As the world adjusts to the announcement last week that the Kunstmuseum Bern has decided to accept Cornelius Gurlitt’s bequest (amid the continuing uncertainty about the validity of the will itself), the most significant development has been the museum’s posting of an inventory of the objects themselves. The museum issued a press release that states: ‘We… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Museums
Subscribe to Museums RSS FeedThe Kunstmuseum Bern’s Agreement to Accept Gurlitt Inheritance—Analysis and Lingering Issues
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIWith the benefit of (a little) time after the initial announcement that the Kunstmuseum Bern had agreed to accept the inheritance of Cornelius Gurlitt, more information has become available about the agreement with Germany and Bavaria that paved the way for the museum’s decision. It practical terms, the agreement resolves nothing definitively. The inheritance itself… Continue Reading
Gurlitt Relatives Formally Challenge Will that Named Kunstmuseum Bern as Heir
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIWhen we wrote yesterday that everything had been said before seeing how the press conference plays out on Monday at which the Kunstmuseum Bern and Germany will make an announcement, it was somewhat tongue in cheek. Today provides an example why: relatives of Cornelius Gurlitt, who would be his heirs at law in the absence… Continue Reading
Museums in Bamberg and Karlsruhe Recognize a Sale Under Duress For What it Was, Seek to Do Right Thing
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIRestitution policy at the federal and state level in Germany in recent months seems to have taken a certain direction that has been cause for criticism. Whether it is the recent decisions by the Limbach Commission that ignore longstanding law about sales under duress, the odd decision by the Federal Republic of Germany to resist… Continue Reading
Vienna Natural History Museum Restitutes Botanical Drawings to Nazi Victims’ Heirs, Acknowledges the Too-Often-Ignored Reality of Persecution and Coerced Sales
Posted in Museums, Restitution, World War IIVienna’s Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum) has restituted 177 botanical drawings and prints to the heirs of Dr. Ernst Moritz Kronfeld. The restitution, while somewhat delayed following a 2011 recommendation by Austria’s Advisory Council under the country’s Law for the Restitution of Artworks from the Austrian National Museums (Bundesgesetz über die Rückgabe von Kunstgegenstände aus… Continue Reading
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr Testifies About Impact of Selling Detroit Institute Art Collection
Posted in Bankruptcy, Detroit Bankruptcy, Litigation, MuseumsThroughout the Detroit bankruptcy and the attendant speculation about what role, if any, the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts that is owned by the city should play, a parallel parlor game has been to try to guess what Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s endgame and motivation really was. He has dropped hints about the… Continue Reading
Remaining Creditor Sharpens Knives Over Detroit Institute of Arts Collection Value
Posted in Appraisal, Bankruptcy, Detroit Bankruptcy, Museums, UncategorizedAfter Syncora Capital settled its objections to the Detroit bankruptcy plan of adjustment, it looked like the battle over the Detroit Institute of Arts collection would subside. Not so fast, it turns out. A major contest looms next week with a remaining creditor, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation, over the valuation of the collection. Just to… Continue Reading
Books of Note: “The Art Collecting Legal Handbook” Reviewed
Posted in Art Fairs, Auctions, Immunity from Seizure Act, Legislation, Litigation, Moral Rights, Museums, Publications, Restitution, World War IIIn the course of our work here, I like to call out books and articles that I feel are worthy of praise, usually the in the course of a particular post or issue. After a too-long stay on the corner of my desk awaiting time to read it, I finally finished a book published last… Continue Reading
Kunstmuseum Bern Still Undecided About Gurlitt Inheritance as Regional Politics Loom
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, MuseumsAlmost none of the legal issues flowing from the seizure of some 1,280 works of art from Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment in 2012, his agreement with the Bavarian prosecutor, and the ongoing review of the collection for connections to Nazi looting can be resolved until his named heir—the Kunstmuseum Bern—decides whether or not to accept that… Continue Reading
Limbach Commission Rules Against Claimants to Restitution of “Three Graces” by Lovis Corinth in Unpersuasive Opinion
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Museums, Restitution, World War IIThe German Advisory Commission for the Return of Cultural Property Seized as a Result of Nazi Persecution, Especially Jewish Property (Beratende Kommission) has issued its latest decision concerning allegedly Nazi-looted art in German museums. For the second case in a row after the widely (and wisely) derided opinion not to restitute the Welfenschatz or Guelph… Continue Reading
Corcoran Merger Approved, Cy Prés Ruling Treats Deaccession as Non-Starter in Concluding that Status Quo is Untenable
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsAs reported initially, Judge Robert Okun of the District of Columbia Superior Court allowed yesterday the cy prés petition by the trustees of the Corcoran Gallery and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. The full opinion can be read here. The petition asked to reform the trust of William Corcoran to permit a merger… Continue Reading
Court Grants Corcoran Cy Pres Petition to Merge with National Gallery and George Washington University
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsNews broke this afternoon that Judge Robert Okun has allowed the Corcoran Gallery and Corcoran College of Art + Design’s News broke this afternoon that Judge Robert Okun has allowed the Corcoran Gallery and Corcoran College of Art + Design’s cy prés petition to modify their governing trust to merge operations with the National Gallery… Continue Reading
