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August 19, 2008 - Ex-lawyer found guilty in stolen art trial
THE BOSTON GLOBE - A former Massachusetts lawyer was convicted of knowingly possessing six stolen paintings. Mr. Mardirosian stored his client’s stolen paintings in Switzerland for twenty years before agreeing to return (via intermediaries and a shell company) a Cezanne work in exchange for title to the remaining works. The parties dispute whether Mr. Mardirosian legally acquired title to the works in lieu of a finder’s fee or through illegal extortion.
August 18, 2008 - New Jersey makes claim for a Jefferson letter; collector sues for its return
MAINE ANTIQUE DIGEST - Last spring, a letter by Thomas Jefferson was pulled from auction after the Attorney General of New Jersey claimed it was a public record belonging to the state. In the letter dated 1807 to the New Jersey legislature, Mr. Jefferson said he would not seek a third term. The seller asserts that New Jersey does not have a viable claim and has sued the auction house. The auction house has refused to release the letter until the parties reach an agreement or a court issues a non-appealable order.
August 8, 2008 - North board admits talks about painting's future are at impasse
THE SUN CHRONICLE - A small town in Massachusetts and the local school board disagree on who owns and whether to sell a Russian painting donated over fifty years ago. The donor's family has threatened to sue if the work (worth an estimated $1 million) is sold, even if the proceeds are used to fund school art programs. Officials acknowledge that the painting will not be sold anytime soon given the on-going dispute.
August 4, 2008 - Chief Nazi-loot researcher sees art claims mounting in Germany
BLOOMBERG - The lead German researcher (managing the German government’s agency tasked with helping museums address looted art claims) stated that he expects the pace of restitution claims not to slow down but rather to continue at the same pace over the next 10 years. During the Nazi regime, an estimated 650,000 works of art were plundered and displaced from their original owners.
July 22, 2008 - Estate is owner of stolen paintings
MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK - A federal judge has ruled that three paintings by Courbet, Hamilton and Hassam stolen more than 30 years ago will be returned to the estate of the heirs of the original owner. The paintings were stolen by gunned robbers from Mrs. Persky’s Rhode Island home in 1976. The successor to the insurance company, which paid the insured for the theft claim, asserted title to the paintings. Other parties involved in the dispute included the estate of the heirs to Ms. Persky’s estate, the alleged good faith purchaser, as well as the lender who had possession of the works for 10 years.
July 16, 2008 - Authorities seize Ferreira collection Lichtenstein
ARTINFO - Federal agents seized a Lichtenstein work from a Los Angeles private collector, who purchased the work in 2007 for $1.3 million from a gallery who had the work on consignment from another local gallery. The painting is one of 30 works owned by Edemar Cid Ferreira (who recently went bankrupt in connection with the collapse of Banco Santos) and according to Brazilian officials is believed to have been illegally exported in a money-laundering scheme. The 2007 purchaser is suing the two galleries for breach of contract for the defective title and encumbrances on the work.
July 10, 2008 - Senate panel close to deal on donations of artwork
THE NEW YORK TIMES - The Senate Finance Committee has proposed amendments to try to loosen restrictions imposed in 2006 on "partial gifts." Partial gifts allow collectors to claim tax deductions for donated increments of artwork promised to be fully gifted over time. Proposed amendments include provisions: Making all partial gifts subject to binding contracts to prevent heirs from reneging on gifts after donor's death, giving collectors 20 years as opposed to 10 years to donate full ownership, permitting subsequent deductions on increased valuations rather than capping valuations at the first partial gift, and requiring the IRS Art Advisory Panel to approve appraisals.
July 5, 2008 - Art theft! Lawsuits! Spielberg!
LAS VEGAS SUN - Norman Rockwell’s "Russian Schoolroom," which was stolen in 1973 from Mr. Solomon, while it was on display at a Missouri gallery; purchased in 1988 at a New Orleans auction by Ms. Cutler; and then sold in 1989 to Mr. Spielberg, represents the inherent problems associated with private indemnities in art transactions. Mr. Solomon only listed the stolen work with the FBI. The New Orleans and Missouri auction houses are no longer in existence, both went bankrupt. Ms. Cutler claims to be a good faith purchaser. Costs in the legal case, involving title to the painting, have already exceeded the work’s current $700,000 value and the case is expected to continue.
