After 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
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Subscribe to Uncategorized RSS FeedA Trust For The Benefit of the Public is Not “the Public Trust”—The Deaccessioning Debate and the Detroit Institute of Arts
Posted in UncategorizedReflecting on the recent argument by the Detroit Institute of Arts that the city of Detroit cannot legally sell, let alone be forced to sell, the artwork in the museum to satisfy creditor, some overlapping terminology creates the possibility of an important confusion. Particularly in the realm of deaccessioning, this distinctions are quite important. Meanwhile,… Continue Reading
Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act Passes House of Representatives Overwhelmingly
Posted in Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Restitution, Uncategorized, World War IIThe Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (HR 4292) passed the House of Representatives yesterday, 388 to 4. Voting against were Reid Ribble (R, WI), Mark Sanford (R, SC), Marlin Stuzman (R, IN), and Justin Amash (R, MI). As discussed here previously, the bill would amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §… Continue Reading
Call for Papers and 6th Annual ARCA Interdisciplinary Art Crime Conference, June 28-29, 2014
Posted in Events, UncategorizedIt was my great privilege last year to speak at the 5th Annual Art Crime Conference, hosted by the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA). The conference, in Amelia, Italy, annually draws experts in varied fields of law, cultural property, archaeology, law enforcement, and more. It is also held in one of the… Continue Reading
Gurlitt Attorney Speaks of Discussions with Heirs and “Fair and Equitable Solution,” Challenges Earlier Quote Despite Video of Interview
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, UncategorizedOne of Cornelius Gurlitt’s attorneys, Hannes Hartung, told the Wall Street Journal last week, and was again quoted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung yesterday, that Gurlitt was open to possible resolutions to claims from heirs to the paintings found in his apartment in 2012. According to Hartung, Gurlitt is already in talks with heirs, and… Continue Reading
Chabad Asks for Interim Judgment of $14.75 Million Against Russia for Defiance of Order to Return Rebbe’s Library
Posted in UncategorizedIt has been a year since the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia instituted a fine of $50,000 per day against the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications, the Russian State Library, and the Russian State Military Archive until they comply with a 2010 judgment to return the library… Continue Reading
Bavaria Proposes Cultural Property Restitution Act, Heads to Berlin for Federal Approval
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, UncategorizedAs reported yesterday, the government of Bavaria has moved ahead with a proposal to amend the statute of limitations over art claims like those arising out of the Gurlitt find in Schwabing/Munich. The “Draft law for the exclusion of limitations on claims for misappropriated cultural property, particularly from the Nazi era (Cultural Property Restitution Law)”… Continue Reading
UPDATED Deaccessioning Panel Discussion at Columbia Law School October 28, 2013, 12:15 PM
Posted in UncategorizedI will be on a panel at the Center for Law and the Arts at Columbia Law School on Monday, October 28, 2013 discussing deaccessioning issues. Details are yet to come, but co-panelists will include Donn Zaretsky of John Silberman Associates (and writer of the Art Law Blog), and Roberta Smith of the New York… Continue Reading
Cariou Petitions Supreme Court to Review Richard Prince Fair Use Decision
Posted in Intellectual Property, UncategorizedPatrick Cariou, after winning his copyright claim against Richard Prince in the District Court in 2011, suffered a stinging reversal earlier this year when the Second Circuit found in Prince’s favor as to his use of Cariou’s Yes, Rasta series in the Prince Canal Zone collages. The Second Circuit decision has been widely derided… Continue Reading
Dispute of Fact or Statement of Foreign Policy? Ninth Circuit Takes up the Question of U.S. Courts’ Role in Assessing Foreign Art Restitution Procedures
Posted in UncategorizedThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument last week in two high-profile World War II art restitution claims, Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art, and Cassirer v. Kingdom of Spain. The Supreme Court’s previous decision not to hear earlier appeals of those cases with regard to statutes of… Continue Reading
Does The Art World Have a Russia Problem?