Corcoran Cy Prés Trial Wraps Up, Whether Judge Thinks Deaccessioning is Worse than the Alternatives Will Influence Final Result
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsThe two-week trial over the possible reformation of the Corcoran Gallery and the Corcoran College of Art + Design ended last week, with Judge Robert Okun expected to rule by the end of the month. The trustees, as proponents of cy prés reformation, put of a case of dire financial straits. Without reformation and merger… Continue Reading
First Week of Corcoran Cy Prés Hearing Wraps Up, Focus is on Financial Condition and Other Alternatives to Proposed Merger
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsJudge Robert Okun closed the first week of hearings yesterday on the proposed modifications to the Corcoran Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art + Design in Washington, DC. The Corcoran’s trustees have petitioned the DC Superior Court for cy prés, to modify the trust that governs the two institutions to allow mergers with the… Continue Reading
United States Abandons Finally Its Effort to Seize Mask of Ka Nefer Nefer in St. Louis, Egypt’s Plans Unknown
Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Customs, MuseumsThe Department of Justice has made public its plans to let the deadline pass for seeking rehearing or further review of the June, 2014 decision affirming the dismissal of its efforts to seize the Mask of Ka Nefer Nefer in the St. Louis Art Museum by civil forfeiture. In an interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch,… Continue Reading
Not so Fast—Intervention into Corcoran Cy Pres Case Allowed for Current Students and Employees, “Save the Corcoran” Turned Away
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsThe Washington Business Journal‘s Rebecca Cooper tweeted today from the courtroom today that District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Okun has allowed in part the motion to intervene in the Corcoran Gallery cy prés petition. Reports are that current students of the College of Art + Design, as well as current Corcoran employees were… Continue Reading
District of Columbia DA Supports Corcoran Cy Pres Petition, Focuses on Potential Sanctions for Deaccession
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsThe Washington, DC District Attorney Irvin Nathan has filed his brief concerning the Corcoran Gallery’s cy prés petition to reform the museum and College of Art + Design with the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University. To put it succinctly, “The District supports entry of the Proposed Order because the proposed cy pres… Continue Reading
Corcoran Trustees Respond to “Save the Corcoran” Motion to Intervene, Argue That Challengers Lack Distinct Interest
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsThe trustees of the Corcoran Gallery and the Corcoran College of Art +Design have responded to the recent motion by a group of students, faculty, staff, and interested supporters have filed a motion to intervene in the Corcoran’s cy prés petition to merge with the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University. The proposed… Continue Reading
Corcoran Cy Pres Petition Challenged by Students, Staff and Community Group. Will “Save the Corcoran” Be Another “Friends of the Barnes” Case?
Posted in Cy Pres, Deaccession, Museums, TrustsAfter months of uncertainty about the future of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Corcoran’s Trustee’s filed a petition on June 17, 2014 for cy pres—to revise the terms of the trust that administers the museum and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. The Corcoran’s financial condition, they argue, make the… Continue Reading
Lauder Editorial on Stolen Art and Museums Fails the Glass House Test
Posted in Museums, Restitution, World War IIThe Wall Street Journal published an editorial today by Ronald S. Lauder entitled “Time to Evict Nazi-Looted Art From Museums.” Lauder, the one-time U.S. Ambassador to Austria, current President of the World Jewish Congress, and Honorary Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is a frequent commentator… Continue Reading
Remaining Claims Against AAM, AAMD Related to Pissarro “La Bergere” in Oklahoma Are Dismissed
Posted in Museums, Restitution, World War IIAs we reported last week, the U.S. District Court dismissed claims against the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art, the University of Oklahoma, and associated Oklahoma defendants, over title to the Camille Pissarro painting La bergère rentrent des moutons (a case in which I represented the David Findlay Jr. Gallery). The dismissal was entirely jurisdictional—the… Continue Reading
FBI Claims to Have “Confirmed Sightings” of Stolen Gardner Artwork, But Offers Only Stale Information and Conjecture
Posted in MuseumsThe FBI said today that the bureau has received “confirmed” sightings of the works of art stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Thieves dressed as police robbed the museum of thirteen major works of art on March 18, 1990, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet. Read carefully, however, the story… Continue Reading
Gurlitt Names Kunstmuseum Bern as Sole Heir. Will the Museum Want Everything that Comes with That?
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIFollowing confirmation by his attorney that Cornelius Gurlitt had left a will, it was further revealed yesterday that Gurlitt had not merely left his collection of paintings with substantial Nazi-looting questions to a museum outside Germany, but that he had named the Kunstmuseum Bern itself as his sole heir. The Kunstmuseum is the oldest museum… Continue Reading
Baltimore Museum of Art Wins Title to “Flea Market Renoir” Painting
Posted in Litigation, MuseumsThe Baltimore Sun reports that U.S. District Judge Judge Leonie Brinkema allowed the Baltimore Museum of Art’s motion for summary judgment at today’s hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. That means that the BMA is the owner of the painting, not claimant Martha Fuqua, who argued that she bought the painting at a 2009 flea market in… Continue Reading
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