July 4, 2008 - Private collectors hit by Nazi art claims
DUTCH NEWS - The NRC Handelsblad Dutch newspaper recently reported that private collectors, not just museums, are increasingly being targeted by claimants alleging that their family’s art was stolen during World War II. Most such collectors bought their art in good faith through regular channels. Since a work cannot be sold once it has been identified as “stolen,” collectors are being forced to return the work, reach a settlement, or litigate.
June 26, 2008 - Suit claims a Warhol is not, well, a Warhol
THE NEW YORK TIMES - Former Warhol assistant, Gerard Malanga, is seeking title to a painting previously thought to have been created by Warhol. Mr. Malanga claims that he and two friends created the work depicting Chamberlain in 1971. He also claims that he lost track of the work’s storage location and was shocked to learn from Mr. Chamberlain that he had sold the work for $5 million dollars in 2004.
June 26, 2008 - Betrayal, theft and a family feud in the art world
MUSEUM SECURITY NETWORK - Chicago police arrested the daughter-in-law of the late op-artist, Viktor Vasarely, for removing hundreds of Vasarely works from a gallery’s storage facility. Ms. Taburno-Vasarely insists the works belong to her and that she was protecting the works from the gallery owner, who was trying to sell them without her authority. Since 1995, the Vasarely heirs and foundation have been involved in litigation in France over title to the bulk of the artists’ works.
June 14, 2008 - A wake up call for the antiquities market
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - The Association of Art Museum Directors’ June 2008 report has already impacted the art market. The guidelines encourage museums to only acquire an antiquity if they have solid proof the object was outside the source country by 1970 or was legally exported thereafter. In recent auctions, sales of antiquities with well-documented early provenances have grossly exceeded pre-sale estimates. Prices for such works are expected to continue to rise in the next three to five years.
June 8, 2008 - Why the rise of the private museum is rewriting the rule of the market
THE ART NEWSPAPER - Private collectors are increasingly buying art to build their own private museums. This new trend is changing the dynamics of art transactions. Dealers are now giving special access, discounts, and attention to those opening up independent exhibition spaces. Dealers noted, however, that they are mindful of conducting due diligence on private museum buyers, who might say anything to gain access to material or sell works from their collection in the future.
May 30, 2008 - Art deals more often involve art of litigation
LAW.COM - Lawyers are spending more time litigating disputes involving works of art. They attribute this trend to the increased prices for works, art deals spanning international borders and the growing number of new, well-funded collectors. The informal traditions of art transactions involving little more than a handshake are now deemed inadequate protection given the financials and litigious environment of today's art market.
May 22, 2008 - Search continues for Picasso etchings reported stolen from Gallery Biba
PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS - Thieves burglarized and robbed two well-known Picasso etchings from Gallery Biba in Palm Beach, Florida. The two stolen works, "Le Repas Frugal" and "Jacqueline Lisant," are worth an estimated total value of around $450,000. Police are investigating whether the thieves were familiar with the gallery’s layout and inventory.
May 22, 2008 - 19th century painting found in raid
CAPE COD TIMES - Police seized a 19th century painting by Robert Farren from a residential home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The homeowner, who is a building inspector, was promptly arrested and charged with two counts of receiving stolen property. Investigators discovered the painting during a raid to recover stolen coins and jewelry, but they believe the painting was part of the same heist. Officials are now attempting to identify the owner of the painting.
May 19, 2008 - Experts fall out over Van Gogh's 'last painting'
GUARDIAN NEWS - An alleged Van Gogh painting stored in a bank vault in Athens, Greece is the subject of an authenticity and title dispute. The picture, which might have been one of the artist’s last paintings, was looted by the Nazis from a French Jewish family and “liberated” by a Greek resistance fighter in 1944. Under Greek law, the work most likely belongs to the current possessor and not heirs of the original Jewish owners.
