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 […]
Posted on: July 8, 2015 by Alexander Herman
As the European Parliament is set to vote tomorrow on the amended Report dealing with the harmonisation of ‘Freedom of Panorama’ across Europe, the opposition to the Report has taken off. This can be seen in the nearly 500,000 digital signatures acquired in the last week alone protesting the current provisions of the Report: notably the […]
Posted on: July 1, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Last night BBC 4 aired a programme hosted by journalist Dan Cruickshank entitled Civilisation Under Attack, charting the impact of the Islamic State (or ISIS) on antiquities in regions under the group’s control in Iraq and Syria. The programme covered the destruction of the site at Nimrud and of objects in the Mosul Museum, and included a […]
Posted on: May 31, 2015 by Alexander Herman
The disputed collection that had once belonged to the great Irish dealer and collector Sir Hugh Lane has once again made the headlines. Lane died one hundred years ago this month on the Lusitania when the ship was sunk by German U-boats on its journey from New York to Liverpool. He had put together a fantastic art […]
Posted on: May 26, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 13 May, the Institute of Art and Law with the generous support of Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP hosted a seminar exploring a variety of legal issues surrounding international art transactions. Here is a brief summary: The first speaker was Professor Norman Palmer (3 Stone Buildings), who discussed the various risks associated with the international transfer of cultural […]
Posted on: May 14, 2015 by Alexander Herman
A great seminar yesterday afternoon at Maurice Turnor Gardner in London, with a broad range of topics covered: conflicts of laws, title to ancient artefacts, vesting statutes, negligence in art appraisal, export licensing, customs warehousing, import VAT and freeports. I think it’s fair to say that our speakers covered most, if not all, of the […]
Posted on: May 8, 2015 by Alexander Herman
An interesting recent article in the New York Times recounts the struggle between two Spanish Museums over the right to display four paintings, including two masterpieces of European art (Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and Rogier van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross). The works have been held at the Prado Museum in Madrid since being sent […]
Posted on: May 7, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Just a reminder that the IAL’s International Art Transactions seminar hosted by Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP will run next Wednesday, 13 May 2015, from 2 pm until 5.30 (drinks reception to follow). For more information and to book a spot, go here. The programme is as follows: Programme 2 pm Registration 2.30 Welcome Richard Turnor, Partner, […]
Posted on: May 4, 2015 by Nina M. Neuhaus
A recent art fraud scandal has put Mr Yves Bouvier into the media spotlight. Mr Bouvier, also known as the ‘Freeport King’, oversees freeport operations in Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. He is the largest private shareholder of Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA, the company running the freeport in Geneva. (The majority shareholder is […]
Posted on: April 20, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Having highlighted the issue in an earlier post, the criticism of the upcoming British Museum exhibition, Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilization (a purposely ambiguous title?) has become more vociferous with a cutting article published recently in The Guardian provocatively entitled ‘Preservation or plunder? The battle over the British Museum’s Indigenous Australian show’. Past events involving the Dja Dja Wurrung bark etchings are […]