Tag Archives: Confiscation

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 […]

Russian Revolution(s) at the British Library

Posted on: April 28, 2017 by Alexander Herman

An excellent show has begun today at the British Library in London called ‘Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths‘. It offers a view into some of the most important – and iconic – texts and visual images of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that marked not only Russia, but also the world. Instead of focusing solely on […]

What To Do With East Germany’s Looted Art?

Posted on: August 5, 2014 by Alexander Herman

Much has been said and written about the present day treatment of Nazi-looted art. But there is another, less well-known chapter to Germany’s past. This involves the confiscation of works of art from East German citizens by the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Often the confiscations occurred because the owners of the works were considered members […]

Gurlitt Art Trove in the News

Posted on: April 10, 2014 by Alexander Herman

The well-known US news show, CBS’s 60 Minutes, has just this week broadcast a lengthy report on the Cornelius Gurlitt affair, complete with interviews of a distant Gurlitt cousin, his (former) legal team and some provenance and legal experts. The report can be watched online here. More recently, there have been reports that the Augsburg prosecutor, […]

Degenerate Art – online records at the V&A

Posted on: February 6, 2014 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The Victoria and Albert Museum has published online two volumes which record what the Nazi regime did with confiscated ‘degenerate art’. Hitler believed post-impressionist modern art, including Expressionists such as Kandinsky and Otto Dix, to be “evidence of a deranged mind”. He ordered more than 16,000 artworks, including works by Van Gogh and Man Ray, […]