Tag: Uncategorized

Via the Land Use Prof Blog I see that Kelly Y. Fanizzo (Temple) has posted Politics, Persuasion, and Enforcement: Property Management Under the Antiquities Act.  Here is her abstract:

Recognizing the tremendous loss to the nation that results from unchecked collecting and vandalism, Congress passed the Antiquities Act in 1906 to preserve threatened historic and scientific structures, ruins, and objects and protect against the loss of valuable scientific data. Granting considerable authority to the President, the Antiquities Act provides for the designation of national monuments through the withdrawal of public land. Over the past decades, numerous monument designations have raised questions about the limits of the President’s role in federal land management. But practical questions looming just beyond the President’s ability to designate a national monument only recently surfaced in a challenge to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) grazing policies in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. This case before the Arizona District Court focused on the BLM’s management of the national monument, and not the process of its designation. This challenge sparked a discussion on how the protective intent of a monument proclamation can be best achieved. It asked what is the President’s authority to manage a national monument and when can a third party sue to force an executive agency to comply with the monument proclamation’s terms. This paper argues that consistent judicial review of an agency’s management of a monument can help national monument designations maintain their protective purpose. In the context of the Antiquities Act and more broadly, using this challenge as a case study allows us to consider what teeth are left in this law, now on the books for over a hundred years, to protect significant historic and scientific resources.

AP Photo:  Turkish Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay

The AP is reporting that police have raided a

Greetings readers.  I beg your apologies for the light posting in recent weeks.  Joni and I have been undertaking a move from New Orleans to Houston, where I will take up a position as Assistant Professor at South Texas College of Law.  I hope to have lots more time for posting here in the coming months.

I’ve also taken on a role with ARCA (the Association for Research into Crimes against Art).  Many of you are probably familiar with this organization.  I’ve taken on a co-directorship with my wife Joni.  She’ll be bringing her experience in running and operating non-profit organizations, and I’ll have a terrific opportunity to run the Masters certificate program held in Amelia, Italy each summer.

It has been a very fast four years since I first started posting here about law and art, and I thank you for your continued readership.  These new opportunities should help to continue to elevate the importance of heritage law and policy, and provide invaluable opportunities to write and think about these important ideas.

Thanks as always for reading!

Philome Obin’s “Last Supper” at the Cathedral of Sainte Trinite in Haiti

• Saving Haiti’s culture, rescuing murals at one church in Port-Au-Prince.  
• The Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand “suffer” an art theft.  
• Lee Rosenbaum describes the commemorative ceremony for the “Portrait of Wally” settlement.  
• The book thief who stole a Shakespeare First Folio from Durham University has been sentenced to eight years in prison.  
• Funding cuts for Italian archaeology on the way.  
• Tom Flynn rightly points out that scrap metal dealers can be complicit in the theft of sculptures.  
• Campbell’s Soup appreciated a little appropriation.
• Candido Portinari’s “The Burial”, stolen in July, has been recovered in Brazil.    
• More praise for the “Gross Clinic” resotration.  
• The Portable Antiquities Scheme has archived the 400,000th object in its database.  

“Portrait of Wally”, by Egon Schiele

As has been hinted for a few days now, the very long legal dispute over this work has been settled.  A trial was set to begin on July 26th. This was a dispute brought nearly 12 years ago by Federal prosecutors against the work.   In these civil forfeiture proceedings it is then the task of all claimants to the painting to come forward and establish their claims to the work.  The painting had been on display in New York for a traveling exhibition and days before it was slated to return to Austria, legal proceedings were initiated.  The Leopold Museum in Vienna purchased the work in 1954, and has agreed to pay the successors of Lea Bondi Jaray—the woman who was forced to sell the work when the Nazis came to power—a settlement in the amount of $19 million. 

Both the Leopold Museum and the Museum of Modern Art which had received the loan of the work opposed the legal action, arguing that it would chill the movement of works of art for traveling exhibitions. 

