IFAR Journal Special Issues
Volume 9, No. 3/4
2007
Connoisseurship and the Catalogue Raisonné: Poussin, Rembrandt, and Raphael
— Konrad J. Oberhuber
In this last (unfinished) article written by Konrad Oberhuber just before his death, the noted scholar argues that some works are incorrectly omitted from catalogues raisonnés because the cataloguers do not fully understand the quality, function, or date of those works. A cataloguer must have knowledge of an artist’s full output
Patrimony and Museum Politics in the 19th Century: The Louvre’s Galerie Espagnole
— Alisa Luxenberg
In the context of current cultural property claims against museums, Luxenberg explores the politics behind the creation of The Galerie Espagnole. This was a collection of more than 400 Spanish Old Master paintings that King Louis-Phillipe purchased secretly in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and then housed at the Louvre in Paris from 1838 to 1848.
Looking at Art: The Conservator’s View – A Brief Primer on the Lining of Paintings on Canvas
— Marco Grassi
Grassi, an Old Masters paintings conservator, defines the procedure known as “lining” (sometimes called “relining”) and discusses its purpose, the different methods and materials used and how they have changed over time, and the effects of lining on a painting’s appearance and value.
Art Insurance: What Everyone in the Art World Needs to Know
— Editor
A special section of ten articles and Q&A containing edited versions of talks by art insurance specialists and attorneys given at a program held on April 12, 2007 by IFAR and the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. There were two sessions: “Art Insurance 101 and Beyond” and “Agreements and Disagreements.”
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: A Broker’s View of Art Insurance
— Steven Pincus
Pincus, of the DeWitt Stern Group, Inc., discusses the importance of documenting private collections; the differences between policies for private collectors and those for dealers; consignment or loan agreements; the term “current market replacement value”; territory of limits of a policy; waivers of subrogation; security and fine art warehouses.
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: Reinsurance and Its Effect on Fine Art Insurance
— Payce Louis
Louis, of AXA Art Insurance, discusses “reinsurance” and its impact on the entire insurance industry, as well as on the insurer’s ability to pay a claim in a concentrated venue. He describes AXA’s Global Risk Assessment Platform.
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: Underwriting Issues
— Dorit Straus
Straus, of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, examines the challenges fine art underwriters face, e.g., the valuation of a work with multiple appraisals and multiple policies assuring ownership shares in a work of art. She objects to the frequent “passing of the buck” with regard to the insurance policies of borrowing and lending museums as well as of dealers who lend works to potential purchasers. She also notes the failure of consumers to distinguish between the insurance broker and the insurer.
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: Museum Loans and Insurance
— Brendan Connell
Connell, Director and Counsel for Administration, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, emphasizes the importance of the insurance language used in museum loan agreements, specifically concerning limits on payout amounts; policy exclusions, including terrorism; replacement value, and time limits and deductibles.
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: Art Title Disputes
— Judith Pearson
Pearson, President of Aris Title Insurance Corporation and Aris Corporation, explores the challenge to collectors of establishing clear title. The author cites examples of claims concerning Holocaust-era looted art, art confiscated during the Cuban Revolution (Fanjul v. Sotheby’s), and stolen art, as well as liens and encumbrances, including objects gifted or loaned to institutions and tax liens on art, claims resulting from the insolvency of galleries and consignment agreement disputes, the U.S. government’s claims on works created under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and seller liability in auction consignment agreements.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: Legal Issues When Property Is Lost
— John Koegel
Koegel, an attorney, examines the factors that determine the amounts of losses and insurance payments, including legal decisions (Swain v. 383 West Broadway; Indemnity Insurance Company of North America v. Art Students League) and the language of insurance policies.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: Evaluate, Explain and Expedite: The Functions of an Insurance Broker in a Claim
— Ellen Hoener Ross
Ross, of Acordia/Wells Fargo Insurance Services, discusses Notice of Loss and Proof of Loss while describing a broker’s duties in evaluating a loss, in explaining the claim procedure to the insured, and in expediting the claim.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: The Job of an Insurance Adjuster
— Gregory J. Smith
Smith explains how an adjuster relays information from the insured to the insurance carrier, evaluates the coverage, investigates the loss, and settles the claim. He discusses transit loss, nail-to-nail insurance coverage, authenticity issues, changing valuation of objects, disputes over choosing restorers and appraisers, and the importance of face-to-face negotiations.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: How Insurers Deal with Claims
— Katja Zigerlig
Zigerlig, of AIG Private Client Group, illustrates how insurers handle problematic claims by citing examples of an adjuster solving a mysterious loss, a living artist replacing one of his works after it was damaged, and an artist’s estate overseeing the repair of a damaged sculpture by the artist.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: Fine Art Shipping and Storage
— Andrew Faintych
Faintych, of Atelier 4, Inc., Fine Art Shipping and Storage, describes the delicate position of art shippers regarding claims for loss or damage, bemoans the stringent requirements insurers impose on shippers, and emphasizes the need to educate collectors in the importance of having their own coverage.
