Paris Man Sues Met Museum Over Cezanne

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Man sues Met to recover Cézanne

A Paris engineer is suing New York's Metropolitan Museum over a Paul Cézanne painting he says was stolen from his great-grandfather in Russia.

Pierre Konowaloff says the art collection owned by his great-grandfather, Ivan Morozov, was seized on Lenin's orders in 1918 during the Russian Revolution.

The Met received the painting Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory in 1960 in a bequest of American collector Stephen C. Clark, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.

French artist Cézanne painted the Impressionist image of his wife in 1891.

Konowaloff filed a statement of claim in U.S. District court on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg news agency.

He is claiming the painting, bought by Morozov, a textile merchant, in 1911, was seized illegally by the Russian government and it was resold illegally in 1933 to a New York art dealer, at a time when the U.S. did not recognize Soviet Russia.

The Met museum has issued a statement saying it believes it has good title to the painting and the lawsuit is without merit.

Konowaloff is also involved in a dispute with Yale University over a Vincent van Gogh bequeathed by Clark to a university gallery.

Yale has filed a pre-emptive suit, trying to establish its ownership of The Night Café.

The university argues in its suit that it is unreasonable for U.S. courts to overturn the redistribution of property undertaken by Russian during the Russian Revolution.

This article is from: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2010/12/09/cezanne-revolution.html#ixzz17jNYOSzU

Yale University Agrees To Return Machu Picchu Artifacts

Yale Will Return Machu Picchu Artifacts

Alan Garcia, president of Peru, announced on Friday that Yale University has committed to return a collection of artifacts from Machu Picchu in early 2011 -- possibly ending years of negotiations and legal threats over the pieces, which were taken by a Yale team that excavated the area a century ago. Peru has long disputed Yale's assertions that the artifacts were taken legally. While some of Peru's past statements about Yale have criticized the university, Friday's announcement contained some praise. "The Peruvian government welcomes this decision and recognizes that Yale University preserved these artifacts, which otherwise would have ended up scattered in private collections around the world or would have even disappeared. We also acknowledge the studies that have been made along all these years," the statement said.

Yale issued a statement Sunday night in which it confirmed the agreement. "Yale University is pleased and proud to have reached an accord with the Government of Peru which is now in the stage of being formalized. Under it, as an expression of good will and in recognition of the unique importance that Machu Picchu has come to play in the identity of the modern Peruvian nation, Yale will return, over the next two years, the archaeological materials excavated by Hiram Bingham III at Machu Picchu nearly a century ago. Those pieces suitable for museum display will be sent in time for the centennial celebration commemorating the scientific discovery of Machu Picchu by the Yale-Peruvian Scientific Expedition of 1911."

The statement continued: "Yale is particularly pleased that President Alan Garcia has requested the University of Cusco to receive and be the depository of the objects, and in that way it will serve as the new academic home and context for the collection. Yale looks forward to concluding an agreement with the University of Cusco to establish the collaborative arrangements for a new museum and research center that will carry out programs of research, educational exchanges, and public exhibitions. This collaboration will ensure that Yale's values in conserving the collection, studying the material and disseminating new knowledge will be extended in a new phase, and in a spirit of friendship with the people of Cusco and the nation of Peru."

 

This article is from: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/22/qt/yale_will_return_machu_picchu_artifacts