  From the press release of Herrick, Feinstein here are the details of the settlement:

(a) the Leopold Museum pays the Estate $19 Million;

(b) the Estate releases its claim to the Painting;

(c) the United States Government dismisses the civil forfeiture action it brought against the Leopold Museum and releases the Painting to the Leopold Museum;

(d) the Leopold Museum will permanently display signage next to the Painting at the Leopold Museum, and at all future displays of the Painting of any kind that the Leopold Museum authorizes or allows anywhere in the world, that sets forth the true provenance of the Painting, including Lea Bondi Jaray’s prior ownership of the Painting and its theft from her by a Nazi agent before she fled to London in 1939; and

(e) before it is transported to the Leopold Museum in Vienna, the Painting will be publicly exhibited at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York, beginning with a ceremony commemorating the legacy of Lea Bondi Jaray and the successful resolution of the lawsuit.

For all of my posts dealing with this dispute, see here. 

Apologies for the light posting in the coming weeks.  Joni and I are off to Amelia, Italy where I’ll teach the International Law and Policy course for ARCA’s Art Crime Masters Diploma.  I should have some thoughts on the program, and ARCA’s annual conference in July.  Until then I’ll leave you with this image of Germanicus. 

I’ve been forwarded information on a new course sponsored by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) on First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict in collaboration with UNESCO and the Blue Shield network.

Here are the details:

Dates: 17 September – 29 October 2010 (6 weeks)

Place: Rome, with study visits to other cities in Italy

With the cooperation of: UNESCO, Blue Shield and specialized international and national agencies

Background

In the past decades, armed conflicts worldwide have involved deliberate or accidental damage to cultural heritage. Conflicts cause the weakening of governments and societies and endanger the core values that hold communities together. Cultural heritage thus plays a crucial role in recovering from such situations. In times of conflict, however, all operations can be delayed because access is often restricted by military, security, or law enforcement agencies. Consequently, it is essential for everyone working in these areas to understand how and when to intervene to protect endangered cultural heritage while humanitarian efforts are under way.

Objectives

• Understand the values associated with cultural heritage and the impact that conflict has on them;
• Apply ethics and principles of conservation in extreme conditions;
• Assess and manage risks to cultural heritage in conflict situations;
• Take peacetime preparatory action to improve response in times of conflict;
• Secure, salvage and stabilize a variety of cultural materials;
• Understand international legal instruments protecting cultural heritage during conflicts;
• Communicate successfully with the various actors involved, and work in teams;

Methodology           

The course will comprise of interactive lectures, group activities, practical sessions, simulations, site visits and case studies. Participants will be asked to develop case studies drawing from their own experience and work context.

Participants

The course is aimed at those who are actively involved in the protection of cultural heritage within a variety of institutions (libraries, museums, archives, sites, departments of antiquities or archaeology, religious and community centres, etc.). It is also aimed at professionals from humanitarian and cultural aid organizations, as well as military, civilian and civil defense personnel. Those with experience in conflict situations are particularly encouraged to apply.

A maximum of 22 participants will be selected.

Working Language: English

Course Fee: 900 € (Euro)

Travel, Accommodation and Living Expenses

Participants are responsible for their round-trip travel costs to and from Rome, Italy, and for all living expenses. To cover the cost of living, participants should plan for a minimum allowance of 2,000 € (Euro) for the entire duration of the course. This sum is based on the cost of moderately priced accommodations. Candidates are strongly encouraged to seek financial support from sources such as governmental institutions, employers and funding agencies.

Financial Assistance

Upon request, the organizers will offer financial support to a limited number of selected candidates who can demonstrate their inability to secure funding.

Application

Please use the ICCROM application form [http://www.iccrom.org/eng/01train_en/forms_en/applfrm_en.doc].  In your submission, include a 700-word personal statement that summarizes your experience and highlights the relevance of the course to your current or future projects. Applications should be sent by regular mail to the following address or by e-mail:

First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict

Collections Unit – ICCROM

Via di San Michele,13

00153 ROME RM, ITALY

Tel +39 06 585531 Fax +39 06 58553349

E-mail: aidinconflict@iccrom.org

Application deadline: 14 May, 2010

I want to congratulate the members of Loyola University New Orleans’ Cultural Heritage Law Team, which won the Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition in Chicago this weekend.  The team consisted of David Vicknair, Geoff Sweeney and Daniel Shanks.  They were coached by third-year law student Lindsey Surratt.  I had the great pleasure to act as faculty adviser to the team, and enjoyed hearing some terrific arguments on a difficult area of the law. 

Congratulations to all the competitors, and to DePaul University College of Law and the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation for sponsoring a great competition.

Here’s why.