Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

The Velvet Hammer of Restitution

July 26, 2010 by Marion Maneker

With the $19 million settlement for the Leopold Museum’s Schiele, Voice of America profiles the lawyer behind the restitution–and a dean of the art law field–Howard Spiegler:

(credit: Urska Charney)

“I think his legacy is just to set a higher standard and remind the art market and museum world that it’s accountable,” says historian Marc Masurovsky, co-founder of the Holocaust Art Restitution Project, “to accept the fact that many items have come in without clear provenance and are clearly acts of theft.”

Masurovsky often turns to Spiegler to discuss thorny legal and ethical questions. And there are plenty of those, often raised by an artwork’s inadequate “provenance,” or proof-of-origins. In the art world, that’s the paper trail that proves a painting or sculpture is not forged or stolen. Masurovsky says Spiegler’s work has created a new sense of moral and legal responsibility in the art-collecting community . […]
Christopher A. Marinello, general counsel for the Art Loss Register, a private clearinghouse for missing artwork, says Spiegler is uniquely suited for this delicate work.

“It’s Howard’s gentle manner that really is a benchmark for young attorneys entering into art law,” says Marinello. “I mean art law is different. You’ve got different personalities, you’ve got families that have suffered in the Holocaust. And the TV model of the obnoxious New York City lawyer just doesn’t work in the art world.

Fighting for Art Justice (Voice of America)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Thumb's UpThumb's Up
  • Auction Analysis: Paris Contemporary Sales, 2007-2018Auction Analysis: Paris Contemporary Sales, 2007-2018
  • In Asia, Art Advisors Have the Upper Hand with the CollectorIn Asia, Art Advisors Have the Upper Hand with the Collector
  • The Arrogance of the BuyerThe Arrogance of the Buyer
  • Sotheby’s Brings Aboriginal Art to US in NovemberSotheby’s Brings Aboriginal Art to US in November
  • Putting Ai Weiwei on the MapPutting Ai Weiwei on the Map

Filed Under: Fraud, Theft & Restitution

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • $10 M. Picasso Portrait Unseen for Decades to Sell at Bonhams
  • The Billion-Dollar NYC Apartment of Ben Heller
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • David Bowie Talks About Art (with Julian Schnabel)
  • Mapping a Career in the Art World
  • Breaking Views: Art Doesn't Hedge Inflation
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor