united states government takes hard line against russia ......+1 267.414.1216...

THE ART NEWSPAPER, No. 226, JULY/AUGUST 2011 News 5

WASHINGTON, DC. The US gov-ernment has been taking a hard-line approach in recent art restitution cases, siding withplaintiffs in claims against Russiaand Spain over allegedly stolenart and Jewish religiousmanuscripts and books.

In the lawsuit against Russia,the US Department of Justice fileda statement of interest on 15 Junein a case that concerns the immu-nity granted under a 1965 pro-gramme to protect works of artsent from abroad to the US for ex-hibition. The case was originallybrought by the international or-thodox Jewish group, AgudasChasidei Chabad, in federal courtin Washington, DC, seeking thereturn of books and manuscriptsallegedly stolen by the Bolsheviksand Nazis. The court deniedsovereign immunity for Russiabased on the “expropriation exception”, which allows a for-eign nation to be sued in cases alleging the taking of rights inproperty in violation of interna-tional law. Russia defaulted in thecase in July 2010, and the courtgranted judgement for Chabad.

Russia has not surrendered theitems as the court directed and

Chabad began to seek a court orderto seize Russian assets in the USto satisfy the judgement. In a tit-for-tat response, Russia cancelledloans of works of art and asked forthe return of some art already onloan to the US (see “US-Russiacultural cold war continues” onwww.theartnewspaper.com),fearing that Chabad could seek theart to satisfy the judgement.

Chabad has filed court docu-ments, however, formally com-mitting not to seek to execute the

judgement against art loaned byRussia, which is immune fromseizure under the programme.

In the June court filing, the UScautions that the court’s antici-pated order enabling Chabad toexecute on the judgement shouldnot be broad enough to includeRussia’s protected art, but wenton to make clear that this state-ment of concern was “in no wayintended to signal any change” inits longstanding position that thebooks and manuscripts “should

United States

Government takes hard line against Russia and SpainDepartment of Justice intervenes in cases involving allegedly looted art

Half of Hals will head to a US museum

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be transferred to Chabad”.Howard Spiegler, an art

lawyer in New York, told The ArtNewspaper that “it was fairly ex-traordinary” that Russia default-ed in the Chabad case allowingjudgement to enter against itwithout a full defence. He addedthat Russia’s cancellation of artloans to US museums “seems tobe a rather transparent attempt byRussia to somehow blame theChabad plaintiffs for interferingwith art loans. Russia’s attempt todeflect attention away from theirrefusal to return the Chabad prop-erty simply will not work.”

In May, the Department ofJustice filed a statement with theSupreme Court saying it shouldnot hear an appeal by Spain fol-lowing a ruling that the country isnot immune in a legal case over al-legedly Nazi-stolen art. ClaudeCassirer’s estate is suing Spainand the Thyssen-BornemiszaCollection Foundation for a paint-ing by Pissarro, Rue SaintHonoré,Afternoon, Rain Effect, 1897,which the estate says Cassirer’sgrandmother lost to a Nazi artdealer as she fled Germany in1939. Spain says it is immunefrom the case as a foreignsovereign nation under the 1976Foreign Sovereign ImmunitiesAct, which shields foreign nations from US legal cases, except in certain circumstances.

The court cited the act’s “expropriation exception”, andCassirer’s estate is also invokingit. But Spain says it should not apply because the allegation is thatNazis, not Spain, took the paint-ing. In its May filing, the US saidthat the lower court correctly de-cided that this did not matter, andthat an appeal is not warranted. ■Martha Lufkin

Russia cancelled the loan to the US of icons from the Andrei RublevMuseum; Pissarro’s Rue Saint Honoré, Afternoon, Rain Effect, 1897

BRUSSELS. Part of a Frans Halspainting is going to a USmuseum. The Royal Museum ofFine Arts in Brussels, the ownerof the other section, hastherefore lost the opportunity toreunite the work.

The left-hand and larger part,Family Portrait in a Landscape,1621-22, had been in theShropshire family of Viscount

Boyne, but earlier this year it isbelieved to have been sold to anAmerican museum for £7.75m. AUK export licence has beendeferred until 10 July, to allow aBritish buyer to match the price.Although the work had been onlong-term loan to the NationalMuseums and Galleries of Wales,it is not trying to raise the funds.

The painting was divided at

some point before 1811 (andsold separately in 1829). Theright side, Three Children with aGoat Cart, was donated to theBrussels museum in 1928.

The museum said it wasunable to raise the money for theleft-hand section. The work maystill be temporarily reunited, fordisplays in Brussels and theunidentified US museum. ■ M.B.

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