Steve and Katie speak with Swiss art lawyer Anne Laure Bandle about the subject of her book “The Sale of Misattributed Artworks and Antiques at Auction” - the problem of “sleepers,” or misattributed and undervalued works of art sold at auction. We all dream of buying a painting at a yard sale that we later discover to be worth millions of dollars. On this podcast, we discuss the market incentives and structures that prevent discovery of sleepers. Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com...
Apr 24, 2025•55 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Steve and Katie welcome back Professor Amy Adler to discuss the First Amendment’s free speech protections as they apply to artistic expression in the context of several recent incidents. Specifically, they discuss the police seizure of certain Sally Mann photographs from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in the context of obscenity and child pornography laws, the removal of the For Freedoms billboard depicting the march on Selma in Montgomery, Alabama, and the lawsuit about the Nirvana “Neverm...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Katie and Steve speak with renowned German art lawyer Dr. Katharina Garbers-von Boehm about the law of title in Germany as it applies to art, including the concepts of good and bad faith in considering ownership, the legal primacy of possession, and the doctrine of adverse possession that allows possessors of stolen property, like Nazi-looted art, to take good title after a certain number of years. They discuss differences under U.S. law, particularly with respect to stolen property, soft laws t...
Feb 21, 2025•53 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Katie and Steve speak with their colleague Eden Burgess and guest Dr. Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba, Curator of African Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art and an expert in Benin Bronzes, about the artistic history of Benin City in current day Nigeria, the fate of the Benin Bronzes that dispersed around the world after the British invasion and looting of Benin Kingdom in 1897, and how we should think about ownership and possession of these valuable objects today. Notes for this episode: https://artla...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Steve and Katie speak with former SCH colleague Rebecca Fine, now CEO of Athena Art Finance, about her career, how art finance is structured and diligenced, who art finance is for, and the risks that Athena and other lenders try to mitigate. Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2024/11/18/the-ins-and-outs-of-art-finance/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast Katie and Steve discuss topics based on...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Katie and Steve speak with preeminent art advisor Megan Fox Kelly about the proliferation of resale restrictions in art transactions, what problems they seek to address, who they purport to help, how effective they are, and the legal issues they raise. They discuss the overlapping cultural, social, and legal aspects of these contractual terms. Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2024/10/08/enforceability-and-effectiveness-of-art-market-resale-restrictions/ Follow the Art Law Podcas...
Oct 08, 2024•55 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Steve and Katie speak with two preeminent French art lawyers, Anne-Sophie Nardon and Olivier de Baecque, about disputes surrounding the authenticity of art and how French and US courts get involved in these disputes. Because many of the world’s greatest artists made their home in France, many of the experts on these artists and their work are in France, and French courts have long adjudicated disputes about the accuracy of opinions made by experts regarding authenticity. Notes for this episode: ...
Sep 09, 2024•57 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Steve and Katie discuss several art law topics in this end-of-season episode. They talk about internal thefts at the British Museum, the ongoing Victorious Youth litigation between Italy and the Getty Trust, the Damien Hirst backdating scandals, the litigation between the Manhattan DA and the Art Institute of Chicago, and the recent litigation between the Donald Judd Foundation and Kim Kardashian. End-of-season message from Steve and Katie: Thank you to all of our listeners for your support, and...
Jul 09, 2024•44 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Steve and Katie speak with Italian lawyer Giuseppe Calabi and art historian Sharon Hecker about Italy’s cultural patrimony laws granting state institutions control over the use of images of cultural property long in the public domain. They discuss the legal, ethical, and practical issues with such laws and their specific application to uses of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci located at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice and the statue of David by Michelangelo located at the Gallerie de...
Jun 03, 2024•57 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Steve and Katie talk with their colleague, Tom Kline, about the Nazi’s program of remaking European culture, the enormous theft and displacement of art that occurred as part of that program, and the efforts of the heirs of Jews displaced during World War II to reclaim art and cultural property. The discussion focuses on the Washington Principles, the updated best practices issued upon their 25th anniversary, and how claims for restitution have changed over this time. Notes for this episode: http...
