Setback for heirs in long-running Nazi art restitution case
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, November 7, 2024


Setback for heirs in long-running Nazi art restitution case
A U.S. Court of Appeals decision allows a Spanish museum to keep a Pissarro in a dispute that has lasted nearly two decades.

by Christopher Kuo



NEW YORK, NY.- The heirs of a woman who was forced to surrender a painting to the Nazis were dealt a blow Tuesday in a decades-long legal feud between them and the Spanish museum that now owns the work, when a California appellate court ruled that the museum should retain ownership.

The ruling, in one of the longest-running Nazi restitution cases, involves a Camille Pissarro painting titled “Rue Saint-Honoré Après-midi, Effet de Pluie” (“Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain”) that is estimated to be worth millions of dollars. The painting was surrendered by a Jewish woman, Lilly Cassirer, to get an exit visa from Germany in 1939. The work was bought by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, and eventually ended up in a museum owned by the Spanish government.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that Spanish law, not California law, applies to the case, and that the museum has “prescriptive title” to the painting after buying it in 1993.

Sam Dubbin, a lawyer for David Cassirer, Lilly’s great-grandson and the principal plaintiff in the case, wrote in an email to The New York Times that the court’s decision was incorrect and that Cassirer would be seeking an en banc review by a panel of 11 judges.

“The Cassirers believe that, especially in light of the explosion of antisemitism in this country and around the world today, they must challenge Spain’s continuing insistence on harboring Nazi looted art,” Dubbin wrote. “This decision also gives a green light to looters around the world.”

Lawyers for the museum said in an email that the ruling was “a welcome conclusion to this case.”

Cassirer’s heirs, who now live in Southern California, have been locked in the legal battle against the museum since 2005, when Claude Cassirer, David’s father (who has since died), initially filed a lawsuit. The heirs contend that the museum should return the painting to the original owners. The museum’s lawyers have argued that its curators did not know the painting was stolen and under Spanish law bear no responsibility for returning it, while Cassirer’s lawyers have argued that the museum’s curators would have discovered the theft if they had done their due diligence in researching the history of the painting.

The key legal issue has been whether Spanish or U.S. law should govern in this situation. The Cassirer family faced a series of setbacks after multiple courts found that Spanish law governed the case, and the museum retained ownership of the painting.

The Cassirers then petitioned the Supreme Court, which took the case. In a unanimous decision in 2022, the court sent the case back to the appellate level, ruling that the lower court should compare Spanish law with California law, instead of federal law, in evaluating the case.

Neither party to the lawsuit disputes the facts of the case surrounding Lilly Cassirer’s surrender of the work. And in 1958, Germany paid her compensation of about $265,000 in today’s dollars.

The painting was later sold at a Nazi government auction and passed through the hands of a variety of collectors, including ones in the United States, before being purchased by Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza in 1976. The Spanish government bought the baron’s art collection, including the painting, in 1993 and it has been on display at the museum ever since. In 2000, Claude Cassirer discovered that the painting was at the museum.

In a concurring opinion for the 9th Circuit, Judge Consuelo M. Callahan wrote that while she agreed with the court’s decision that the Spanish museum was not legally obligated to return the painting, she believed the museum still had a moral duty to do so.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

January 12, 2024

Setback for heirs in long-running Nazi art restitution case

The biggest ape that ever lived was not too big to fail

Goodbye, Peachtree Road: Elton John to auction 900 artworks and memorabilia

To run the British Museum, you'll get $275,000 and a host of problems

New Lyman Allyn exhibition explores works by black female landscape artist

Vancouver Art Gallery announces appointment of Carlos Yam as Chief Financial Officer

At trial, Sotheby's says Russian oligarch was sloppy in buying art

Norma Barzman, blacklisted screenwriter, dies at 103

Heritage Auctions celebrates its most successful year with total sales of $1.76 billion in 2023

Newly discovered historical treasure from assassination of President William McKinley up for auction

Elizabeth Schwaiger exclusively represented by Nicola Vassell where she is conducting 'Now & Now & Now'

Quinn's debut auction of diplomat Peter Cecere's folk and outsider art collection set for Jan. 26

The Knoxville Museum of Art announces appointment of new Executive Director

Alice Parker, composer who heard music in poetry, dies at 98

Over $4 million in grants awarded to 50 arts organizations by The Andy Warhol Foundation

Klaus von Nichtssagend to feature painted wall works by Lizzie Scott and ceramic sculptures by Keiko Narahashi

A solo exhibition at two venues 'Sonia Gechtoff: Objects on the New Landscape' at Bortolami and Andrew Kreps Galleries

"Heaven 'N' Earth" by Sayre Gomez is second exhibition held by artist at Xavier Hufkens

Latest chapter from exhibition series 'The Man Who Should Be Dead' in NY by Mexican artist Daniel Guzmán

20 looks that did the most at the Golden Globes

Hundreds of beautiful T206 cards lead off Heritage's first sports event of 2024

The saxophone master Shabaka Hutchings is on a fresh journey: Flutes

Art Goes Digital: How Technology Transforms Creativity

Art as a Subject and a Hobby l Notable Benefits

Navigating the Instagram Landscape: A Beginner's Guide to Success

Tips To Become Successful In Real Estate Investment




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful