NewsArt market
US anti-money-laundering bill could reappear early next year
Critics say the proposed law, which stalled following the US mid-term elections, would place an unnecessary burden on dealers
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Staff at State Russian Museum take legal action to halt renovation
Senior employees claim the $17m project threatens the Mikhailovsky Palace building and its collections
AnalysisArt law
Rule of law: Legal tips for art lovers
From new exhibitor regulations at Art Basel in Miami Beach to questions over insurance and taxes
NewsLaw
Widower takes aim at chairman of Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Husband of deceased leader argues in court filings that chairman strong-armed his way into the post
NewsPussy Riot
Pussy Riot to receive €37,000 compensation from Russia for human rights violations
European Court of Human Rights ordered payment over treatment of the group in pre-trial detention and treatment in court
NewsArt Basel Miami Beach 2018
Tania Bruguera and fellow artists released from Cuban jail
Cuba's culture ministry waters down Decree 349, a new controversial censorship law
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach
The tax man cometh: new laws on sales tax pose problems for US art dealers
US Supreme Court decision is causing anxiety among dealers
NewsMuseums
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
NewsLaw
Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech can keep its name, Paris court rules
Decision allows Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent to continue using trademark of French painter Jacques Majorelle
NewsLaw
'Fired' employees take London's National Gallery to court
Dispute with 'NG27' group—who argue they were unfairly dismissed—could set a precedent for protecting rights of casual workers
NewsLaw
US court orders collector to repay Sotheby’s $1.2m for Parmigianino fake
The judgement comes after two experts found the painting was made with modern synthetic pigments
NewsLaw
Richard Prince defends reuse of others’ photographs
In court motions, he argues that his appropriation explores the virtual world of social media
NewsArt market
Copyright case brought by Naf Naf creative director against Jeff Koons finally comes to court
Franck Davidovici first accused the artist of plagiarising his 1985 advertising campaign almost four years ago
NewsConservation
German court orders restorer to pay dealer €26,000 after eight-year dispute
Munich-based dealer claimed paintings he sent for cleaning had been ruined
NewsLaw
Court rejects claim to Matisse owned by National Gallery
Rebuffing heirs, an appeals panel in New York says the court lacks jurisdiction
NewsArt market
Swiss prosecutor returns 'Mesopotamian' terracotta animal made by dealer's 11-year-old-daughter—along with 5,000 seized antiquities
A further 6,000 items belonging to Ali Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art are still held by authorities in Geneva
News Cranach
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
NewsLaw
Parviz Tanavoli banned from leaving Iran over legal dispute with former gallery owner
Maryam Goudarzi claims that the artist should return six 1972 sculptures worth $6m to her, but Tanavoli says they were swapped legally for five newer works
NewsArt law
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"
NewsLaw
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
NewsLaw
Publishing company American Image Art strikes back in Robert Indiana case
Defendants in the much-publicised lawsuit allege the Morgan Art Foundation “duped” the US artist into giving up certain rights to his art
NewsArt market
Owner of £10m Giotto to appeal High Court ruling that painting left Italy unlawfully
Judge finds in favour of Arts Council England, but collector Kathleen Simonis argues Italian laws are incompatible with EU free movement of goods
NewsLaw
Iranian gallerists released on bail after two years in Tehran prison
Karan Vafadari and Afarin Neyssari paid a bail of around $10m according to sources but still await appeal request
NewsArtist estates
Will Robert Indiana’s legacy get stuck in a legal battle?
The artist wanted his home to become a museum but his 2016 will is being challenged
NewsMuseums
Art educators take London's National Gallery to employment tribunal in 'gig economy' dispute
Artists and lecturers are crowdfunding for legal fees in bid to win employee status
NewsLaw
Claim on Guelph Treasure can go to trial in US federal court
Lawyers for the Prussian Cultural Foundation argued that it was not “genocide” when the objects were sold in 1935
NewsLaw
Dalí foundation sues California museum for use of artist’s name and image
Monterey’s Dalí17, which displays the 500-work private collection of the Ukrainian-born real estate developer Dimitry Piterman, features the Surrealist’s face—complete with upturned moustache—on its logo
NewsLaw
Appeals court largely strikes down California’s artist resale rights law
The decision limits the rule to a narrow one-year window of secondary market sales—but what does it mean for the future of droit de suite in the US?
