South Carolina’s International African American Museum Officially Acquires Earliest Known Daguerreotypes of Enslaved Americans

South Carolina’s International African American Museum Officially Acquires Earliest Known Daguerreotypes of Enslaved Americans

The International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, has officially acquired the "1850 Daguerreotypes," the earliest known photographs of enslaved Americans. The set of 15 images, taken by J.T. Zealy, depicts seven enslaved individuals—Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem, and Renty—and had been held by Harvard University until a recent legal settlement. Harvard had owned the daguerreotypes since they were commissioned in 1850 by natural historian Louis Agassiz.

Jewish Heirs File Suit in French Court Over Ownership of Pissarro Painting

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Seven heirs of the late department store magnate and art collector Max Julius Braunthal have filed a lawsuit in a French court, seeking to nullify the 1941 sale of Camille Pissarro's painting 'Haystacks, Morning, Eragny' (1899). They argue the sale was made under duress during the Nazi occupation of France. The painting is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which maintains Braunthal received fair market value.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is facing a new lawsuit over Vincent van Gogh's *Olive Picking* (1889), which it sold to a Greek collector in 1972. The suit, filed by heirs of Hedwig and Frederick Stern, alleges the painting was looted from the Sterns when they fled Nazi Germany and should never have entered the Met's collection. The Met bought the work in 1956 for $125,000 and later sold it to the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens, where it is now displayed. A previous 2022 lawsuit in California was dismissed on venue grounds; the heirs are now pursuing the case in New York federal court, arguing the painting was repeatedly trafficked through the city.

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Heirs of German Jewish banker and art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy have urged the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to revive their lawsuit seeking the return of Vincent van Gogh's *Sunflowers* (1888), which they claim was sold under Nazi duress. The lawsuit, filed in 2022 against Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings, argues that the painting was purchased at a 1987 Christie's auction by Sompo's predecessor, Yasuda, despite provenance indicating Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was a Nazi victim. A lower court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of jurisdiction, but the heirs contend that the painting's exhibition in Chicago in 2001 establishes sufficient legal ties to Illinois.

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The Judd Foundation has settled a lawsuit with Kim Kardashian and Clements Design over a 2022 promotional video in which Kardashian promoted knockoff versions of Donald Judd's minimalist furniture. The video, which garnered over 3.6 million views before being deleted, featured tables resembling Judd's La Mansana Table 22 and Chair 84. Under the settlement, Kardashian will acquire authentic Judd furniture from Donald Judd Furniture LLC, and both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

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The Porter County Superior Court has approved Valparaiso University's plan to sell three valuable paintings from the Brauer Museum of Art—works by Frederic Edwin Church, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O'Keeffe valued at around $20 million—to fund renovations to freshman dormitories. The decision follows a year and a half of controversy, including a lawsuit from the museum's founding director Richard Brauer and condemnation from major museum professional organizations, who argue that deaccessioning art for non-collection purposes violates ethical standards.

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The Art Institute of Chicago has been granted an emergency stay by an appellate judge, pausing the restitution of Egon Schiele's drawing "Russian War Prisoner" (1916) to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer and art collector who died in a Nazi concentration camp. The museum is appealing a New York Supreme Court judge's April 23 order to surrender the artwork, which has been off view since September 2023 when it was seized by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. The museum disputes that the work was looted, citing evidence that Grünbaum's sister-in-law recovered the collection after the war and sold it to a dealer.

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A Manhattan judge has blocked London-based art dealer Richard Nagy from selling or transporting two watercolors by Egon Schiele, which were on display at his booth during the Salon of Art + Design fair at the Park Avenue Armory. The works—Woman in a Black Pinafore and Woman Hiding Her Face—are claimed by the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish Holocaust victim and cabaret performer who died at Dachau. The heirs, Timothy Reif and David Fraenkel, filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging the paintings were among 400 artworks surrendered to the Nazis by Grünbaum's wife. Nagy disputes the claim, arguing the works were sold legally by Grünbaum's sister-in-law in 1956 and that previous arbitration boards found no evidence of Nazi looting.

