Cultural Assets

Legal Analysis and Commentary on Art and Cultural Property

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Greenberg Traurig

Kevin P. Ray

Latest from Cultural Assets

Cultural Assets

Nazi-Looted Art: Cranach Paintings to Remain at Norton Simon Museum

By Kevin P. Ray

September 13, 2018

Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Adam[1] and Eve[2] have hung in the Norton Simon Museum at Pasadena for nearly 50 years. Since 2007, though, they have been the subject of a dispute between the museum and Marei von Saher. Von Saher is the daughter-in-law and surviving heir of Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer who fled the Nazi-occupied Netherlands with his family in 1940. Goudstikker’s gallery and the family’s other assets were then acquired…

Cultural Assets

Persepolis Collection: Iranian Artifacts Immune from Execution

By Kevin P. Ray

March 15, 2018

This version contains a revision On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision,[1] affirming the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s 2016 decision[2] that held that a collection of ca. 30,000 ancient Persian artifacts[3] that have been on loan to the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute since 1937 is immune from attachment and execution to satisfy a judgment against the Islamic Republic of…

Cultural Assets

When Artists Disavow Their Work

By Kevin P. Ray

April 3, 2017

Kevin Ray authored an article for the Spring 2017 issue of Best Lawyers – Business Edition, which discusses artists who have disavowed their work. Click here to read the full article.…

Cultural Assets

The Restitution, Repatriation, and Return of Cultural Objects: The Parthenon Debate (Part II)

By Kevin P. Ray

April 7, 2016

The Debate over the Parthenon Sculptures Among disputes over removed cultural objects, perhaps few are better known than that concerning what were formerly known as the Elgin Marbles, which even the British Museum now prefers to call the Parthenon sculptures. It is important to note at the outset, however, that even though the Parthenon sculptures were removed during this long age of plunder, were not actually plundered. They were removed with the apparent permission…

Cultural Assets

The Restitution, Repatriation, and Return of Cultural Objects: The Parthenon Debate (Part I)

By Kevin P. Ray

April 6, 2016

This article is the fourth in a five-part series discussing the restitution, repatriation, and return of cultural objects. Each part addresses a different category of return. The first article in the series addressed the restitution of stolen cultural objects. The second article (available here, here, and here) discussed developments in the restitution of cultural objects taken during World War II. The third article discussed the restitution of illicitly excavated and/or illicitly exported…

Cultural Assets

Object Lessons: De Sole v. Knoedler & Company (Part II)

By Kevin P. Ray

March 7, 2016

The Forger’s Art In a case involving the sale of a fake or forged work of art, typically the first order of business is for the plaintiff to establish that the work is, in fact, not authentic, with each side marshaling its experts. In the case of the De Sole Rothko, this step was unnecessary. Before the trial commenced, Rosales entered a plea, admitting guilt, in a criminal action brought by the U.S. government. In…

Cultural Assets

Object Lessons: De Sole v. Knoedler & Company (Part I)

By Kevin P. Ray

March 4, 2016

In 2011, the 165-year-old Knoedler & Company (“Knoedler”), one of Manhattan’s most venerable galleries, abruptly closed its doors amid accusations that the gallery had been selling fakes for more than a decade. Ten lawsuits have been filed against the gallery and its former director, Ann Freedman,[1] six of which have ended in settlements. Four suits remain pending. These cases have involved works purporting to be by Robert Motherwell;[2] Jackson Pollock[3]; Clyfford…

Cultural Assets

Art Consignment and the Risk of Fraud

By Greenberg Traurig

December 11, 2015

Kevin Ray authored an article for the December 2015 issue of The Secured Lender which discusses art consignment fraud. Click here to read the full article.…

Cultural Assets

Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation: Application of Spanish Law of Adverse Possession Vests Title to Pissaro Painting in Spanish Museum, Not Original Owner’s Heirs

By Kevin P. Ray

July 9, 2015

In 1926, Lilly Cassirer Neubauer inherited a painting by Camille Pissaro, Rue St. Honore, apres midi, effet de pluie (1897). As German Jews, Lilly and her husband were subjected to the discriminatory racial laws of the Third Reich. They fled Germany in 1939, but as a condition of their receiving exit visas to leave the country, Lilly was required to “sell” the painting to a Nazi art appraiser for payment of ca. $350, which was…

Cultural Assets

New York Senate Passes Bill to Protect Art Authenticators

By Kevin P. Ray

June 29, 2015

After being subjected for years to ruinous litigation in suits brought by owners of artworks displeased with authentication opinions unfavorable to the owner’s preferred outcome, art authenticators – including artists authentication boards, authors of catalogues raissonne, and scholars – stopped giving authentication opinions. Even when they ultimately prevailed on the suits, the cost of the litigation was prohibitive. I have previously discussed the dilemma facing authenticators here. In an attempt to provide art authenticators…

Cultural Assets

Legal Analysis and Commentary on Art and Cultural Property

Blog Authors

Nazi-Looted Art: Cranach Paintings to Remain at Norton Simon Museum

Persepolis Collection: Iranian Artifacts Immune from Execution

When Artists Disavow Their Work

The Restitution, Repatriation, and Return of Cultural Objects: The Parthenon Debate (Part II)

The Restitution, Repatriation, and Return of Cultural Objects: The Parthenon Debate (Part I)

Object Lessons: De Sole v. Knoedler & Company (Part II)

Object Lessons: De Sole v. Knoedler & Company (Part I)

Art Consignment and the Risk of Fraud

Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation: Application of Spanish Law of Adverse Possession Vests Title to Pissaro Painting in Spanish Museum, Not Original Owner’s Heirs

New York Senate Passes Bill to Protect Art Authenticators

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