Art News. Vasari Codex

gavel restitution schedule Mar 26, 2026 visibility 22 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Theaster Gates gifts David Drake pot from his collection to enslaved ceramicist’s descendants

Artist Theaster Gates has gifted a 19th-century ceramic vessel by the enslaved potter David Drake, known as Dave the Potter, to Drake's descendants. The gesture is part of Gates's exhibition "Dave: All My Relations" at Gagosian in New York, which also features a second Drake pot recently restituted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gates pulverized 45 of his own ceramic works to create a plinth for the vessel, framing the act as a "poetic justice" that elevates Drake's legacy above his own.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Feb 2, 2026 visibility 18 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

Dürer ‘copy’ at London’s National Gallery is the real thing, expert claims

A German scholar, Christof Metzger, has published a new catalogue raisonné claiming that a portrait of Albrecht Dürer's father held by London's National Gallery is an authentic work by the master, painted in 1497. This directly challenges the gallery's long-standing position that the painting is a later copy made after a lost original.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Apr 2, 2026 source 4 sources visibility 22 link 1 artist

Lebanese Artist Ali Cherri Files War Crimes Complaint Against Israel After 2024 Beirut Bombing

Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has filed a civil complaint in France seeking an investigation into an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut residential building in November 2024. The strike killed seven civilians, including Cherri's parents. The complaint, supported by forensic analysis from Forensic Architecture and Amnesty International, alleges the attack used munitions documented as being employed by the Israeli air force and targeted a civilian object, potentially constituting a war crime.

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gavel restitution schedule Apr 14, 2026 visibility 36 link 5 artists

France’s new restitution law passes final vote

The French parliament has officially passed framework legislation establishing a legal pathway for the restitution of cultural artifacts looted from former colonies. This landmark law, inspired by a report from former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, allows for the deaccession of items taken by force or under duress between 1815 and 1972. While the law fulfills a 2017 pledge by President Emmanuel Macron, it remains strictly supervised, requiring bilateral scientific committees to verify claims and excluding military archives and archaeological shares.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 13 link 6 artists

felzmann holocaust auction canceled

Felzmann auction house in Neuss, Germany, canceled its planned 'System of Terror Vol II' auction of Holocaust artifacts following international pressure from groups including the International Auschwitz Committee and the European Jewish Association. The sale, which included documents, letters, and Stars of David from Nazi victims between 1933 and 1945, was condemned as exploitative by critics such as executive vice president Christoph Heubner, who called it 'a cynical and shameless undertaking.' Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska also called for restitution of the items to Poland.

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gavel restitution schedule Apr 22, 2025 visibility 14 link 1 gallery

mfa boston to rescind promised gift of benin bronzes close dedicated gallery

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will return a promised gift of Benin Bronzes and close its dedicated Benin gallery on April 28, 2025. The gallery will be repurposed for Nubian art. The collection, pledged by Robert Owen Lehman, includes objects traceable to the 1897 British looting of the Kingdom of Benin. Lehman has donated five objects outright, which will be displayed in the Art of Africa Gallery. The MFA stated it could not reach a mutually agreeable resolution for the gallery's long-term sustainability.

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gavel restitution schedule Jan 2, 2026 visibility 8 link 2 artists

erie art museum wont return abandoned painting daughter late artist

The Erie Art Museum has responded to a lawsuit filed by Georgia Heynes, the 82-year-old daughter of late artist George C. Demiel, who is seeking the return of her father's watercolor painting "House Boats." Demiel submitted the work to an annual juried show at what was then the Art Center of Erie in 1966, but the painting was not accepted and Demiel never reclaimed it before his death in 1967. The museum's December 2025 response argues the painting is "abandoned personal property" and was formally accessioned into its permanent collection in 1983. Heynes discovered the painting hanging in a 2019 exhibition at the museum and requested its return, but the museum has not relinquished it.

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gavel restitution schedule Mar 26, 2026 visibility 11

giorgos tsagarakis dealer arrested stolen antiquities

Greek authorities have arrested Athens-based art dealer and television personality Giorgos Tsagarakis following an investigation into a suspected criminal network involved in the theft, forgery, and illegal trade of antiquities. The arrest, executed by the Organized Crime Division, led to the seizure of hundreds of paintings, ancient ceramics, Byzantine artifacts, and a rare 1745 gold-plated Gospel manuscript. Investigators were reportedly alerted to the illicit items after Tsagarakis posted a video of the artifacts on social media.

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