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Access articles online through the Art Library's New York Times Index
- D'Arcy, David. "French relent over war loot." The Art Newspaper.June.
1999: 1,3.
Discusses the controversy surrounding the Rosenberg family's
attempt to reclaim works stolen during WWII. Works in question include
Monet's Nympheas and Leger's Figure in Green and Red (held by the French
government), Bonnard's Interior (held by a Sotheby's consignor) and
Matisse's Odalisque (at the Seattle Museum of Modern Art).
- D'Arcy, David. "Schieles shielded--for now." The Art Newspaper.June. 1998: 5.
Details New York State Court decision on the Manhattan District
Attorney's authority to seize two Schiele works on loan to MoMA after
suspicion arose that they had been looted by the Nazis. The court ruled
that it was illegal to subpoena the works under New York State laws
exempting works of art on loan to non-profit organizations from seizure.
- Dobrzynski, Judith. "District Attorney Enters Dispute Over Artworks." The
New York Times.8 Jan. 1998: B1.
In an unprecendted act, Manhattan's District Attorney issued a subpoena for
the two Egon Schiele artworks at the center of an ownership dispute. Two
families have claimed that the artworks were plundered by the Nazis. The
subpoena came after the Austrian musem, which owns the works, proposed the
creation of an international fact-finding council to examine the claims;
the families wanted the paintings kept in the US as an assurance that the
council's process would be fair.
- Dobrzynski, Judith. "Modern Refuses to Detain 2 Schieles." The New York
Times.5 Jan. 1998: E1.
The Museum of Modern Art refuses families' request to detain two works they
believe were lost during WWII Nazi plundering. The families want the
issue to be resolved before the works leave the country, but citing an
inability to be in a position that would "pass on the legal or factual"
validity of the claims, and the terms of the work's loan agreements, the
Modern plans to ship the works to Bacelona on Jan. 8th.
- Dobrzynski, Judith. "Claims for Art Collection Pose a Challenge to
Hungary." The New York Times.7 July. 1998: E1+.
At the same time that Hungary is hindering the US based Nierenberg family's
(heirs to the Herzog collection which was plundered by the Nazis and much
of which is now in Hungarian museums) attempt to reclaim their art, the
country itself is trying to reclaim looted art from Canada and Russia.
Hungary, a fledging democracy, is caught between"making its way in the west
and its own national politics and aspirations."
- Eakin, Hugh. "Unfinished Business." ARTnews.Sept. (1999) : 56-60.
Overview of the ways different countries are dealing with art restitution
claims resulting from WWII theft and looting. Countries include USA,
Austria, Britain, Scotland, Russia and Germany.
- Evans, Marcus. "Should benefactors be allowed to rule from beyond the
grave?" The Art Newspaper.March. 1997: 7.
When Sir William Burrell left his art collection to the Corporation of the
city of Glasgow in 1944, his terms stipulated that the collection would not
be loaned abroad. Fifty-three year later, the director of Glasgow's
museums and galleries wants Parliament to overturn the original terms of
the agreement. The director feels that had Burrell known of the changes in
technology that would make loaning items safer, he would have allowed them
to travel. Cites other examples of museums grappling with stipulations on
gifted art collections.
- Gazi, Andromache. "Museums and National Cultural Property." Museum
Management and Curatorship.1990: 121-135.
Examines the return of cultural property to its country of origin.
Addresses historical factors which led to the dispersal of national
cultural property, circumstances under which the question of return arose
and contemporary attitudes regarding the issue of restitution.
- Henry, Clare. "Glasgow Museums try to break Sir William Burrell's will."
The Art Newspaper.March. 1997: 6.
Amid the controversy surrounding Julian Richard's attempt to break the
terms of Sir Richard Burrell's will, new charges of unethical conduct are
being leveled at the director. As the museum union fears loss of jobs,
hopes are pinned on the Burrell Trustees' success in court.
- Hochfield, Sylvia. "Recovering a Legacy." ARTnews.Sept. (1999) : 62-64.
Report on the negotiations between the heirs of Kazimir Malevich
and MoMa which led to the return of Supremacist Composition and $5 million
to the artist's relatives. Details the questionable arrival of the
majority of Malevich's work in the Stedelijk Museum.
- Jenkins, Ian. "Are the British Museum losing their Parthenon marbles?
The Art Newspaper.July-Aug. 1998: 29.
Article examines validity of Greece's renewed demands for the
return of the Elgin marbles following allegations that they were
irreparably damaged in the 1930s. The said damage was caused during an
aborted attempt to "whiten" the marbles by removing the residual color left
from the original paint.
- Kaufman, Jason. "To the greater glory of antiquity?" The Art Newspaper.May. 1999: 18.
Discusses the issues surrounding the acquisition of unprovenanced
antiquities and the effect of "patrimony" law on museum's collecting.
Also, Philippe de Montebello shares his philosophy regarding the
acquisition of new antiquities and the importance of the antiquity
collection at the Met.
- Lee, Donald. "Getty returns three stolen works." The Art Newspaper.March. 1999: 1, 3.
Highlights case in which the Getty Museum voluntarily returned
three stolen antiquities to Italy after determining that they had been
stolen. Getty wants to "position itself as a model of ethical behavior
among academic institutions in the US in the notoriously shady world of
antiquities dealing."
- Lufkin, Martha. "Disputed Schieles to go to grand jury." The Art
Newspaper.May. 1999:1,5.
Article discusses second ruling in the MoMA/Schiele case which
overthrew the lower court's ruling that a criminal subpoena could not reach
the paintings. MoMA promises an appeal which will take the case to the
Grand Jury.
- Lufkin, Martha. "The most serious threat in memory to US museums." The
Art Newspaper.June. 1998: 6.
Considers the effect "patrimony" claims by foreign nations might
have on antiquity collections in the USA
- Lufkin, Martha. "Civilising or paralysing." The
Art Newspaper.Oct. 1999: 1.
"In the interests of future exhibitions, the New York Court of Appeals rules that the Schieles on laon to MoMA must be returned to the lender. . ." Soon afterwards, one of the paintings is seized by a federal magistrate.
- Read, Robert. "Probing Provenance." The Art Newspaper.July-Aug. 1998:
25.
Discusses the Schiele/MoMA case and the "problems facing museums
and private collectors who may find themselves having to prove good title
to their possessions."
- Riding, Allan. "Heirs Claim Art Lost to Nazis in Amsterdam." The New York
Times.12 Jan. 1998: E1+.
"Jacques Goudstikker, leading art dealer in prewar Amsterdam, was one of
many wealthy Jewish collectors whose artworks were seized by Nazi Germany
in the early 1940's; his widow's efforts to reconstitute collection after
war were thwarted by Dutch authorities, and 160 of Goudstikker's paintings
hang in 17 Dutch museums without any reference to their provenance; still
unknown is what happened to rest of his collection, close to 900 paintings,
100 sculptures, Venetian glassware and antique furniture; Marei von Saher,
heir to Goudstikker, is being forced to go to court to recover lost legacy,
in face of Dutch Government's insistence that it alone is righful owner of
collection" (NYT summary)
- Sanig, Karen. "It's yours but do you own it?"
The Art Newspaper.Oct., 1999: 24.
"The complicated web of ownership transference across national boundaries"
- Schmitt, Jean-Marie. Attacks on cultural property criminalised. The Art
Newspaper.June. 1999: 6.
A new ruling proposed at the UNESCO conference says that attacks
on cultural property during war is a criminal act. Under the proposal,
organizations and individuals (for example, art dealers) could be
prosecuted for not vigilantly checking the provenance of works coming into
their hands.
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