Tag Archives: museum

Response of the museum sector to the coronavirus pandemic

Posted on: April 10, 2020 by Emily Gould

In a blog post last week, we discussed the many ramifications of the Coronavirus pandemic on contracts. The effects are being felt by businesses and individuals in all sectors across the globe, and museums are certainly not immune to the challenges presented. The inevitable cancellations of exhibitions involves disrupting contractual arrangements on many levels, from […]

Update on restitution: recent returns

Posted on: November 22, 2019 by Alexander Herman

After my piece last week on restitution, there have been some interesting developments in the area. First of all, a major non-profit organisation, the Open Society Foundations, has pledged US$15 million to assist groups working to restitute African heritage. The money is pledged over a period of four years. As I said when commenting on […]

Unprecedented decision of German Nazi-looted art panel

Posted on: October 8, 2019 by Alexander Herman

The recent case before the German Advisory Commission involving the painting Uhlans on the March by Hans von Marées was a first of its kind on a number of counts. The Commission is the body that hears claims for the restitution of Nazi-looted artworks. The claim had been brought in 2017 by the beneficiaries of […]

Eight months on from Sarr Savoy and… still waiting

Posted on: August 7, 2019 by Alexander Herman

Since the release of the Sarr Savoy Report at the end of November (over eight months ago), there has not been the feared avalanche of returns to Africa of artefacts from French public collections. Far from it. In fact, the latest public actions on the part of the French government seem to show a retreat […]

British Museum must recognise its own powers

Posted on: June 4, 2019 by Alexander Herman

The following commentary first appeared on The Art Newspaper website on 29 May 2019. The British Museum seems to enjoy telling the world about its statutory restrictions. Whenever would-be claimants approach the museum seeking restitution of an object from the collection, the almost mechanical response from the museum is that its trustees are prevented from doing so, […]

Reacting to extremist German political propaganda – a moral rights issue?

Posted on: May 10, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

A lot of commotion was caused recently by a German right-wing party’s choice of political propaganda: the use of a 19thcentury painting with a very controversial slogan splashed across it. We are talking, of course, of Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Slave Market, a painting from 1866 currently on loan to the Clark […]

French report calls for massive restitution of African artefacts

Posted on: November 28, 2018 by Alexander Herman

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron received the report he commissioned in March on the restitution of African artefacts currently held in French Museums. The commission followed the President’s speech in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, delivered one year ago today, in which he had called for “the conditions to be met within five years for the […]

Cultural property returns from 150-year-old British Maqdala expedition

Posted on: May 30, 2018 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

Last week, the Institute of Art & Law had the opportunity to attend an evening seminar discussion organised by The Anglo-Ethiopian Society and The Centre of African Studies at the campus of SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies). The topic of the evening centred on The Abyssinian Expedition (otherwise known as the ‘Maqdala Expedition’) which was a […]

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 […]

Banksy’s Paint Pot Angel, legal rights and the art market

Posted on: January 19, 2018 by Alexander Herman

An interesting story has made it out of Bristol, the home city (apparently) of the elusive street artist Banksy. Back in 2009, Banksy had collaborated with the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery on an exhibition called Banksy versus Bristol Museum. In true Banksy style, it featured a burnt-out ice cream van on the Museum’s front […]