Restitution

Scholars call for Berlin centre on colonial-era heritage

Appeal published in Die Zeit welcomes Macron report but says debate should not be limited to restitution

Podcastspodcast

Should looted colonial art be returned?

We weigh up the arguments for and against the restitution of African art taken during the colonial period with Vicky Ngari-Wilson, Nicholas Thomas and Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

2018 in museums: big ethics questions dominate the field

Museums are facing greater scrutiny over sponsorship and the artists they choose to display

DR Congo to request restitution of works from former coloniser Belgium

Country's president Joseph Kabila made the announcement ahead of opening of revamped Africa Museum outside Brussels

Lawnews

Italian court says Getty Museum must surrender prized bronze Statue of a Victorious Youth

The Los Angeles institution counters that it will keep on fighting to maintain the linchpin of its collection

Should we relinquish our insistence on privileging original works of art?

Technological wizardry in replication is improving, alongside claims to relocate far-flung treasures

Podcastspodcast

Exclusive interview with Edmund de Waal, plus Roma persecution

How artists fight persecution is explored with the artist and author of the Hare with Amber Eyes and Krzysztof Gil, who describes the chilling history of "Roma hunting". Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Senegal and Ivory Coast will ask for return of objects in French museums

Statements come just days after the release of a controversial French report on the restitution of African artefacts

Legal challenges remain for restituting African artefacts from French museums

Getting around the inalienability of public collections is dealt with in the report—but it might not work legally and practically

Restitution Report: museum directors respond

The French academics Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr urge President Macron to return African artefacts. But does the report go too far, or not far enough?

TRISTRAM HUNT, HARTMUT DORGERLOH and NICHOLAS THOMAS

French President Emmanuel Macron calls for international conference on the return of African artefacts

Announcement comes after controversial report urged the president to return works taken “without consent” in the colonial period

'Give Africa its art back', Macron's report says

A new report on the status of African objects in French museums will urge the president to return works taken “without consent” in the colonial period

Dusseldorf auction house returns Dutch seascape to heirs of Jewish art dealer Max Stern

Auctioneer Frank Hargesheimer compensates consignor, sees “moral duty” to restitute art lost due to Nazi persecution

Austria returns wrong Klimt to wrong family

Painting of apple trees is pulled from exhibition after admission that its restitution was a mistake

Sotheby’s to auction Kirchner and Kokoschka paintings returned to Jewish dealer’s heirs

The paintings restituted to family of Alfred Flechtheim carry top estimates of $20m each

President Rouhani personally takes looted ancient relief back from New York to Tehran

Piece depicting a Persian soldier was seized last year at Tefaf New York

Looted artinterview

Meet the amateur art sleuth who is helping India recover its stolen antiques

Shipping company executive S. Vijay Kumar was responsible for recovering a Buddha stolen from India 57 years ago among many other looted works

Guggenheim to return Kirchner painting to heirs of Jewish dealer

The original owner, Alfred Flechtheim, fled the Nazis in 1933 after a stream of anti-Semitic attacks

Lawnews

Paris court orders US collector to turn over Pissarro painting

The work, seized by the pro-Nazi Vichy government, had been lent to an exhibition at the Musée Marmottan

Swedish museums call for panel to advise on Nazi-loot claims

“It shouldn’t be entirely up to us,” says Daniel Birnbaum, the director of Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which recently restituted a Kokoschka painting

How two missing legs helped the restitution of an Italian secrétaire worth €2m

The Italian state has a permanent right to confiscate illegally exported work

Looted Renoir is returned to French heir in New York

Granddaughter of Jewish collector flies in for restitution ceremony

Sweden's Moderna Museet returns Kokoschka work to Jewish dealer's heirs

The 1910 portrait of a marquis was sold by Alfred Flechtheim’s employee after the dealer fled Nazi Germany

Goudstikker heir files petition for rare rehearing of Cranach claim

Marei von Saher asks an appeals court in California to reconsider her case against the Norton Simon Museum

Booksreview

The tortuous story of Gustav Klimt’s Nazi-looted, 100ft-wide Beethoven Frieze uncovered

New book exploring work's provenance is a must-read for those interested in the contentious field of art restitution

Timeline: the legal battle over Cranach’s Adam and Eve

The events that led up to the ruling in favour of the Norton Simon Museum after it was sued by the heir of Dutch dealer Jacques Goudstikker over ownership of the paintings

Lawnews

Norton Simon Museum can keep Nazi-looted Cranachs, US court rules

Decision should put decade-long legal battle between museum and heirs of art dealer Jacques Goudstikker "to rest"

Lawnews

Legal battle over Met's famous Picasso reignited by estate

The museum stands by its ownership of The Actor, which it says was never in the hands of Nazis

German museum returns tattooed Maori skull to New Zealand

The preserved head was held in Cologne's Rautenstrauch Joest Museum of world cultures for 110 years