May 18, 2008 - Switzerland returns plundered Constable painting to Jewish family
EUROPEAN JEWISH PRESS - An art gallery in Geneva, Switzerland, is returning a 19th century painting by John Constable to the heirs of the Jaffe family. The picture entitled "Dedham from Langham" was confiscated from the Jewish collectors, John and Anna Jaffe, in Nice, France and sold at auction in 1943. It was donated by a private collector in the 1980s and has been exhibited at the gallery ever since.
May 1, 2008 - Esmerian kin claim antique jewelry collection isn't his to sell
BLOOMBERG - New York jeweler Ralph Esmerian’s sister and her four children are suing Mr. Esmerian claiming that the special jewelry collection that he pledged as loan collateral to Merrill Lynch is property of the family's trust. One of the most important pieces in the collection allegedly owned by the trust is a diamond brooch once owned by Napoleon III and recently purchased by the Louvre for $10.7 million.
April 24, 2008 - Malevich heirs reach amicable settlement with Amsterdam
ARTINFO - After years of litigation involving a long-standing dispute over whether the 1958 dealer had authority to sell the Russian avant-garde artist Malevich’s collection, the city of Amsterdam and the heirs of the artist have reached a settlement. The heirs will take title to five of the most important works and the rest will remain in the city’s collection.
April 21, 2008 - Put a diamond under stress, and you might crack
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - Christie’s auction of Ralph Esmerian’s collection of rare jewels, which Merrill Lynch accepted as collateral for $177 million in loans, has been canceled. Mr. Esmerian disputed Merrill Lynch’s low valuation of the jewelry and has filed for bankruptcy, in the wake of breaking his promised gift of Edward’s Hick’s “Peaceable Kingdom” to the American Folk Art Museum to satisfy debts owed to Sotheby’s.
April 14, 2008 - Is street turmoil coloring art market?
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Art dealers remain cautious about the strength of the art market. Signs that it might be softening include the fact that Sotheby’s accounts receivables doubled in 2007, allowing buyers more time to pay for their purchases, and it along with Christie’s are still paying high guarantees to secure masterpieces and supply for their big sales.
April 9, 2008 - Should you invest in art?
VILLAGE SOUP - Art is an investment class, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years. However, there are numerous risks associated with holding art as an asset, including its subjective pricing, lack of short term liquidity, as well as complicated legal and tax issues related to estate planning and charitable gifting.
April 5, 2008 - Museum arranges to return stolen art to Italy
THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS - The Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan is repatriating two Italian 14th century panels. The museum acquired the pair in 1947 from a reputable New York art dealer. An article published in 1978 first put the museum on notice that the panels were stolen in 1902 from a 16 panel altarpiece in a church in Abruzzo, Italy.
April 3, 2008 - At odds over art
THE NEW YORK SUN - The philanthropist Eli Broad’s decision to leave his art collection to a private foundation instead of the Los Angeles Museum of Art reflects the tension between museums and wealthy donors over whether donated works should be on public view and whether a donor’s collection should be kept together. Mr. Broad’s announcement illustrates the new trend in creating private family foundations that operate as lending libraries to museums and other educational institutions.
April 2, 2008 - France to cut red tape, provide free loans to revive art market
BLOOMBERG - The French Cultural Minister introduced reforms to increase France’s position in the global art market, which fell to fourth place behind China. She hopes her plan allowing guaranteed minimum prices and interest free art loans will also benefit private and corporate collectors.
April 2, 2008 - Art museums struggle with provenance issues
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - Across the country, art museums are struggling with how to handle the continuing problem of acquiring objects or receiving gifted objects, which may have been looted or smuggled and/or have gaps in their provenance history, especially in light of several recent high profile legal actions against museums.
April 1, 2008 - London dealer forced to return Souzas
THE ART NEWSPAPER - An English court ordered a London dealer to return two paintings worth £350,000, which had been missing since the 1990s. The judge found that the dealer failed to meet the burden of proof to establish that he was a good faith purchaser because he did not keep detailed or accurate records about the sales transaction.