May 13, 2024•52 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Katie and Steve speak with colleague Eden Burgess about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), its history, purpose, and requirements to repatriate cultural property and human remains to Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations, as well as new regulations that are leading major museums to remove or close exhibitions of Native American and Hawaiian objects while taking action to implement NAGPRA in consultation with tribes that have ownership claims. ...
Apr 02, 2024•43 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Katie and Steve take a deep dive into the history and current status of the Parthenon Marbles with Alexander Herman, director of the Institute of Art and Law in London and author of the recent book The Parthenon Marbles Dispute: Heritage, Law, Politics . Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2024/03/04/the-parthenon-marbles-dispute/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast...
Mar 04, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Katie and Steve discuss three recent litigation updates. They discuss the outcome of the trial in the case brought by Dmitry Rybolovlev against Sotheby’s for aiding in the alleged fraud of Yves Bouvier, the most recent Richard Prince fair use copyright infringement cases brought by two photographers, and the Ninth Circuit decision applying Spanish law to deny return of a Pissarro painting to the family of Lily Cassirer, whose property was looted by the Nazis and is currently located in a Spanish...
Feb 06, 2024•40 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Steve and Katie take a look at the many developments around generative AI and fine art, including debates and litigation on copyrightability and infringement as well as the policy concerns surrounding increased use of generative AI to create artworks. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2024/01/09/2023-ai-and-art-wrap-up/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Katie and Steve talk with renowned art lawyer Pierre Valentin about the EU’s new and striking import regulations on cultural goods, including fine art and cultural property, that prohibit the import of applicable items not created in the EU into the EU if they cannot be shown to have been legally exported from their countries of origin. We discuss the impetus for these regulations, the problem with discerning ownership and export history of cultural property, and the key problems with the new re...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Steve and Katie talk with their colleague Tom Kline about his client, the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (MCMA), and its decades-long quest to reclaim the dramatic marble statue The Wounded Indian by Peter Stephenson, modeled after the Roman sculpture The Dying Gaul . MCMA was founded by Paul Revere in 1795 and was gifted the statue in 1893. After vacating its storied headquarters in 1958, MCMA was told the statute had been destroyed. Only in 2023 did it get the statue back. Notes...
Nov 07, 2023•45 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Steve and Katie speak with Dr. Carina Popovici, CEO and Founder of Art Recognition, an art and technology startup that uses AI systems to evaluation the authenticity of artworks. They discuss the problems with authentication in the traditional art market and the promise and limitations of AI in solving these problems along with some real-world examples. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2023/09/06/ what-can-artificial-intelligence-offer-art-authentication/ Follow the Art Law Podca...
Sep 06, 2023•54 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Katie and Steve speak with WIPO economists Alexander Cuntz and Matthias Sahli about their recent article, Intermediary liability and trade in follow-on innovation, published in the Journal of Cultural Economics in February 2023. Their research looks at how intermediaries in the art market altered their behavior after the Second Circuit’s decision in Cariou v. Prince , which was seen as greatly expanding permissible fair use in appropriation art. THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 8
Katie and Steve talk to Philippa Loengard, copyright expert and Director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at Columbia Law School, about the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith , which resets and limits the applicability of “transformative” fair use as an exception to copyright infringement. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2023/06/05/scotus-says-warhol-not-so-fast-the-limitations-of-transformative-use/ Follow the Art L...
Jun 05, 2023•59 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Katie and Steve talk to attorney Emily Poler, founder of Poler Legal, about the recent lawsuit between the iconic French fashion house Hermès and an NFT creator, Mason Rothschild, over Rothschild’s “MetaBirkin” NFTs. Hermès claimed that Rothschild infringed Hermès’ trademark in the name “Birkin.” Hermès prevailed on this claim (and others) in a jury trial earlier this year. Katie, Steve, and Emily discuss the contours of this lawsuit and the reach of trademark law to police fashion brands, copyr...
