted art held in national collections, has delivered two important reports this month. The first is a follow-up on an earlier 2014 recommendation that the Tate return a Constable painting, ‘Beaching a Boat, Brighton’, to the descendants of the painting’s original owner, Baron Hatvany of Hungary. The Baron had […]

Five Motunui Panels at last returned to NZ tribe

Posted on: September 8, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Following up on a post from last year, the five Motunui panels that had been illegally exported from New Zealand back in the 1970s have finally made the journey back to the tribal lands from which they came. The panels have been with the people of the Te Atiawa since March 2015, having been earlier kept at the Te Papa […]

Update and thoughts on Gurlitt

Posted on: August 6, 2015 by Alexander Herman

It has been some time since we discussed the Gurlitt affair in these pages. And what has happened since? Well, the challenge to Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner has continued on. It is now before the Higher Regional Court in Munich (Oberlandesgericht München) and just last month the Court requested a psychological opinion concerning Gurlitt’s competence […]

Behind the scenes of the Subhash Kapoor operation

Posted on: July 30, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

An interesting and in-depth article appeared last week in the New York Times about Subhash Kapoor’s antiquities smuggling operation. This involved looted antiquities that had been taken from a number of cultural and religious sites throughout India, then sold to unsuspecting buyers. These were buyers of importance, including the National Gallery of Australia, which had purchased […]

Art restitution and the Duke of Wellington

Posted on: July 24, 2015 by Alexander Herman

For those in or around London this summer, it may be worthwhile to stop by Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner to see the former residence of the Duke of Wellington (known as ‘Number 1 London’). But what many people don’t know is that the Iron Duke was a formidable proponent of art restitution. Following his victory […]

New development in Cassirer litigation in California

Posted on: July 17, 2015 by Alexander Herman

The dispute before the California courts between the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation and the descendants of Lily Cassirer Neubauer has now entered its second decade. Neubauer was forced to sell a painting by Pissarro before fleeing Germany in 1939 and her heirs now claim that it should be returned to them from the Spanish Foundation, the painting’s current possessor. The action brought […]

DipIPC in less than a week, and other June events

Posted on: June 3, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The Diploma in Intellectual Property and Collections (DipIPC) course, aimed at art/museum professionals and legal practitioners, will begin in London in one week. This three day course (10-12 June) will cover art, copyright, moral rights, the new UK legislation, orphan works, licensing and international dealings with art. For more information, click here. And there will be two […]

Media coverage of upcoming conference on stolen books

Posted on: May 18, 2015 by Alexander Herman

As many of you know, the Institute of Art and Law, the British Library and the Union Internationale des Avocats are organising a conference next month on the theft and recovery of books, manuscripts and maps. The one-day conference is entitled The Written Heritage of Mankind in Peril and will be hosted by the British Library, taking […]

Canada returns Khajuraho sculpture to India

Posted on: April 29, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Earlier this month, it was reported that Canada was returning a 900-year-old sandstone statue to India. This was done with all the necessary pomp and ceremony, with each nation’s prime minister more than ready for a dual photo op with the piece. Of course it represented much more than mere cultural restitution: as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, cultural relations between […]