March 1, 2015

Are German museums in favor of restitution?

by Marc Masurovsky By the looks of it, the answer is a qualified NO. Let’s take a quick run-through at the track record of German institutions […]
February 28, 2015

Technical defenses fuel a toxic legal climate that denies justice for claimants

by Marc Masurovsky The words themselves are shocking. Speaking as a non-lawyer, technical defenses—statute of limitations and “laches”—constitute the bane of any claimant seeking to recover […]
February 28, 2015

Provenance research: let’s get real

by Marc Masurovsky The din grows ever stronger in conferences, symposia, seminars, blogs, social media, museums, government agencies, whereby provenance research is a necessity, a duty. […]
February 25, 2015

The most expensive works of art in the world and their histories (or lack thereof)-Part Three

by Marc Masurovsky 7. The Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer II, 1912, by Gustav Klimt sold for 87 million dollars at Christie’s on November 8, 2006. […]
February 25, 2015

The most expensive works of art in the world and their histories (or lack thereof)-Part Two

by Marc Masurovsky (Note: Absent are works of art that post-date 1945: Alberto Giacometti, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and the ubiquitous Pablo Picasso.) 5. Dora Maar […]
February 24, 2015

The most expensive works of art in the world and their histories (or lack thereof)-Part One

by Marc Masurovsky Our collective jaws routinely drop when we read about a work of art selling for sums of money that most of us cannot […]
February 24, 2015

The cult of the object

When will you marry? Paul Gauguin 1892 by Marc Masurovsky In the hyper-inflated art market that we witness nowadays, sums are being spent on works of […]
February 23, 2015

Provenance research: what to do?

by Marc Masurovsky The fault lines around contrasting views and understandings of provenance research resurfaced during the international conference on looted art that took place on […]
February 15, 2015

The Gurlitt indictment: Washington Principles vs. the German government and its partners

by Marc Masurovsky Leave it to the diplomats, the pundits, the negotiators, the strategists, the civil servants, and those with a vested interest in doing business […]