Apr 04, 2023•55 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Steve and Katie speak with Amy Whitaker about her new book with Nora Burnett Abrams, The Story of NFTs: Artists, Technology and Democracy . Amy describes her vision for the promise of NFTs for artists and a more equitable art market and discusses the democratic incentives NFTs create in this world. They discuss NFTs in the context of the current moment of uncertainty around the future of cryptocurrency, the blockchain, and the value of NFTs in general and the potential problems and limitations o...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Katie and Steve talk to Spanish art lawyer and scholar, Patricia Fernández, about the history of thousands of artwork seizures during the Spanish Civil War and the Spanish government’s actions with respect to these artworks since then through today. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2023/01/17/the-art-seizures-of-the-spanish-civil-war/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast...
Jan 17, 2023•57 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Steve and Katie speak with appellate litigator David Barrett about the story animating a recent Supreme Court case between the heirs of Lilly Cassirer, who fled Germany in 1939 after surrendering the painting Rue Saint-Honoré Après-midi, Effet de Pluie ( Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain ) by Camille Pissarro to the Nazis, and the Spanish Museum known as the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. They discuss the journey of the painting in and out of the United States over a 60-plus-year...
Dec 13, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Katie and Steve discuss some recent art museum-related legal(ish) developments, including New York’s new legislation requiring labeling of Nazi-looted art, the AAMD’s long-awaited changes to its deaccessioning policy, and an unusual gift/sale of part of MoMA’s collection. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2022/10/25/some-art-museum-related-updates/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast...
Oct 25, 2022•39 min•Season 6Ep. 2
To open Season 6, Katie and Steve discuss the shocking arrest of Jean-Luc Martinez, director of the Louvre in Paris from 2013 to 2021, related to his involvement in the alleged trafficking of antiquities for the Louvre Abu Dhabi with French criminal lawyer Sarah Arpagaus. They discuss cultural property crimes more broadly and take a detour into the world of French criminal law and its striking difference with the system here in the US. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2022/09/06/...
Sep 06, 2022•51 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Steve and Katie speak to anti-money laundering and sanctions expert Paula Trommel of Corinth Consulting about Russian sanctions and their impact on the art market in the short and long term. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2022/07/15/russian-sanctions-and-the-art-market/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast...
Jul 15, 2022•54 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Katie and Steve speak with Evan Beard, currently Executive Vice President at Masterworks, about fractional ownership of art and new art securitization trends and initiatives, who the issuers and investors in this space are, and what they can achieve through these alternative investment structures. Notes for this episode: http://artlawpodcast.com/2022/06/09/fractional-ownership-of-art-can-regular-people-own-a-piece-of-the-high-end-art-market/ Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.inst...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 7
Steve and Katie give a brief update on New York City’s recent repeal of its regulations governing auctioneers and auction practices. These regulations provided consumer protections by enforcing a measure of transparency into the auction process, such as requiring auctioneers to publicly disclose when they had a financial stake in an object being sold. Interestingly, major stakeholders appeared surprised by the repeal, which they had not requested and seemed indifferent about. Notes for this epis...
May 10, 2022•15 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Susan Mumford and Chris King, co-founders of ArtAML, return to the Podcast and talk with Steve about the recent release by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") of its “Study of the Facilitation of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism through the Trade in Works of Art." To the surprise of Steve and his guests, FinCEN concluded that there is limited evidence of money laundering and little risk of terror financing through the sale of high value art. The discussion focuses ...
Mar 28, 2022•32 min•Season 5Ep. 5
With Katie on a parental leave, Steve speaks with Herrick Feinstein’s Victor Rocco about his firm’s representation of the Republic of Turkey in litigation brought by Turkey to possess a millennia-old Anatolian marble statue (the Stargazer) owned by Michael Steinhardt and sold by him through Christie’s. (We previously had counsel for Christie’s and Steinhardt on the podcast.) After a trial in the Southern District of New York, Turkey lost for the primary reason that they could not provide facts s...
Mar 03, 2022•56 min•Season 5Ep. 4