Posted in UncategorizedSeveral overlapping issues in recent months have turned what was an awkward elephant in the room into a major issue facing the art world today. Namely: the increasing role that Russia is playing in restitution, loans and exhibition controversies has aggregated to Vladimir Putin an extraordinary amount of influence over these major international legal issues. … Continue Reading
Jenack Case Set for Oral Argument, Appeal Tests Obligation for Auction Houses in New York to Disclose Seller’s Name
Posted in Auctions, Consignment, Legislation, UncategorizedThe New York Court of Appeals has set a hearing date on the appeal of the William J. Jenack action house of the Appellate Division’s ruling last year that an auctioneer must disclose the name of any owner who has consigned the work for sale, or a sale against a successful bidder cannot be enforced… Continue Reading
They’re “Gonna Work it Out, Bye Bye”—The Velvet Underground and Warhol Foundation Settle Banana Trademark Case
Posted in Copyright, Trademark, UncategorizedThe Velvet Underground and the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts have settled their lawsuit over the right to control iconic “banana” image from the cover of the 1967 legendary The Velvet Underground and Nico album. An earlier September 7, 2012 ruling for the Warhol Foundation finding that that the Velvet Underground had agreed not to sue… Continue Reading
Rutgers Law Review Article Advocates Replacing Restitution Litigation with Prosecutions
Posted in UncategorizedThe Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion has published a provocative article that advocates a bold new take on Holocaust art restitution litigation. The thesis of the piece is easily gleaned from its title: “Nazi Looted Art and Cocaine: When Museum Directors Take It, Call the Cops.” In a nutshell, the article argues that if… Continue Reading
Second Lawsuit Against Metropolitan Museum of Art About Admissions Policy
Posted in Museums, UncategorizedFor the second time in less than four months, a complaint has been filed against the Metropolitan Museum of Art over its admissions fee policy. Whereas the November, 2012 action seeks injunctive relief to compel the Met to change its practices, the newest case has been filed as a class action and seeks money damages as well. … Continue Reading
FBI Claims to Know Identity of Gardner Thieves, Timing Deserves Scrutiny
Posted in Museums, UncategorizedThe FBI issued a press release today in which it states that with a “high degree” of confidence, it has identified the thieves responsible for the 1990 theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This development is remarkable for what it says, and what it does not, and deserving of a skeptical view… Continue Reading
Art and Heritage Disputes at the University of Maastricht
Posted in Cultural Property, Restitution, UncategorizedOn March 24-25, 2013, I will be attending the Art and Heritage Disputes at the University of Maastricht. The seminar website is here: On March 25, I will speak on the topic “American Wartime Art Restitution in the 1990s and Beyond-Has it All Been Worth It?” The program highlights many other experts I look forward… Continue Reading
Does Jenack Decision Really Require Disclosure of Seller’s Name? Yes, if the Buyer Won’t Pay
Posted in UncategorizedThe Jenack decision addressed recently at the Art Law Report has been the subject of intense comment and criticism since being widely reported. Donn Zaretsky’s roundup of the commentary raises an interesting and important question, with analysis from Jonathan Olsoff of Sotheby’s and Jo Laird, former general counsel at Christie’s. Namely, does the decision actually… Continue Reading
New Perspective on Senate Bill 2212
Posted in Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Senate Bill 2212, UncategorizedOur prior commentary has expressed support for Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act. The bill remains stalled in the Senate Judicary Committee. A new post last week by Nikki Georgopulos at plundered art (one of our favorite resources) takes a very well-written, opposing view. A must-read for the well-informed on… Continue Reading
Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Amendment Coverage Continues to Miss the Mark: NPR Report Claims Bill Could “Thwart Return of Holocaust Art”
Posted in Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Legislation, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212, Uncategorized, World War IIIs it time to invoke the Corollary to Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies (i.e., as a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler increases, and once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically the argument ) concerning Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional… Continue Reading
Commentary Takes Shape on S.B. 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act
Posted in Collections, Customs, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212, Uncategorized, World War IIIt’s been a few weeks since the House passed the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (H.R. 4086) and sent it on to the Senate for consideration as S.B. 2212. It has bipartisan sponsorship there (Dianne Feinstein and Orrin Hatch), but no word yet on when it will be put to a vote. As… Continue Reading
Von Saher claim against Norton Simon Museum dismissed as preempted under foreign affairs doctrine.
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Restitution, Uncategorized, World War IIRaising another hurdle to restitution claims, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the Norton Simon Museum to the remnants of the famed Jacques Goudstikker collection, on the grounds that her case is preempted by the United States’ foreign affairs doctrine. In an unusually apologetic decision, the court ruled that regardless of the merits… Continue Reading
Sullivan & Worcester LLP Art and Estate Planning Panel With Citi Private Bank Postponed
Posted in UncategorizedThe joint panel presentation by Sullivan & Worcester LLP’s Art and Museum Law Group (home of your Art Law Report) and Citi Private Bank next Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in Boston that I was scheduled to moderate with Cornelius J. Murray, III, Trust & Estates Practice Chair, Sullivan & Worcester LLP; Suzanne Gyorgy, Head of Art… Continue Reading
Tacheles Emptied and Scheduled for Destruction—End of the Original Occupy Movement
Posted in UncategorizedI can’t let today’s news about the Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin go unremarked. A center for art and culture since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has apparently ordered vacated, with occupants carried out by force. Ironically, it’s really about a story about art and the absence of a legal framework, a building in… Continue Reading
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