March 26, 2008 - Scotland Yard seizes £10m old masters
GUARDIAN NEWS - Scotland Yard seized two works by an 18th century Italian artist worth £10 million, which were illegally exported from Italy without the necessary licenses for important paintings. The Crespi family sold the pictures in 2005 to an Italian dealer, who later sold them to an English dealer, who allegedly sold them to a US buyer.
March 21, 2008 - Mortgage crisis hits cultural institutions
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Several major cultural institutions in California, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art whose losses are approaching $2 million, have mounting financial problems due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and resulting soaring interest rates on construction bonds. In most cases, interest rates have more than doubled since 2007.
March 21, 2008 - Painting looted by Nazis is recovered by family of murdered Polish owner
TIMES ONLINE - A 17th century Dutch painting was pulled from a Christie's auction after it was discovered by the Polish Embassy in London that it was stolen from an antique dealer, who was murdered in the Warsaw ghetto. The heirs of the original owner and the consignor negotiated a settlement agreement and the painting is to be sold at Christie's next month.
March 20, 2008 - Art forgery operation broken up by FBI and Spanish police
GUARDIAN NEWS - Seven individuals, including art dealers from Italy, Spain and the United States, have been charged with creating and selling fake prints purportedly by Picasso, Miró, Dalí and Chagall. The international art forgery ring made around $5 million dollars in the sale of thousands of fake works, with fake certificates of authenticity, on eBay and in galleries, including some in Florida and Illinois, to thousands of collectors around the world.
March 19, 2008 - Russia votes to return looted stained glass to Germany
ARTINFO - The Russian lower house voted to return six 14th-century stained-glass windows that were taken from a German church by Russian forces during World War II. The upper legislative house and the president must still approve the bill. For decades, Russia and Germany have argued over what to do with artworks illegally looted during World War II.
March 17, 2008 - Monet, Rodin among masterpieces stolen near Paris, AFP says
BLOOMBERG - Five masked thieves robbed a French art dealer at gunpoint in his home in Le Pecq, west of Paris, France. The thieves took approximately 30 paintings by masters, such as Monet, Cezanne, Corot and Sisley and a sculpture by Rodin. According to police, it is the second time this dealer was robbed.
March 7, 2008 - Museum wants stolen Pissarro returned
ABC NEWS - The Faure Museum in Aix-les-Bains, France has asked a New York woman to return Pissarro’s ”The Fish Market,” which was stolen from its collection in 1981. The current possessor insists that because she bought it in good faith for $8,500 from a US dealer, she should be compensated for returning it.
March 6, 2008 - U.K. art report says 60% of February sale lots missed estimate
BLOOMBERG - ArtTactic, a U.K. research company, reported that 60% of lots from the February 2008 London contemporary art auctions failed to reach their minimum estimates, and ten lots accounted for 70% of total sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, which signals a slowing demand in the middle of the market.
March 4, 2008 - 'Peaceable Kingdom' painting by Edward Hicks leaves American Folk Art Museum
ANTIQUES AND THE ARTS - As a result of a lawsuit, Edward Hick’s painting "Peaceable Kingdom" will be sold by Sotheby’s in a private sale to satisfy the folk art collector Ralph Esmerian’s debts. Mr. Esmerian double pledged it as loan collateral to Merrill Lynch and Christie’s and promised to donate it to the American Folk Art Museum.
March 2, 2008 - Inflated art appraisals cost U.S. government untold millions
LOS ANGELES TIMES - IRS audits of museum donations and donors’ tax deductions revealed that the government lost $183 million from inflated appraisals in the last two decades. Experts believe that this represents a fraction of the problem with overvalued appraisals, whose frequency and inflated amounts have grown in recent years.
February 28, 2008 - Untouched by Nazi hands, but still...
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Two cases brought by leading museums in New York and Massachusetts may require the federal courts to address whether a "forced sale" involving some type of Nazi coercion is akin to a theft invalidating a current owner's title to their paintings. There is presently no legal definition of a forced sale, and at least two district courts in Ohio and Rhode Island have reached different conclusions about involuntary sales.
