Posted on: September 1, 2021 by Alexander Herman
On 9 August a decision came down from the High Court of England and Wales that imparts an important lesson about limitation periods and related timelines for the service of proceedings. The decision also reveals useful information about a particular dispute over allegedly fake antiquities, showing just what happens when negotiations between buyer and seller […]
Posted on: April 15, 2021 by Eve Gatenby
“Our clients choose us because we have no priority above their property,” remarks the guide touring Robert Pattinson and John David Washington’s characters through a freeport in Christopher Nolan’s 2020 thriller Tenet. The underground vaults they are walking through are alluringly filled with artworks that give subtle hints at Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist masterpieces. These two characters […]
Posted on: July 1, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy
The full story of the billion-dollar art collection gathered by Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt during World War II may never be told. After years spent trying to determine the collection’s history, the prior owners of a large majority of those works remain unknown. This is a story we have followed with interest throughout its […]
Posted on: August 2, 2018 by Hélène Deslauriers
In December 2017, a Swiss crowdfunding website, Qoqa, offered visitors to the site the opportunity to purchase a Picasso painting, Le Buste du Mousquetaire (1968). For three months, a careful and efficient campaign was mounted, culminating in a victory, with sufficient funds raised to buy the Picasso. Le Buste du Mousquetaire now belongs to the Swiss people. […]
Posted on: July 18, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
Following a host of recent articles regarding the seizure of a Giacometti collection, this blog aims to shed some light on the case: On 24 February 2014, the State Prosecutor of the Canton of Graubünden seized as a precautionary measure a collection of Giacometti works from the Bündner Kunstmuseum. The Paris-based Fondation Alberto et Annette […]
Posted on: May 3, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The Swiss Copyright Act (SCA) is currently under revision. On 11th December 2015, the Swiss Federal Council published the draft legislation and the explanatory notes. The proposed introduction of a lending right for art works in art. 13 para. 1 SCA caused a stir throughout the art market. The applicable law: Up until now, anyone who […]
Posted on: April 6, 2016 by Tony Baumgartner
In the course of 2015 a scandal of potential significance to dealers and their clients emerged. Allegations involving Yves Bouvier, the well-known art dealer and the largest private shareholder in the Geneva freeports (Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA), came to light when Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian oligarch, brought civil and criminal proceedings against […]
Posted on: February 3, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
The artist resale right (ARR), also known by the French term droit de suite, is the inalienable right of the artist and his estate to receive a royalty on any resale of his artworks. Unlike other creators, such as musicians, screenwriters, and authors, artists earn money only from the initial sale of their works. However, […]
Posted on: January 25, 2016 by Nina M. Neuhaus
Switzerland was one of the 44 states that approved the Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated Art in December 1998. By doing so, the Swiss Confederation obliged itself to identify artworks in its collections that were looted during the Second World War, undertake efforts to locate their pre-War owners or legal successors, and take measures to achieve […]
Posted on: January 8, 2016 by Alexander Herman
Since our last report on the Gurlitt case, there have been several developments. What better way, then, to begin the new year with a post on a story that has been unfolding since 2013? Plus ça change… The German-Bavarian appointed Task Force has now been folded into the German Lost Art Foundation, which will continue administering the remaining […]