The Art Market, Museums, and the Legacy of the Holocaust: Legal and Ethical Issues

Hosted by Boston University Art Law Society

A Washington, D.C., lawyer and representatives from art museums and auction houses discuss the impact of Nazi looting on museums and on the art market in the panel discussion The Art Market, Museums, and the Legacy of the Holocaust: Legal and Ethical Issues.

Thomas Kline, a partner in the Washington law office of Andrews Kurth who has worked on art cases for approximately 20 years, gives a brief history of Nazi looting and the legal issues. He says the goal of the Nazis “wasn’t just to steal assets but to destroy a culture and to build a culture.” There have been many attempts at repatriation (returning art to the country) and restitution (returning art to its owner). But from the 1960s through the 1990s, he says, the problem was largely forgotten, there was a lack of diligence in the art market, and stolen works were “shuffled around.”

Sarah Kianovsky, assistant curator of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, talks about provenance research and the obligations and duties that museums and curators have. Victoria Reed, the Monica S. Sadler Assistant Curator for Provenance at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, examines the history of ownership of art objects and, in particular, their location from 1933 to 1945.

Two representatives of auction houses also speak. Monica Dugot, international director of restitution and senior vice president at Christie’s, discusses the challenges restitution presents for the art market and how she handles looted art. Lucian Simmons, senior vice president at Sotheby’s, says looted art involves not just legal issues, but ethical and commercial issues as well. He discusses what Sotheby’s does to avoid claims.

October 21, 2008, 6 p.m.
School of Law

Video length is 02:22:00.

About the Speakers:
Thomas R. Kline is a partner at the Washington, D.C., law office of Andrews Kurth and an assistant professorial lecturer at George Washington University. He has written numerous articles and speaks frequently about the recovery of stolen art and cultural property.

Sarah B. Kianovsky is assistant curator of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts at Harvard Unniversity’s Fogg Art Museum. She writes and speaks frequently on art historical and provenance issues.

Victoria Reed is the Monica S. Sadler Assistant Curator for Provenance at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She published “Walter Westfeld (1889-1943?), Art Dealer in Nazi Germany,” in Vitalizing Memory: International Perspectives in Provenance Research.

Monica S. Dugot is the international director of restitution and senior vice president at Christie’s. Previously, she was the deputy director of the Holocaust Claims Processing Office in New York, where she represented claimants and settled cases of art or assets lost or looted during the Nazi era.

Lucian J. Simmons is senior vice president at Sotheby’s and the worldwide head of the Restitution and Provenance Research team. He trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom, both as a barrister and a solicitor.

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