IFAR Journal
Volume 5, No. 3
2002
The Debate Over Cleaning Paintings: How Much is Too Much?
— Joyce Hill Stoner
In this article, a paintings conservator /professor of conservation traces the history of and the issues behind some of the controversies over the cleaning of paintings. Helmut Ruhemann and Johannes Hell are the influential 20th century conservators who represent the opposite poles of cleaning philosophies, and their respective views are outlined
Copyright or Copywrong? The Supreme Court, Copyright Term Extension, and the Arts—Introduction
— The Editor
The following five articles are edited transcripts of an IFAR program (November 6, 2002), devoted to the Supreme Court hearing on Eldred v. Ashcroft, which challenged the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), extending copyright protection for an additional twenty years. The case split the art community—some organizations for it, others against it.
Copyright or Copywrong? Eldred v. Ashcroft - The Issues
— Franklin Feldman
The question in Eldred v. Ashcroft is whether or not the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act violates two provisions of the U.S. Constitution- the Copyright Clause: Article 1, Section 8 and the provision in the Constitution providing freedom of speech. Feldman also discusses the history of the Copyright Clause.
Copyright or Copywrong? Copyright & Fair Use
— Stephen E. Weil
The extension of the copyright term might not seem like such a daunting prospect if we could be assured that the copyright to be extended was a copyright reined in from excess by such built-in safeguards as the fair use doctrine. But Weil fears that is not the situation.
Copyright or Copywrong? Fact & Fiction in the Eldred v. Ashcroft Debate
— Alice Haemmerli
Haemmerli, a Dean at Columbia Law School, discusses the arguments for and against the CTEA.
Copyright or Copywrong? The Case Against Copyright Term Extension
— Robert Baron
Baron, the head of the intellectual property committee of the College Art Association, discusses how copyright restrictions on visual images inhibits the ability of scholars to do their work. He argues that the “public domain” has been whittled away.
Copyright or Copywrong? The Case For Copyright Term Extension
— I. Fred Koenigsberg
Koenigsberg, attorney for ASCAP, which filed a brief in favor of CTEA, argues that CTEA benefits creative artists and their families.
Holocaust-Era Looted Art: The Routes into the U.S.
— Lucille A. Roussin
Despite the U.S. government’s best efforts during and just after WWII to stop the trade in looted art, Holocaust-era looted art entered the U.S. and some has not yet been restituted. Roussin discusses the loopholes in the laws that might have allowed works to enter here.
News and Updates: California Appeals Court Gives Green Light to Suit Against Austria
— Sharon Flescher
An analysis of the California federal appeals court decision that California resident Maria Altmann can proceed with her suit against the Austrian government to reclaim 6 Gustav Klimt paintings that belonged to her family before WWII. Austria is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
News and Updates: Egon Schiele Painting Pulled From Vienna Auction in WWII Restitution Case
— Sharon Flescher
Wayside Shrine, a small early work by Egon Schiele, has renewed debate about Austria’s role during WWII. The painting was seized by Austrian authorities from the Dorotheum, Vienna’s largest auction house on behalf of the heirs of Dr. Heinrich Rieger.
News and Updates: A Rash of Thefts–Lesser Known Works by Major Artists
— Sharon Flescher
Discusses several recent thefts: two early works on masonite by Jackson Pollock, stolen in August, 2002 in New York; two early works by Vincent Van Gogh stolen in December, 2002, from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam; and, in New York, a small Willem de Kooning drawing was snatched from a Madison Avenue gallery.
News and Updates: Four Thefts in Twenty Years: The Saga of the Beit Collection
— Sharon Flescher
The history of The Beit Collection in Russborough House in County Wicklow, Ireland, which has suffered four major thefts since 1974, the most recent being in September, 2002.
News and Updates: U.S. Cultural Property Import Agreement with Canada Ends
— Sharon Flescher
The five year bilateral U.S. agreement with Canada to restrict importation into the U.S. of “certain categories of archaeological and ethnological material” has ended.
News and Updates: Hassam Painting Recovered After 17 Years- Second Hassam Still Missing
— Sharon Flescher
Describes a Childe Hassam painting, White Island Lighthouse (1886), stolen in 1985 and found in large part because it was reported to IFAR at the time of its disappearance and was still listed when a dealer made a routine search with the Art Loss Register in April, 2002.
Stolen Art Alert
Thefts include: Claude Monet, Vétheuil, vu de l’ile Saint-Martin, 1880; Philip W. Steer, Portrait of a Young Woman; Vincent Van Gogh, View of the Sea at Scheveningen, 1882 and Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, 1884; Pierre Auguste Renoir, Place de la Trinité, 1893.
