IFAR Journal

The authors, both art law attorneys, discuss a recent trend in Holocaust-related art claims for current owners, faced with a claim, to start a declaratory judgment action to quiet title or otherwise use a statute of limitations defense. This strategy was successfully used in a case against Elizabeth Taylor (Adler v. Taylor) and in claims against the Toledo Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

California has three statutes of limitations that affect art restitution claims. The author, a California attorney, discusses the impact of these statutes on three recent California cases, including von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum; Orkin v. Taylor; and Cassirer v. Spain.

An overview and comparative critique of ten recent books on art and cultural property law and the antiquities trade.

An analysis of a newly attributed Rembrandt self-portrait. The work appeared at auction in 2007 in the U.K. with an attribution to "a follower of Rembrandt," but intense bidding by dealers of Dutch art indicated their belief, later confirmed by the Rembrandt Research Project, that the painting is an authentic work by Rembrandt.

An update on the ownership issues surrounding the art collection of the late William M. V. Kingsland, who died intestate in New York in 2006. The collection of more than 500 works of art includes stolen items and items of dubious provenance, several of which have competing ownership claims. The FBI and the NY County Public Administrator have made a public appeal for information about the items, 19 of which are reproduced in the story.

Thefts include: John Archibald Woodside, Fairmount Water Works, stolen in Philadelphia; Robert Rauschenberg, Jacob Javits Center; and six Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein prints stolen from the Lasse Aberg Museum near Stockholm, Sweden.

Missing items include: photographer Joe Rosenthal, Marines Raising the American Flag and three other works from an album of eight Iwo Jima Battlefield contact photos missing from the Intrepid Museum in New York.

Recoveries include: a Picasso aquatint and an etching stolen in Sao Paulo, Brazil; two Picasso etchings stolen from a gallery in Palm Beach; a bracelet and cufflinks by Bill Reid that were among 15 items stolen from a museum in Vancouver, B.C.