Art Insurance: Art Insurance 101 and Beyond: Understanding and Negotiating the Policy & Related Agreements: Q&A
Audience question and panelist responses concerning UCC1 statements and coverage for restoration.
Art Insurance: Agreements and Disagreements: Stories from the Front Lines: Q&A
Audience questions and panelist responses concerning best practices standards, artist claims for studio casualties, the value of condition reports in the claims process, and professional standards.
Art Insurance: What Everyone in the Art World Needs to Know: Introductions
— Howard N. Spiegler, Amy J. Goldrich, Sharon Flescher
The program chair and moderators discuss the objectives of the Art Insurance Program.
News and Updates: Getty Returning 40 Disputed Objects to Italy
— Sharon Flescher
After the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, signed agreements with Italy, the Getty Museum agreed to return 40 of the 52 items that Italy claims were taken from it illegally. Separately, the Getty returned 4 items claimed by Greece. The article illustrates 7 of the returned items.
News and Updates: Peru and Yale Settle Their Differences
— Stephanie Vyas
In September 2007, Peru and Yale University reached an agreement for the return of 4,000 artifacts excavated from Machu Picchu in 1912 and 1914-15. The agreement includes a new museum and research center in Cuzco. Yale will retain some of the lesser quality objects on campus for research purposes.
News and Updates: Princeton Negotiates Agreement with Italy
— Sharon Flescher
Princeton University reached an agreement with Italy to return eight objects and retain seven objects in its antiquities collection that were claimed by Italy. In turn, Italy has agreed to lend some important works to the university.
News and Updates: Recovery of Three Picassos Stolen from Artist’s Granddaughter
— Sharon Flescher
On August 7, 2007 police, operating on a tip, recovered the two paintings and one drawing by Picasso that were stolen in February from the Paris home of the artist’s granddaughter. During the week of the recovery, armed robbers stole four paintings from the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Jules Chéret in Nice: a Monet, a Sisley, and Brueghel the Elder’s Allegory of Earth and Allegory of Water.
News and Updates: Police Find Stolen Madonna in Office of Glasgow Lawyer
— Sharon Flescher
Madonna with Yarnwinder, a 16th-century painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and stolen in August 2003 from the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland, was recovered in the office of a Glasgow attorney in October, one month after the duke’s death. Five men were charged with conspiracy to rob and extort for money.
Stolen Art Alert
Thefts include: Picasso, L’Ecritoire, stolen in Monaco; van Mieris, the Elder, A Cavalier, or Self-Portrait as an Officer, stolen from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Australia; several paintings and drawings by L. S. Lowry stolen in Cheshire, U.K.; Robert Rauschenberg, Colorado (Urban Bourbon Series) stolen in transit.
Missing Art
Missing works include: Moise Kisling, Portrait de Jeune Provençale, reported missing from a New York gallery; Guo Jian, The Day Before I Went Away reported missing in transit between Spain and China in 2007.
Recovered Art
Recoveries include: Ren Magritte, Les Reflets du Temps, stolen in London in 2006; Tiepolo, Carnival Scene, stolen in 2006; Emil Nolde, Nadja, stolen from a storage depot in the late 1970s; Madonna with Yarnwinder, attributed to Leonardo; three works by Picasso stolen in February 2007 from the home of the artist’s granddaughter; Andy Warhol, 30 Colored Maos (Reversal Series), stolen from an exhibit in 1980; Eugene Delacroix, Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, stolen from a gallery in Milwaukee, WI.