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June 22, 2009
The unintended consequences of giving art back to those from whom the Nazis stole it.
In 2006 the relatives of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker used the proceeds from the sales both privately and at auction of restituted art to pay off the millions of dollars worth of legal fees and expenses that had accumulated over the nine years it took to finalize their agreement with the Dutch government. As of April 2008, they had already sold two-thirds of the 200 Old Master paintings they reclaimed. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the same number of paintings that hung in museums around the Netherlands prior to their restitution are still hanging in museums or public spaces today.The families recovering the art are turning around and selling it. Of course, they are entirely within their rights. After all, just because these paintings have been hanging in public collections for 60 years or so doesn't been they belong to the public.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 22, 2009 11:15 PM
Comments
The kicker for me is that they're selling these not because they particularly want to, or so it seems. They're selling it to pay off the legal fees they incurred to reclaim the paintings. Which is the system at work, I guess!
Posted by: Janice at June 23, 2009 12:18 PM
Cranky Professor,
I appreciate your following my recent post. I've clarified a point that I find is a great misfortune associated with restitution law. While the art is returned to the rightful owners, they unfortunately lack much of a choice in regard to holding on to it for their own enjoyment or even donating it back to the public because of the exorbitant legal fees. Clearly, this is not advertised as pro bono work; however, restitution implies restoring something stolen to its proper owner. Certainly, if the proper owner is then forced to sell the art to pay legal debts are they once again victims, only this time of opportunistic lawyers?
MD
Posted by: Art Theft Central at June 23, 2009 5:37 PM