Restitution
France’s new restitution law passes final vote
Procedures for returning objects will be “strictly supervised” and the law applies only to items illegally taken between June 1815 and April 1972
Judge rules dealer David Nahmad must return $30m Nazi-looted Modigliani
The case was decided in New York after 11 years of court battles
Bavaria restitutes Lesser Ury painting to the heirs of a Jewish banker
The group portrait by the Germany Impressionist is the tenth work the Bavarian State Paintings Collections has said it will restitute since its director quit a year ago in the wake of a scandal over Nazi-looted art
Germany to create council to oversee restitution of colonial-era acquisitions
The new panel is intended to “shape ongoing and future restitution processes more effectively” and coordinate with counterparts in receiving countries
Comment | A generational moment for Nazi-looted art claims in the US
Expanded version of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (Hear) Act in the US fundamentally alters the legal landscape for both claimants and current owners
Zurich's Museum Rietberg transfers 11 Benin Bronzes to Nigerian government
Nine of the objects will stay in Switzerland despite the change of ownership
When it comes to restitution, how can museums solve a problem like inalienability?
Having a legal structure and policy that allows institutions to make moral decisions on returning objects is crucial
Cambridge University to return 100 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
The objects’ return was delayed due confusion between the Nigerian state and the oba of Benin
Former Swiss president to head new Nazi loot panel
The new Commission for Historically Problematic Cultural Heritage—whose remit also includes claims for cultural heritage that changed hands in a colonial context—will issue non-binding recommendations
France and Mexico trade loans of colonial codices, putting spotlight on calls for restitution
The historic exchange between libraries in Paris and Mexico City is tied to the 200th anniversary of bilateral relations between the countries
Comment | Dave the Potter finally becomes a complete artist
Spending most of his life in slavery, David Drake was denied the right to benefit from his own creativity and so to be an artist in every sense—until now
Metropolitan Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and US collector return dozens of antiquities to Turkey
The repatriations are linked to long-running investigations into looting at Bubon and other archaeological sites, as prosecutors in New York step up pressure on museums and collectors
Comment | Lessons of the Contessa: do we need special laws for spoliated art in private collections?
Following the rediscovery of Nazi looted work in an Argentinian home, Alexander Herman asks how the art market can sufficiently root out toxic provenance
New UK law makes restitution easier—but excludes national museums, such as the British Museum
Legislation allows non-national museums established as charities to transfer property on a “moral basis” depending on its value
Private collectors’ return of artefacts to Ghana highlights UK's inaction on restitution, heritage experts say
British art historian Hermione Waterfield and South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti have retuned objects to Ghana's Asante Kingdom
MFA Boston returns work by enslaved artist David Drake to his heirs, Wifredo Lam, Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi—podcast
Ben Luke discusses the landmark agreement with a curator at the Boston museum, meets the team behind MoMA's new Lam show, and explores a new book on the children of the Renaissance
Three key takeaways from Lagos’s newest African art symposium
Amid Lagos Art Week and Lagos Photo, this event brought together cultural practitioners for wide-ranging conversations about African and Afro-diasporic art archives
Vatican Museums will return rare Indigenous kayak to Canada
The Vatican is working with the Canadian Catholic Church to return Indigenous artefacts
Comment | Time is running out for justice on Nazi-looted art—but it is not yet too late for museums to act
It is time for Congress to pass the new HEAR Act and for museums to deliver provenance transparency, writes Gideon Taylor, the president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization
In historic move, MFA Boston returns works by 19th-century enslaved artist David Drake to his heirs
The terms of the restitution of the two ceramic pots have been cast in the mould of Nazi war-loot agreements
French film brings the drama behind a Nazi-looted Schiele painting to life
"Auction" explores the tension between art and commerce through the true story of the discovery and sale of a 1914 depiction of wilted sunflowers
Nazi-looted Kirchner watercolour goes to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The work was restituted to the descendants of collectors Ludwig and Rosy Fischer earlier this year
Cultural issues define the Greens and Reform, so what are their arts policies?
Zack Polanski, the new UK Green Party leader, has big plans for the culture sector, while Reform’s Nigel Farage is giving little away
Authorities in New York return antiquities valued at $3m to Greece
Some of the artefacts were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of ongoing investigations into the activities of smugglers Robin Symes and Eugene Alexander
Comment | Return of extinct reptile shows power of reclaiming identity
Caribbean repatriation puts flora and fauna on the cultural identity and property agenda
Jewish collector's heirs revive Nazi loot claim to Van Gogh Sunflowers painting
The heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are extending their legal battle in the US courts with the Japanese insurance company that currently owns the painting
‘Fundamentally incorrect’: Italian politicians outraged over return of Renaissance altarpiece to Slovenia
Allies of prime minister Giorgia Meloni say the work remains part of Italy's heritage
Police hunt for Old Master painting looted by Nazis after it appears in Argentinian property advert
Eagle-eyed Dutch journalists spotted what is believed to be ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by 18th-century Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi in a photo—but the work has quickly disappeared once more
France returns three human skulls to Madagascar—including one that may have belonged to a king
The restitution is the first to take place under a 2023 French law on the return of human remains
US museums urged to stop lobbying against Nazi loot restitution bill
A bipartisan group of Senators has proposed amendments to the Hear Act of 2016, but some powerful organisations are concerned the changes go too far





























