The Washington Post notes two American museums battling in court to prevent works claimed as Nazi-loot from returning to the families who claim them as rightfully theirs.  “I find it outrageous, and I’m embarrassed,” says Oklahoma state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, one of the museums refusing to return a work. “With this artwork, we have definitive proof that it was stolen. We have copies of the Nazi documents. As an Oklahoman, I think it’s a moral outrage.” (more…)

The New York Times notes the increasing popularity of Chinese art on the secondary market, as the Chinese Communist Party increases its efforts to secure and repatriate works that have been looted, taken or sold away from the state in past centuries to the west, including, in some cases, thefts from national museums that target works looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace during  its century raid by British and French troops in the mid 19th century.  “They knew very well what they were after,” said Jean-François Hebert, president of the Château de Fontainebleau, where a number of iconic Chinese gold and bronze works were stolen in 2012. (more…)

A Los Angeles Judge has rejected a lawsuit against the nation of Spain and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid to return a Camille Pissarro taken from the Cassirer family through forced sale by Nazis in 1939.  The painting, Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, was subject to Spanish law, Judge John F. Walter ruled, and therefore could not be removed by his decision.  The family plans to appeal.  “Museums and governments around the world recognize the need to return Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners,” said Laura Brill, a lawyer for the Cassirer family. “Here, it is undisputed that the Pissarro was owned by the Cassirer family until it was stolen by the Nazis in 1939.” (more…)

London’s National Gallery has indicated that Ireland has some claim to a series of long disputed Impressionist masterpieces.  The collection of Hugh Lane, who died on the Lusitania explosion in 1915, had been willed to Dublin, but since the will had not been witnessed, they were legally bound to Britain.  “The National Gallery claims legal ownership of the paintings bequeathed by Sir Hugh Lane, but has long conceded that Dublin has some moral claim to them,” said National Gallery Director Nicholas Penny, during a lecture on the collection. (more…)

Two of the most valuable works from the Cornelius Gurlitt collection, Woman with a Fan, (1923) by Henri Matisse, and Two Riders on a Beach (1901) by Max Liebermann, will be returned to the families of their original owners.  “Thankfully Gurlitt liked our Liebermann and kept it prized on his wall,” says Mr. Matteis, the lawyer representing David Toren, heir to the Liebermann work. (more…)

The German Task Force charged with reviewing the Gurlitt trove of looted artworks has gone on record stating that the work Two Riders on the Beach by Max Liebermann should be returned to American David Toren, whose great uncle had the work stolen from his home by Nazi troops. (more…)

Actor George Clooney has chimed in on the growing debates over repatriation, calling for Great Britain to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, and subsequently drawing strong response from British citizens and officials.  “He’s an American,” says John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.  “I suspect he doesn’t know why it is that Britain came to acquire the Elgin Marbles. There’s a very strong view in this country that they should stay in the UK.” (more…)

Reporter Doreen Carvajal has published an article in the New York Times, detailing her independent efforts to track down the potential heirs to paintings lost or stolen during the Nazi occupation of much of Europe.  The search was inspired by the French government’s increased efforts to return confiscated paintings, and the legal challenges it faces.  The article also addresses a perceived indifference to the process of returning the works, which is in part caused by a need for thoroughly exhaustive research.  “There is no French omerta to refuse to return the paintings,” says Cultural Minister Aurélie Filippetti.  “On the contrary, I am committed to move faster and further.” (more…)

The recent disclosure of hundreds of looted Nazi artworks discovered this past month in Munich has families around the world digging through archives and records in an effort to fulfill their claims to a number of masterpiece works confiscated or sold during World War II.  “It’s a little out of the respect for the memory of my grandfather that I pursue it,” says Michel David-Weill, former banker whose grandfather’s Canaletto etching appeared in the first round of works placed on the Lost Art Database. (more…)

Cornell University in Ithaca has announced that it will return a vast collection of cuneiform tablets to the country of Iraq, in what is already being called one of the largest antiquities returns by an American University ever.  The tablets are suspected to have been looted during the 1991 Gulf War.  “We’re not accusing anyone of a crime, but we believe they should be returned,” says Assistant U.S. Atty. Miro Lovric. (more…)

A recent investigation into the collection of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has uncovered 139 works looted during World War II.  The results of a 4-year study, the works have been placed on a website, inviting prior owners to make claims on the return of the work, including pieces by Matisse and Isaac Israels.  “We know that there were doubtful transactions concerning works acquired before 1940, after Kristallnacht,” said Siebe Weide of the Dutch Museum Association. (more…)

Artist Jan Mostaert’s painting Discovery of America, depicting a group of Spanish soldiers aiming cannons at an indigenous group of people, has been purchased by the Rijksmuseum.  Previously owned by Marei von Saher, the work had been taken from her father in law, dealer Jacques Goudstikker, by the Nazis during World War II, and was returned to von Saher in 2006.  “It’s a picture that a lot of people were interested in both in North and South America because of it being such an important historical picture,” said dealer Hugo Nathan, “but Mostaert is arguably the most important early Dutch painter, as opposed to being a Flemish master, and the Rijksmuseum was always hoping to secure it for the Dutch nation.” (more…)

The  New York Times writes on the ongoing contention between the nation of Turkey and the J. Paul Getty Museum over a number of potentially looted items currently held in the American museum’s collection, highlighting the difficult issues at play in repatriation claims.  While many museums are speeding up their processing of these claims, many factors must be taken into account before handing over past property.  “Museums must untangle a lot of knots before making such an irrevocable decision,” said Stephen K. Urice, an expert on cultural heritage law at the University of Miami School of Law in Florida. (more…)

Controversially held for centuries outside of China, two bronze zodiac statues looted from Beijing’s summer palace were returned by François-Henri Pinault on Friday.  The Christie’s owner first promised to return the heads in April, during a visit to the country by president Hollande and a number of ranking French businessmen.  “This donation is a token of our family’s appreciation for China as well as our passion for the preservation of art and cultural heritage,” Mr. Pinault said in a statement. (more…)

A pair of statues from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Southeast Asian collection will be sent back to Cambodia, officials announced this week.  The “Kneeling Attendants” were smuggled out of the country during the violent Cambodian civil war of the 1970’s, and were donated to the museum in the late 1980’s.  “This is a case in which additional information regarding the Kneeling Attendants has led the museum to consider facts that were not known at the time of the acquisition and to take the action we are announcing today,” said Met director Thomas P. Campbell. (more…)

A recurring theme of late for American museums has been that of repatriation, with several major institutions announcing that they will return ancient works to foreign countries claiming that the works were theirs.  However, many critics and museum employees posit that these claims on ancient art are often little more than extortion, and that the claims do little more than starve the cultural offering of museums and institutions around the globe, all while ignoring key issues of theft and looting.  “Has any of this affected the real evil, which is looting?” asks Stephen Urice, a cultural property lawyer at the University of Miami. “From what I see, it’s getting worse.” (more…)