February 25, 2008 - Show it or sell it: Museums are urged to put unseen artefacts on the market
THE TIMES - A new policy for England’s museums and galleries will encourage the de-accessioning of artwork. Rather than keep works which are peripheral to a museum’s core collection, The Museums Association says that museums should sell un-exhibited works in their collections. Donors may dislike this policy change because many gifts were made assuming that they would not be sold.
February 23, 2008 - Ruling to come on art collection
THE NEW YORK TIMES - The fate of the Fisk University’s 101 piece art collection will be decided within 30 days. The court recently struck down the University’s $30 million dollar deal with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to sell a 50% stake in the collection as going against the donor Georgia O’Keefe’s wishes. The court must now decide whether the University has forfeited its right to the collection and if so whether to return it to the artist’s estate.
February 22, 2008 - Stolen art turns up in Bristol
EAST BAY RI - Three long lost stolen paintings discovered in the home of a Bristol attorney have sparked a complicated dispute between the attorney, a Barrington art dealer, an insurance company, and the heir to the stolen paintings. The paintings were used as collateral for the attorney’s loan to his art dealer brother, who reportedly was unaware that the pictures were stolen in 1976.
February 11, 2008 - Art worth $163.2M stolen from Zurich museum
USA TODAY - Three masked men stole four oil paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh worth about $163 million from the E.G. Buehrle Collection in Zurich, Switzerland. There is a $90,000 reward offered for information leading to the return of these works stolen in Europe's second biggest art robbery ever.
February 8, 2008 - A Warhol surfaces and is headed for court
THE NEW YORK TIMES - A SoHo gallery is suing a Brooklyn man, who claims he purchased a Warhol painting at a flea market, to recover the picture, which was stolen from the gallery in 1998. Both parties have claimed title to the Warhol painting and intend to take their dispute to court.
February 7, 2008 - Russians reveal hoard of 46,000 art treasures stolen by Nazis
BLOOMBERG - The Russian government has published on a new website details about 46,000 art works that the Nazis looted from Russian museums during World War II. This information will help scholars, the art market, and law enforcement agencies locate Russia’s missing treasures, which are subject to title disputes.
February 4, 2008 - Tax scheme is blamed for damage to artifacts
THE NEW YORK TIMES - In addition to destroying archeology sites and illegally importing looted artifacts into the United States, the federal investigation of several California museums is focused on potential tax fraud violations. The IRS is investigating whether smugglers and dealers sold artifacts to their clients and then helped them arrange for inflated appraisals and for the items to be donated to museums for inflated tax deductions.
January 29, 2008 - The Russians are right to be nervous
THE TIMES - Russia agreed to participate in an exhibit now on display at the Royal Academy in London because the UK enacted immunity from seizure legislation. But the law may not serve its intended purpose of protecting Russia from claims for property appropriated during the Revolution. English courts are empowered to strike the law if it is deemed incompatible with property rights granted by the Human Rights Act and international law.
January 29, 2008 - Nazi victim's heirs lose patience with Sweden on art
BLOOMBERG - In Sweden’s first restitution case, the heirs of a Jewish businessman are seeking to recover a Nolde painting from Stockholm’s Moderna Museet. In July 2007, the Swedish government told the museum to resolve the claim in accordance with the Washington Conference Principles. To date, the parties have still not reached a settlement.
January 29, 2008 - A history buff uncovers thefts of american history treasures
THE NEW YORK TIMES - Since 2002, a New York state librarian has stolen hundreds of artifacts from the state’s collection and sold them at trade shows and on eBay, which does not guarantee the legality of items advertised or the ability of sellers to sell them.
January 24, 2008 - Fed agents raid California museums for looted artifacts
FOX NEWS - Federal agents raided four California museums searching for looted antiquities that were illegally imported from Southeast Asian and Native American sites. Authorities believe that Robert Olson and the owners of Silk Roads Gallery arranged for the donation of smuggled objects and inflated gift tax deductions for their clients.
