Duress - Whose Duress? Different Jurisdictions, Divided Views and Conflicting Rulings
— David D'Arcy
The author, a journalist who writes frequently on Nazi-era art issues, discusses some recent restitution cases involving a subset of forced sales, “sales under duress,” rather than those concerning outright Nazi seizures. D’Arcy focuses on other sales under duress, in particular on art sold outside Germany by collectors after fleeing. Cases discussed include Emden et al. v. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Zuckerman v. Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Grawi v. Dűsseldorf. These cases, he shows, are redefining “duress” and spurring considerable debate
From Peruvian Church to California – and Back Again – Stolen Virgin Repatriated with Help from IFAR’s Cuzco Inventory
— Lisa Duffy-Zeballos and Sharon Flescher
IFAR’s Executive Director and Director of Authentication Research relate the saga of a seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe that was documented by IFAR in a church in Cuzco, Peru in the 1980s and later stolen from that church and smuggled into the U.S. With the help of the records in IFAR’s Cuzco Inventory, the painting was recovered by the FBI’s Art Crime Team and repatriated to Peru in 2022.
Cezanne's Willful Drawing -- An IFAR Collectors' Roundtable Talk
— Richard Shiff
In an article based on a heavily illustrated talk given for members of IFAR’s Collectors’ Roundtable in September 2021, the author, a renowned scholar and professor, demonstrates a key characteristic of Cezanne’s uniqueness: his drawings are not compositions in the traditional sense, but rather, a jumble of details, but they are not haphazard. A fragment of a Cezanne painting looks like a complete work. And the orientation of seemingly disparate subjects in his composite drawings likewise illustrates his purposeful organization.
Did Vermeer Use a Telescope While Painting? Analyzing Tim's Vermeer
— David G. Stork
The author, a physicist and art historian specializing in computer-assisted analysis of paintings and drawings, uses art history, scientific analysis, and computer graphics to disprove Tim Jenison’s hypothesis that Vermeer may have used optical aids, e.g., a catadioptric telescope, to paint his masterpieces in a photorealist style.
In Memoriam: Arthur C. Beale
Arthur C. Beale, objects conservator and member of IFAR’s Art Advisory Council for 37 years who died in 2022, is remembered.
In Memoriam: Jonathan Brown
Jonathan Brown, Spanish paintings scholar and member of IFAR’s Art Advisory Council for 46 years who died in 2022, is remembered.
News & Updates: Federal Indictment in Midwest Forgery Scam -- Three Charged Following FBI Raid
— Lisa Duffy-Zeballos
A discussion of the legal case against Donald Bruce Henkel, his brother, Mark, and a co-schemer, Raymond Paparella, who, after a multi-year FBI investigation initiated by collectors, were charged with operating a 15-year forgery scheme to create and sell fake American 20th century Modernist paintings and sports memorabilia.
New & Updates: A Busy Period at CPAC
— Hannah Wolfe and Sharon Flescher
A summary of the six new cultural property agreements: Morocco, Costa Rica, Turkey, Afghanistan, Albania, and Nigeria; five renewed bilateral agreements: Greece, Egypt, Bolivia, Colombia, and Italy; and one new request from Pakistan, under the U.S. Cultural Property Implementation Act; and the appointments of eight new CPAC committee members.
New & Updates: Cassirer Case Returns to the Lower Court after Supreme Court Ruling
— Polina Ivko
An update on a long-running case, Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Found., covered exhaustively in the IFAR Journal. In April 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation in Madrid in an ownership dispute with the heirs of Lilly Cassirer Neubauer over a Pissarro painting and remanded the case to the lower court for re-adjudication. Invoking the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA), the Supreme Court opined that “A foreign state or instrumentality in an FSIA suit is liable just as a private party would be.” The Cassirer heirs will have another chance at getting the painting back.
New & Updates: Two Schiele Works on Paper to be Sold at Auction after Decision in Title Dispute
— Polina Ivko
An update on a long-running case, Reif v. Nagy, covered previously in the IFAR Journal, concerning the legal battle between the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum and art dealer Richard Nagy over title to two Egon Schiele works on paper said to have been sold to Nazis under duress. The heirs were awarded ownership. The works came up for auction at Christie’s in November 2022.
In Brief: A Museum by Any Other Name? ICOM Issues New Museum Definition -- But Not Without Controversy and Struggle
In August 2022, ICOM – the International Council of Museums – revised its definition of a museum after a long and contentious debate.
In Brief: New Law Mandates Notices by New York State Museums About Nazi-Tainted Artworks
In August 2022, New York governor, Kathy Hochul, signed a new law mandating that all New York museums displaying works of art created before 1945 that changed ownership in Holocaust-era Europe must add public notices to that effect.
In Brief: A Warhol Image Familiar to IFAR Journal Readers Scheduled for Auction
A report on a scheduled sale of a Warhol self portrait silkscreen from the same series as a work at the center of a 2007 lawsuit covered in the IFAR Journal. In that suit, film producer Joe Simon sued the Andy Warhol Foundation after its authentication board twice denied the authenticity of his Warhol print. The auction would test the market value of another work from the series, but the work was withdrawn just before the sale.
Recovered Art
Recovered items include Max Ernst’s Forêt, stolen in 1987; Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of a Lady, stolen from a museum in Piacenza, Italy in 1997; Piet Mondrian’s Mill and Pablo Picasso’s Woman’s Head, stolen from the National Gallery in Athens, Greece in 2012; five Old Master paintings stolen from the Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, Germany in 1979; Renoir’s Portrait de femme à la robe rose, stolen in Marseille, France in 2013.
Stolen Art
Stolen items include Pieter Aertsen’s Portrait of a Young Woman, taken from a museum in Bielefeld, Germany in April 2022; Karel Appel’s Abstract Composition, stolen in Uccle, Belgium in October 2021; six paintings by Man Ray stolen from a Los Angeles gallery in May 2020; two Malevich paintings stolen from a gallery in Zurich in August 2020; jewelry stolen from the Green Vault in the Royal Palace in Dresden, Germany in November 2019.
Missing Art
Missing items include Natalia Goncharova’s Spanish Woman in a Mantilla, missing in Paris in May 2020; letters by André Breton, Paul Éuard, and Man Ray, missing in Paris in 2017.