NewsArt market
Guy Wildenstein cleared of tax evasion for a second time in Paris
Franco-American scion of art dealing dynasty was accused of hiding art and other property worth hundreds of millions of euros from French authorities
NewsLaw
The UK’s ban on ivory sales will not protect the elephants
A spokesman for Traffic, the leading researchers of trade in endangered species, says it is the Asian market that drives the poaching, not the Western market
NewsLaw
Art dealer sues Poland over its failed efforts to extradite him from the US
After offering to return a work looted by the Nazis in exchange for his family’s former real estate, Khochinsky was placed under house arrest in New York and faced a 10-year prison sentence in Poland
NewsLaw
Anish Kapoor sues NRA for copyright infringement
An image of his Chicago sculpture Cloud Gate was used in a video by the gun lobby that the artist says “seeks to whip up fear and hate”
NewsMuseums
Getty says it will appeal Italian court order to return Victorious Youth
An Italian judge has found that the work was discovered in Italian water, despite decades of rulings to the contrary
NewsControversies
Beatrix Ruf, former Stedelijk Museum director, cleared of alleged conflicts of interest
Report commissioned by Amsterdam city council finds that she complied with Dutch regulations
NewsCopyright
French dealer awarded rights to Chinese artist T'ang Haywen's work
Paris court decision ends legal saga that began in 1991, when the artist died without an heir
NewsIndia
Indian supreme court verdict could spark new wave of sectarian riots between Hindus and Muslims
Leader of powerful Hindu organisation has threatened nationwide protests if long-awaited ruling "goes against Hindus' faith"
NewsLaw
Daughter sues her father over Jean-Michel Basquiat painting
Belinda Neumann-Donnelly claims the work could have made an extra $15m if Hubert Neumann had not tried to block its sale
NewsArt market
Collector appeals for return of Pissarro painting restituted through a 1945 order made by the Allies in France
"This may raise many important Holocaust issues for the French market," Christie’s says
NewsArt market
Sotheby's sues Greece over its claim to ancient bronze horse
A case of man bites dog: auction house turns the tables on Greek government after it was forced to withdraw the figure from New York sale in May
NewsResearch
Palestinian stories reconstructed through films, photographs and artefacts confiscated by Israel
An Israeli art historian has spent 20 years trawling the country’s archives for Palestinian cultural property
NewsArt market
Russian tycoon accuses Yves Bouvier of 'campaign of disinformation' as US calls off investigation into Swiss entrepreneur
Dmitry Rybolovlev's $450m windfall from Salvator Mundi sale undermined fraud allegation, report says, but criminal cases against Bouvier in Europe are ongoing
NewsArt market
Kraemer brothers among six charged over allegedly fake Louis XIV furniture
Laurent and Olivier Kraemer charged with organised fraud and money laundering in ongoing investigation over so-called "fake Boulles"
NewsPhilanthropy
Russian billionaire’s Peri Foundation will keep paying for culture after arrest
It is business as usual, says the organisation’s director, as its founder, Ziyavudin Magomedov, remains in custody awaiting trial on racketeering charges
NewsLaw
Art consultant pleads guilty to filing false tax return
Lacy Doyle hid millions of dollars in inheritance in a Swiss bank account, US Attorney says
NewsLaw
Fight over Frida Kahlo trademark takes a new turn as corporation countersues her family
The legal tussle escalated recently with a controversial Barbie doll modelled on the Mexican artist and feminist icon’s image
NewsLaw
New York art dealer pleads guilty to multimillion-dollar fraud
The court has ordered that Ezra Chowaiki forfeit over $16.6m as well as works by Picasso, Calder, Chagall and Degas
NewsFrieze New York
US government could regulate art dealers under proposed law
New York law firm warns galleries that legislation could mean new compliance and reporting regime
NewsMuseums
The dark web, surveillance dolls and Van Gogh’s zombie ear: technology’s role in art debated at Boston conference
While artists and museums embrace futuristic tools, legal experts point to a number of pitfalls with cutting-edge work
NewsLaw
Collector sues Jeff Koons and Gagosian Gallery over years-long delivery delays
Steven Tananbaum has paid $13m for three sculptures over a five-year period but still has not received any of the works
NewsLaw
Legal battle over Modigliani painting rumbles on
A New York State judge’s decision keeps a claim on Seated Man with a Cane alive
NewsArt market
London dealer ordered to return Egon Schiele works worth $5m to heirs of Holocaust victims
Heirs's attorney describes ruling as step closer to recovering "largest mass-theft in history," but Richard Nagy plans to appeal
NewsArt market
Piero Manzoni Foundation criticised for destruction of works
Foundation denies allegations that it manipulates the authentication process to inflate the value of its holdings
NewsPolitics
Is the EGO Act a lot of hot air?
