Researchers expect a host of new restitution claims will arise out of an investigation into the expropriation of art in post-war East Germany.
The German Lost Art Foundation, the organisation established by the German government in 2015 to fund research into art theft perpetrated by the Nazis, is to receive public funding to investigate the looting of cultural property during the Soviet Occupation and the Cold War. Continue reading
“Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl”, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted on Wednesday (12 April) in response to the allegation that the beloved statue violates copyright and should be removed.
‘Fearless Girl’ appeared opposite the iconic ‘Charging Bull’ statue in NYC’s Financial District this year to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8. It was installed by financial firm State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) and advertising firm McCann New York to raise awareness of the underrepresentation of women in Wall Street boardrooms. Originally intended for temporary display, the bronze statue has been allowed to stay until March 2018 by Mayor de Blasio after New Yorkers adopted her into their hearts. Continue reading
The Swiss art historian facing fraud charges after he acted as an agent in the sale of a fake Mark Rothko painting by the now defunct Knoedler Gallery in New York has settled with the buyer out of court.
Casino magnate Frank Fertitta who purchased the work from the once-prestigious Knoedler art dealership in 2008 accused Oliver Wick, a Rothko expert, of misleading him about the forgery. The terms of the settlement filed in Manhattan federal court on 11 April remain unknown. Continue reading
A window cleaner jumped at the chance to steal £500,000 worth of art from the home of late Scottish painter Alan Davie, a UK court has heard.
Daniel Pressland had cleaned Davie’s windows and performed odd-jobs for him since 2002. Aware of a first floor window in the artist’s Hertford home that could not be closed properly, Pressland burgled the house several times in the months following Davie’s death in 2014. Continue reading
In a remarkable act of daring, eight missing oil paintings were stashed just an hour’s drive from the quiet Danish residence where they were stolen over sixteen years ago.
On March 14, the Art Loss Register (ALR) announced that all eight paintings had been recovered. The key to their rediscovery was a valuable portrait of a seated young woman reading her book by Danish painter Carl Vilhelm Holsøe. One of the eight paintings burgled from the private home in December 2000, it put Danish police on the trail of the remaining works. Continue reading
In a landmark judgment, a French court held on 24 March that art sellers must pay artist’s resale rights.
The ruling from the Versailles Court of Appeal marked the culmination of an eight-year legal battle between Christie’s auction house and two French associations of antique dealers and galleries. The battle began when the Syndicat National des antiquaires (SNA) and the Comité des galeries d’art sued Christie’s for unfair competition and abuse of its position. Christie’s had insisted that buyers pay artist’s royalties for works sold during an Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé sale in 2009. Continue reading
The US billionaire who declined to sell a rare Old Master painting to London’s National Gallery has hit back at critics who he says have “battered” him over his decision.
‘Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap’ (1530) by Pontormo, real name Jacopo Carrucci, was temporarily barred from export in December 2015 after it was purchased by Blackstone asset management group partner, J Tomilson Hill. The bar was enforced by the former Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, to allow time for a UK buyer to match the asking price and save the painting for the British nation.
After a monumental campaign led by the National Gallery in which it successfully raised £30,618,987 to purchase the work, Hill rejected the Gallery’s offer. In reaching his decision, he cited the £8 million loss he would suffer due to the post-Brexit devaluation of the pound against the US dollar.
Accused of reneging on his agreement with the National Gallery, Hill staunchly defended his refusal to accept its offer. “There have been some false statements … I didn’t renege. I always had the right to say no”, he told the Guardian. Hill also dismissed the suggestion that he flouted export rules and denied reports that the painting’s original owner, the Earl of Caledon, sold it to him off the National Gallery’s wall.
Hill is correct that an applicant for an export license must confirm whether he is in principle willing to accept a matching offer, but is not bound to do so if an offer is made. However, this can, as in this case, lead to a huge amount of wasted effort in raising funds if an applicant rejects the offer. This has led to calls for reform to the current export system. In January this year, the Director of UK charity Art Fund, Stephen Deuchar, called for the rules to be strengthened to prevent an exodus of art and cultural treasures from the country as a result of “gentleman’s agreements”.
The ‘Young Man’ remains in storage in the UK.
Two works from the Gurlitt treasure trove of art have been restituted to the descendants of their Jewish owners.
A painting by Camille Pissarro and a drawing by Adolph Menzel are two of four works to have been returned to their rightful owners since investigations into the collection’s questionable provenance began in 2012. A German government team tasked with researching the Gurlitt collection have suggested that a further 91 artworks are suspected of being looted from, or sold under duress by Jewish families fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II. Continue reading
London’s National Gallery confirmed on Thursday (16 February) that it lost the bid to acquire Pontormo’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap’ (1530).
One of only 15 surviving portraits by the Italian Old Master, real name Jacopo Carrucci, it was sold to US hedge fund owner, Tom Hill, by the Earl of Caledon in 2015. In December 2015, it was temporarily barred from export by the former Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey who was concerned to help save the painting for the British nation. With the export bar in place, the National Gallery set to work raising the £30,618,987 necessary to match the sale price. Continue reading
A campaign by the Duke of Cambridge to enforce a total ban on the ivory trade has been met by a wave of opposition from prominent UK museums, historians and antiques experts.
Current legislation prohibits the sale of ivory items carved after 1947. Now government ministers are considering proposals to extend the ban on the ivory trade to objects over 70 years old. Continue reading
Art Law & More 