Tag Archives: Canada

Implementing UNDRIP into Canadian Law

Posted on: August 7, 2023 by Olivia Shaw

A Question of Restitution Is a new wind of cultural migration blowing? Around the world, cultural artefacts are being returned from museum collections to their homelands. In particular, a growing socio-political awareness of historic wrongs has focused critical attention on the relationship anthropology and museology share with Indigenous peoples worldwide. As policies and practices on […]

Done right, selling museum pieces can work – but probably not with Michelangelos

Posted on: October 1, 2020 by Alexander Herman

This comment first appeared on The Art Newspaper website on 25 September 2020. It has been reproduced with the editorial staff’s kind permission. Is the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) going to sell its Michelangelo? It seems a preposterous proposition, but these are rather preposterous times. The idea, apparently floated by a handful of Royal […]

New issue of Art Antiquity & Law available now

Posted on: January 16, 2020 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

As we leave behind the festive season, the latest issue of Art Antiquity & Law has just been released in time for you to start the new year with the latest in-depth analyses from the world of art and cultural heritage law. Adam Jomeen writes about street photography and compares the legal treatments afforded to […]

The Restitution Dialogues begin!

Posted on: December 19, 2019 by Alexander Herman

Last week, IAL was happy to be part of a conference on restitution at Tel Aviv University in Israel. This is the first of a three-conference series entitled The Restitution Dialogues: A transnational conversion on cultural loss, return and renewal. The second conference will be held in October 2020 at the University of Toronto in Canada, […]

By description? Canadian judgment complicates art contracts

Posted on: December 2, 2019 by Charlotte Dunn

Legal cases involving questions of authenticity, attribution and provenance are generally not easily determined. However, in a recent Canadian case, the Court of Appeal for Ontario applied contract law to tackle (or avoid) the issue. The case involved a painting, entitled Spirit Energy of Mother Earth, purportedly by the renowned First Nations artist, Norval Morrisseau. […]

Caillebotte storm is quelled, twice over

Posted on: April 17, 2019 by Alexander Herman

Last June, a Federal Court decision in Canada caused quite a stir. It related to the export control system that applies in Canada for cultural property and the definition of the term ‘national importance’. As we reported in September, the case involved the attempted export from Canada of an oil painting by French Impressionist Gustave […]

Court decision on Caillebotte export rocks the boat

Posted on: September 4, 2018 by Alexander Herman

A once-in-a-generation case has caused major ripples in the Canadian museum world. And we’re not talking about the attempted sale of a Chagall by the National Gallery of Canada this spring. No, this was an actual court case, before the Federal Court of Canada, to determine whether the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (the […]

Berkshire Museum Deaccession Nears Completion

Posted on: August 30, 2018 by Hélène Deslauriers

After more than a year of press coverage, protests and condemnation of the Berkshire Museum Board of Trustees, the Berkshire Museum’s deaccession of 40 works from its collection is nearing completion. In addition, the Board of Trustees finally came to an agreement with the Attorney-General of Massachusetts. Here are the salient points: The Attorney General is […]

NGC reneges on plan to sell Chagall

Posted on: April 27, 2018 by Alexander Herman

The National Gallery of Canada, as reported earlier, had plans to sell one of its two major works by Marc Chagall, La Tour Eiffel, at auction at Christies in New York on 15 May, with an estimate of $6 million to $ 9 million. This led to much uproar in the Canadian press and amongst the […]

National Gallery of Canada selling Chagall to buy… David

Posted on: April 18, 2018 by Alexander Herman

As reported earlier this month, the National Gallery of Canada has plans to sell a painting from its collection by artist Marc Chagall at Christie’s in New York on 15 May. The funds will be used to acquire a work by Jacques-Louis David, which was confirmed this week by the Gallery. The Chagall piece on […]