Art Publisher Owes $102.2 Million in Damages for Late Robert Indiana Works

A Manhattan jury has ordered art publisher Michael McKenzie to pay $102.2 million in damages for creating unauthorized or adulterated versions of works by the late Pop artist Robert Indiana. The lawsuit, brought by Indiana’s former business partner the Morgan Art Foundation, alleged that McKenzie produced Indiana-related junk products that infringed trademark and copyright, including reproductions of Indiana’s iconic “LOVE” design and the artworks *The Ninth American Dream* (2001) and *USA FUN* (1965). The jury found McKenzie liable for exploiting Indiana in the final years of his life, after the artist granted power of attorney to his caretaker, Jamie Thomas.

Affaire Indiana : un éditeur d’art condamné à 102 millions de dollars

A federal jury in Manhattan has ordered Michael McKenzie and his company American Image Art to pay $102 million (€95 million) to the Morgan Art Foundation for unauthorized exploitation of works by artist Robert Indiana (1928-2018), including his iconic LOVE image. The case, filed in May 2018 just before Indiana's death, alleged that McKenzie—a former agent of the artist—produced and sold unauthorized editions, sculptures, and merchandise under Indiana's name, violating exclusive reproduction and commercialization rights granted to the foundation in the 1990s. The jury found McKenzie guilty of trademark infringement, copyright violation, and contractual interference, with $6.2 million specifically tied to 44 LOVE works. The defense, weakened by sanctions for hiding evidence and refusing to cooperate, plans to appeal.

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has successfully repatriated eight life-sized Roman sculptures that were illegally removed from Bubon, Turkey, 60 years ago. The sculptures, part of a shrine honoring Roman emperors, were sold to Americans by Turkish villagers in the 1960s without required permits. After a two-year legal battle involving two lawsuits and an arrest warrant, the final sculpture—a headless bronze piece—was surrendered by collector Aaron Mendelsohn, who had acquired it for $1.33 million. The sculpture was returned to Turkish officials at a ceremony hosted by Bragg's office, alongside dozens of other looted Turkish antiquities, including a marble head of Demosthenes seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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The Matthiesen Gallery in London has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York alleging fraud, breach of contract, and other counts over a Gustave Courbet painting, *Mother and Child on a Hammock*. The gallery claims that Thomas Austin Doyle, a convicted con man, orchestrated a scheme to defraud director Patrick Matthiesen, selling the painting—valued at $650,000—through artist and dealer Shalva Sarukhanishvili to Jill Newhouse Gallery for $115,000, which then sold it to top collector Jon Landau for $125,000. The lawsuit also names Landau, who allegedly viewed the work multiple times at TEFAF fairs knowing its retail price, yet refuses to return it. Doyle has a long criminal history, including prior convictions for art fraud and theft.

Congress Moves to Expand Holocaust Art Restitution Claims

The U.S. Congress has passed an extension of the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, a 2016 law designed to help heirs of Holocaust victims recover looted art. The new legislation aims to limit the ability of museums and other current holders to use time-based legal defenses, such as statutes of limitations, to block restitution claims, thereby pushing more cases to be decided on their factual merits.

Heirs to the Bic Empire Say They’ve Been Robbed of a Renaissance Masterwork

The heirs to the Bic pen fortune, Gonzalve, Charles, and Guillaume Bich, have filed a lawsuit alleging a 15th-century masterpiece by Fra Angelico was stolen from their family. They claim the painting, 'Saint Sixtus,' was taken by their father's chauffeur in 2006 and sold to art dealer Richard Feigen, who later sold it to Chilean collector Alvaro Saieh in 2018. The heirs are now suing Saieh to reclaim the artwork and seeking the return of sale proceeds from Feigen's estate.

