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…)

Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the director of Vienna’s Albertina Museum, has publicly called for a time limit Nazi-loot restitution claims for work held in public collections  “The international community should decide on a sensible time frame of 20 or 30 years from now,” Schröder argues. “If we don’t set a time limit of around 100 years after the end of the Second World War, then we should ask ourselves why claims regarding crimes committed during the First World War should not still be valid; why we don’t argue anymore about the consequences of the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian war, and why we don’t claim restitution of works of art that have been stolen during previous wars?” (more…)

A Munich court ruled in favor of the Kunstmuseum Bern’s claim to the trove of Cornelius Gurlitt this past week, rejecting the suit by Gurlitt’s cousin Uta Werner.  Even so, the situation remains mostly unresolved, as the Task Force appointed to sort the provenance of the works have only returned a handful of findings, and several works are already under legal contention. (more…)

Leigh Morse, the former gallery director who was convicted of selling over 70 works from the estates of artists like Robert De Niro Sr. and never notifying the beneficiaries, is in the news this week, after failing to pay the $1.7 million in restitution ordered by the court. “Her restitution tab to date is over a million dollars. She has paid, to date, $22,000, in cash, 2.2 percent,” says Prosecutor Kenn Kern. “What’s so unbelievably upsetting and appalling is that every time you give very clear directions somehow we end up back here.” (more…)

A Sotheby’s New York auction this coming Thursday will feature three works recovered by the famous “Monuments Men” after Nazi confiscation during World War II.  The works by Apollonio di Giovanni, Jean-Baptiste Pater and Francesco Guardi are expected to sell between $150,000 and $500,000, and bear rare markings from their Nazi owners.  “The front is an artwork, and the back is an artifact,” says Lucian Simmons, of Sotheby’s restitution department. (more…)

Over the past 50 years, the descendants of renowned Paris art dealer Paul Rosenberg have fought to reclaim their father’s vast art collection, looted from the family’s home during World War II.  Tracing paper trails and historical records, the family is remarkable for their ability to reclaim over 340 of Paul Rosenberg’s 400 works still missing, including works by Picasso, Cézanne and Braque. “They are part of the 5 percent of those who have been successful,” said Marc Masurovsky, Holocaust Art Restitution Project founder. “They set an example of how restitution should take place.” (more…)

The heir to Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim is pushing the German government for a decision on a pair of paintings by Paul Klee and Juan Gris that he claims were sold to Nazi collectors under duress.  Flechtheim’s great-nephew, Mike Hulton, claims that there is sufficient evidence to prove his claims, but he is currently being challenged by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.  “We are asking for late justice. My aged stepmother Penny and I are very disappointed and somewhat puzzled — we hope this emotionally stressful and difficult situation will come to an end soon.” Hulton says.

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