IFAR Journal

A heavily illustrated, edited version of an IFAR Evening talk by the author of two books on the Monuments Men, the military "heroes" who, during WWII and after, rescued works of art looted by the Nazis in Europe.

The edited proceedings of an IFAR Evening devoted to the twentieth anniversary of the largest art theft in U.S. history. It features talks by the writer/director of a film about the investigation of the Gardner theft; the head of security at the museum; the FBI case agent; and the U.S. Attorney in Boston assigned to the case.

A discussion of a collector's lawsuit against Christie's regarding a fake Basquiat wherein the court allowed the case to go forward depite the fact that the plaintiff was a downstream purchaser and not the original buyer at auction.

An overview from both the art historical and legal perspectives of a consignor's lawsuit against Christie's after the auction house sold a purported Leonardo da Vinci drawing as a work by a 19th century artist of the German school.

Out-of-court settlements between two museums and the heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy over the ownership of two Picasso paintings allegedly sold under duress because of the Nazis lead to a similar settlement and subsequent sale at auction by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation of a third Picasso painting.

A discussion of the settlement between the U.S. Government, the heirs of Leah Bondi-Jaray and the Leopold Museum over Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally.

Stolen items include five paintings stolen from the Musée d'Art moderne in Paris, including George Braque's Olive Tree near l'Estaque. Also, dozens of paintings and works on paper by modern French artists stolen from a private residence in La Cadière d'Azur.

Recovered items include The Taking of Christ, a painting after Caravaggio stolen from a museum in the Ukraine; Camille Pissarro's Le Marché
des Poissions, stolen in 1981; Max Ernst's Henry IV, la lionne de Belfort, l'ancien combatant, stolen in 1969.