January 24, 2008 - MFA sues to bolster claim to disputed 1913 painting
THE BOSTON GLOBE - The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston filed a declaratory judgment asking the court to name it owner of Oskar Kokoschka's 1913 painting "Two Nudes (Lovers)". The museum disputes Claudia Seger-Thomschitz's claim that her uncle, Oskar Reichel, sold the painting under duress in Vienna in 1938.
January 23, 2008 - Art raid swoops on Samsung camp
SHANGHAI DAILY - South Korean officials are investigating whether tens of thousands of paintings stored at Samsung warehouses were purchased using an illegal company slush fund.
January 18, 2008 - Collector returns art Italy says was looted
THE NEW YORK TIMES - After 18 months of heated negotiations, New York philanthropist Shelby White is the first private collector to agree to return to Italy 10 allegedly looted ancient objects, which she purchased in good faith. Italy may still pursue claims for other antiquities in her collection, which were not cataloged for The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1990 exhibit.
December 19, 2007 - Russia cancels U.K. art show. Cites lack of guarantee
BLOOMBERG - The exhibition, “From Russia”, scheduled to open at London’s Royal Academy of Arts on January 26, 2008, has been cancelled by the Russian government after the British government failed to offer a legal guarantee of immunity from third-party confiscation.
December 7, 2007 - Museums ask New York federal court to reject claim on Picassos
THE NEW YORK SUN - The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation have both asked a Federal District Court to declare them the owners of two Picasso paintings after lawyers for Julius H. Schoeps requested that the museums return the paintings.
December 6, 2007 - Sotheby's won't sell Salander works
ARTINFO - Sotheby’s, Inc. has filed a notice with the court withdrawing its bid to sell artwork connected to the Salander-O’Reilly Gallery. The withdrawal follows concerns of ownership, voiced by a committee representing the gallery’s unsecured creditors.
November 20, 2007 - Lloyd Webber Foundation wins dismissal of Picasso art lawsuit
BLOOMBERG - A New York Supreme Court Justice ruled that Julius Schoeps cannot sue the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation for restitution of a Pablo Picasso painting because Schoeps was not appointed to represent the estate of his great uncle, Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Christie's was scheduled to sell the Picasso a year ago when Schoeps sued, claiming that the painting was forcibly sold by his great uncle. Christie’s had valued the painting at $40 million to $60 million at the time it withdrew the painting from auction.
November 19, 2007 - Robert DeNiro says gallery stole father’s paintings
NEW YORK POST - Lawyers for Robert DeNiro are planning to take legal action against Lawrence Salander and Salander-O’Reilly Galleries to recover twelve paintings by Robert DeNiro Sr. These painting were entrusted to Salander-O’Reilly Galleries by Robert DeNiro on consignment. The paintings were allegedly used by Salander-O’Reilly Galleries to settle a $5 million debt with Benucci S.R.L. in June of 2007.
November 6, 2007 - Salander case may change art market
THE NEW YORK SUN - The Salander-O’Reilly case draws mounting attention to the unregulated nature of the art industry and the significant limitations of the Uniform Commercial Code as a way to secure art transactions. Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, LLC, and its owner have filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of creditors having now filed more than fifty-three claims against the gallery and its owner totaling in excess of $43 million.
November 5, 2007 - Salander-O'Reilly Galleries owner files bankruptcy
BLOOMBERG - Lawrence and Julie Salander have filed for personal bankruptcy. Lawrence Salander is an owner of the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries LLC in New York. On November 1, 2007, creditors asked a judge to force the gallery into bankruptcy. Days later, the Salanders’ filed for bankruptcy, claiming over $50 million in personal debt, most of which is owed to other galleries and art institutions. New York prosecutors are also investigating the business operations.
May 19, 2007 - Spielberg faces new battle over Rockwell painting
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - This past week, art dealers with earlier ties to the work went to court to claim it back. These new developments pit two art dealers -- both of whom claim ownership prior to Mr. Spielberg's acquisition -- against each other. That's throwing the fate of the painting into limbo.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 