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Four pro-Tibetan groups in France have filed a legal complaint against Paris's Musée Guimet, accusing it of erasing Tibet's cultural identity by renaming its Nepal-Tibet gallery to "Himalayan world" and removing references to "Tibetan art." The groups argue the changes blur Tibet's distinct heritage and align with political pressures from Beijing. The museum denies external influence, stating the new name better reflects the region's cultural interconnections, citing similar usage by institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian.

michaels lawsuit pose jordan nickel 1234772883

Chicago street artist Jordan Nickel, known as Pose, is embroiled in a legal dispute with the arts and crafts retail giant Michaels. The artist, through his attorney Jeff Gluck, alleges that Michaels used his artwork in advertisements for Ironlak spray paint without his permission. Michaels has responded by filing a preemptive lawsuit in Texas, seeking a court declaration that it did not infringe on any rights and asking for attorneys' fees, while also arguing that it believed it had permission through its supplier, AVT Paints.

family says firm funding its legal battle for stolen paintings sought control of lawsuits 1234749202

The son of late Palestinian businessman Uthman Khatib, Prince Castro Ben Leon, is suing LitFin Capital, the Prague-based litigation funder that financed his family's legal battle to recover 135 Russian avant-garde paintings allegedly stolen by Israeli Russian Mozes Frisch. The paintings, attributed to El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, and Wassily Kandinsky, are valued at $323 million. A Paris court secured the works in January after they were seized from Paris-based authenticators ArtAnalysis, which had been holding them for Frisch. Castro claims LitFin is now refusing to pay legal bills unless it gains control of the lawsuits, violating their funding agreement. LitFin denies the allegations, stating it has always honored its contractual obligations.

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Molly McQueen, the granddaughter of actor Steve McQueen, is suing South Carolina lawyer Brent Borchert for a Jackson Pollock painting valued at $68 million. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in August, alleges that Steve McQueen transferred the Pollock drip painting to Borchert's parents, Rudolph and Pamela, in exchange for a motorcycle and a property in Latigo Canyon. When the motorcycle was crashed and the property title never changed hands, McQueen demanded the painting back, but the Borcherts failed to return it. Brent Borchert, who inherited the painting along with his sister Bettina after his parents' deaths, told the Mirror that the deal was 'hazy' and that he is open to a reasonable agreement if evidence supports the claim.

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A Czech man named Milos Vavra, a descendant of Jewish cabaret performer and collector Fritz Grünbaum who was murdered by the Nazis, has filed a lawsuit against Christie's in New York Supreme Court. Vavra demands that the auction house disclose the ownership and location of several blue-chip artworks from the Grünbaum Collection, including works by Egon Schiele. He alleges that Christie's entered a nondisclosure agreement with a Swiss family seeking to auction looted artworks, and he needs the information urgently to file claims before the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR Act) statute of limitations expires in late 2026.

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The estate of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner has filed a new lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against the Nahmad family, seeking the restitution of Amedeo Modigliani’s 1918 painting "Seated Man With a Cane." The suit alleges that the $25 million portrait was looted by the Nazis in Paris and is currently held by the International Art Center, which the plaintiffs claim is a shell company controlled by the Nahmads. This legal action follows a 2012 dismissal of a similar claim by Stettiner’s grandson, Philippe Maestracci, due to a lack of standing.

Jewish collector's heirs revive Nazi loot claim to Van Gogh Sunflowers painting

Heirs of Jewish banker and collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are appealing a lower court's dismissal of their lawsuit against Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings over Vincent van Gogh's painting *Sunflowers* (1888-89), valued at $250 million. The plaintiffs—Julius H. Schoeps, Britt-Marie Enhoerning, and Florence von Kesselstatt, representing over 30 beneficiaries—claim the work was sold under Nazi pressure in 1934. Sompo bought the painting in 1987 for a record $25 million at Christie's London. The case was heard by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on 17 September 2025, under the 2016 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act.