A new law bans government-funded oil portraits of officials, but most paintings have been paid for privately for years
NewsRestitution
Holocaust survivor’s family seeks painting in Ukrainian museum
Meanwhile, much of the country’s art is stuck in limbo and its own efforts to recover cultural property have stalled
NewsArt market
Settlement reached in saga over Chinese buyer’s unpaid Richter bill
The complex saga started in June 2015 when the Beijing-based businessman Zhang Chang bought a work by Francis Bacon at Christie’s
NewsLaw
ACLU files art censorship lawsuit against the city of New Orleans
A citizen is facing potential jail time over a mural referencing Trump’s 2005 Access Hollywood tape
NewsFacebook
French court makes mixed ruling in Courbet ‘censorship’ case
The social media giant was found to be at fault for closing a schoolteacher’s account but his claims for €20,000 in damages were dismissed
NewsPeggy Guggenheim Collection Venice
Case dismissed: France's highest court rules in favour of Guggenheim foundation
The judgment ends a lengthy legal battle between the heirs of Peggy Guggenheim and the US organisation
NewsLaw
Rhode Island School of Design denies claim on Picasso by Alphonse Kann heirs
Provenance research commissioned by the university has found that-while the work was once owned by the legendary collector-it was not looted by the Nazis
NewsArt crime
Picasso painting offered in money-laundering scheme, US feds say
London art dealer Matthew Green embroiled in case that involves attempted sale of a painting to an undercover agent to 'clean up' £6.7m, court documents state
NewsLaw
Terror victims cannot seize Iranian antiquities, US Supreme Court rules
A 2008 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not open a foreign nation's assets to claimants, the justices unanimously decided
NewsArt market
Art businesses ill-prepared for new EU data protection law
Data privacy is getting a long-overdue overhaul with GDPR, but is the art market ready?
NewsLaw
Detention extended for Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky who set fire to bank in Paris
The controversial figure has gone on hunger strike in protest at “lack of transparency” over legal process
NewsStreet art
New York judge awards 5Pointz street artists $6.75m for whitewashed works
The developer’s destruction of their legally protected art was “an act of pure pique and revenge”, the court found
NewsYves Bouvier
Yves Bouvier faces fresh charges in Switzerland
The Swiss freeport magnate has been charged with fraud after the Russian collector Dmitri Rybolovlev filed a new criminal complaint in Switzerland
NewsLaw
Picasso’s Actor will remain in the Met’s collection, New York Judge rules
The court dismissed a claim on the painting by the heir of the Jewish collector who sold it to fund an escape from the Nazis
BlogIn the frame
‘Art bastard’ Robert Cenedella sues New York’s biggest museums
NewsLaw
Paris court hears arguments in Facebook censorship case centering on Courbet’s Origin of the World
The social media giant has argued for dismissal, saying the plaintiff should have sued its European web host
NewsArt market
Seller beware: why does the art market fail to learn from its past?
Chowaiki & Co has imploded, but it is just the latest in a long line of art scams
NewsLaw
Hobby Lobby surrenders 245 ancient seals to federal authorities
The company still owes more than 1,700 objects as part of a $3m settlement with the US government
NewsArt market
From Van Gogh to Richter—what happens when bidders fail to pay up at auction?
Flaky winning bids are knocking the gloss off record-breaking sales
NewsArt market
New York court grants permission for Rybolovlev to use confidential documents in UK and Switzerland
Order could pave way for Russian billionaire to launch High Court case against Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier and Sotheby’s
NewsEthics
Should museums display human remains from other cultures?
Vienna’s Weltmuseum criticised for displaying a trophy head
NewsPreservation
‘The president stole your land’
Multiple lawsuits launched in the wake of Trump’s decision to shrink national parks in Utah