Tag Archives: Switzerland

Pissarro Painting Sold Under Nazi Duress Awarded to Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation

Posted on: January 17, 2024 by Nicholas M. O'Donnell

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on 9 January, 2024 that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (TBC) Foundation in Madrid is the owner of Rue Saint–Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie by Camille Pissarro, a painting sold by German Jew Lilly Cassirer under Nazi duress. After the Cassirer family prevailed in the Supreme Court in […]

The Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art: The Next 25 Years

Posted on: January 14, 2024 by Matthias Weller

A number of events and presentations marked the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. Among these were “Marking 25 Years of the Washington Principles – Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art“ at the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of German-Jewish History and Culture at New York on 3 December 2023, but also, for […]

Court decision on ‘technicality’ prevents claim over allegedly fake antiquity

Posted on: September 1, 2021 by Alexander Herman

On 9 August a decision came down from the High Court of England and Wales that imparts an important lesson about limitation periods and related timelines for the service of proceedings. The decision also reveals useful information about a particular dispute over allegedly fake antiquities, showing just what happens when negotiations between buyer and seller […]

An art market without rules? The new Freeport opportunity in the UK

Posted on: April 15, 2021 by Eve Gatenby

“Our clients choose us because we have no priority above their property,” remarks the guide touring Robert Pattinson and John David Washington’s characters through a freeport in Christopher Nolan’s 2020 thriller Tenet. The underground vaults they are walking through are alluringly filled with artworks that give subtle hints at Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist masterpieces. These two characters […]

Gurlitt trove eludes restitution efforts owing to unresolved provenance questions

Posted on: July 1, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy

The full story of the billion-dollar art collection gathered by Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt during World War II may never be told. After years spent trying to determine the collection’s history, the prior owners of a large majority of those works remain unknown. This is a story we have followed with interest throughout its […]

In matters of export and art, the state always seems to have its way

Posted on: April 7, 2020 by Alexander Herman

When it comes to the export of works of art, the state always wins… or at least it can seem that way. The latest case to offer proof comes from the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in the matter of R (Simonis) v Arts Council England. Of course, matters of exporting cultural goods […]

Crowdfunding allows Swiss to retain a Picasso

Posted on: August 2, 2018 by Hélène Deslauriers

In December 2017, a Swiss crowdfunding website, Qoqa, offered visitors to the site the opportunity to purchase a Picasso painting, Le Buste du Mousquetaire (1968).   For three months, a careful and efficient campaign was mounted, culminating in a victory, with sufficient funds raised to buy the Picasso. Le Buste du Mousquetaire now belongs to the Swiss people.  […]

Attributed Giotto now stuck in legal limbo

Posted on: July 24, 2018 by Alexander Herman

Yesterday, an Italian painting with a colourful history had its fate sealed by a UK court. The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court has decided that Arts Council England (ACE), the delegated authority that issues export licences for cultural property leaving UK shores, was not the ‘competent authority’ to issue an EU licence for […]

Switzerland: legal dispute over Alberto Giacometti collection

Posted on: July 18, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus

Following a host of recent articles regarding the seizure of a Giacometti collection, this blog aims to shed some light on the case: On 24 February 2014, the State Prosecutor of the Canton of Graubünden seized as a precautionary measure a collection of Giacometti works from the Bündner Kunstmuseum. The Paris-based Fondation Alberto et Annette […]

Revision of the Swiss Copyright Act: Proposed Introduction of a Lending Right Causes a Stir

Posted on: May 3, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus

The Swiss Copyright Act (SCA) is currently under revision. On 11th December 2015, the Swiss Federal Council published the draft legislation and the explanatory notes. The proposed introduction of a lending right for art works in art. 13 para. 1 SCA caused a stir throughout the art market. The applicable law: Up until now, anyone who […]