Ancient marble bust returned to Italy following seven-year legal battle

A first-century CE marble bust, known as the "Head of Alexander," was returned to the Italian government on August 5, ending a seven-year legal battle. The bust, believed stolen from an Italian museum decades ago, was seized in 2018 by the Manhattan District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit from Safani Gallery in New York. The gallery filed multiple lawsuits against Italy and the Italian Ministry of Culture, claiming unlawful taking and seeking compensation, but all claims were dismissed. The bust, excavated in the early 1900s along Rome's Via Sacra, had passed through multiple cities and auctions, including sales at Sotheby Park Bernet and later for $150,000 by Safani Gallery in 2017.

The Long Legal Saga Between Artist Ryder Ripps and the Bored Ape Yacht Club Is Finally Over

Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has reached a confidential settlement with artist Ryder Ripps and his partner Jeremy Cahen, ending a multi-year legal battle over trademark infringement and appropriation art. The dispute began in 2022 when Ripps launched his RR/BAYC NFT collection, which used identical imagery to the original Bored Apes to protest alleged racist and alt-right symbolism within the project. As part of the agreement, Ripps and Cahen are now under a permanent injunction preventing them from using any Yuga Labs trademarks or images.

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A legal battle over a collection of 1,800 paintings attributed to Russian modernist masters has escalated after the litigation funder backing the claimants, LitFin, raised concerns it may have been misled about the works' authenticity. The funder is now in a dispute with the claimants, the family of the late Palestinian collector Uthman Khatib, over halted payments and control of the lawsuits, which seek the return of the paintings or $323 million from Israeli-Russian businessman Mozes Frisch, who is accused of stealing them.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Calls on King Charles to Return Treasured Diamond to India

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly called on King Charles III to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond to India during the British monarch's visit to New York City on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference before a 9/11 commemoration ceremony, Mamdani said he would encourage the King to return the diamond, which was given to Queen Victoria in 1850 after Britain's colonial governor-general arranged its exchange from a deposed Indian leader. The two leaders later met at the ceremony, but Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the discussion.

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Shelley Entner, a Florida widow, is suing Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York for the return of her late husband Stanley Marks' stamp collection, valued at up to $2 million. Entner claims some stamps are missing from the collection, which Marks began in 1937 and continued until his death in 2016. The auction house sold the international portion in 2016 for $750,000, but Entner says a recent inspection revealed missing US stamps. The auction house denies the allegations, stating Entner changed her mind about auctioning the collection and refuses to reimburse $56,000 in insurance costs, while offering to return the stamps.

Barcelona museum refuses to return Sijena murals to monastery

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) in Barcelona is refusing to comply with a Spanish Supreme Court order to return the 12th-century Sijena murals to their original monastery in Aragón. Tensions escalated after the museum hosted a listening party for pop star Rosalía in the same hall where the Romanesque masterpieces are housed, leading to accusations from the municipality of Villanueva de Sijena that the museum is endangering the fragile works. MNAC director Pepe Serra has dismissed these concerns as scientifically unfounded, sparking threats of a defamation lawsuit from local officials.

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A legal dispute between brothers Prajit and Projjal Dutta over the branding of their respective New York galleries has escalated into allegations of physical violence. Harry Hutchison, a director at Aicon Art, filed a complaint alleging he was severely injured after being assaulted by Projjal Dutta at their shared Great Jones Street business premises in April 2024. Projjal Dutta has countered these claims, asserting he acted in self-defense after being shoved by Hutchison and accusing Hutchison of filing false police reports.

Court Decision Ends Dispute Over Who Actually Bought Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69.3 M.

A federal judge in New York has approved a final settlement in a lawsuit between the two pseudonymous figures behind the record-breaking $69.3 million purchase of Beeple's NFT "Everydays: The First 5000 Days." The agreement legally prohibits Anand Venkateswaran (Twobadour) from claiming any involvement in the 2021 Christie's purchase, confirming that Vignesh Sundaresan (Metakovan) was the sole buyer. Venkateswaran must also pay an undisclosed sum, dissociate from related online profiles, and correct third-party biographical information.

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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.