Presentation
The field of cultural property restitution is expanding rapidly. Individuals, communities, and nation-states are pursuing the recovery of their heritage with growing determination, and questions that were once confined to specialists are now at the center of public debate, reshaping how museums, collectors, and governments think about ownership, history, and responsibility.
At the heart of these cases lie difficult questions. How do we trace the true history of an object that has passed through many hands, often across borders and decades? What does justice require when a work was taken under persecution, war, or colonial rule? And how can fair solutions be reached when legal title, moral claims, and historical record do not align?
To explore these questions, we have invited two experts who combine deep knowledge of provenance research and the law. Drawing on real cases involving Nazi looted art and colonial era takings, they will share their most recent experience and the practical realities of resolving claims that are as legally complex as they are morally charged.
Additional information
Limited places are available and will be assigned by registration only.
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Image credits: Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907). Oil, silver and gold on canvas. Neue Galerie, New York City
Speakers
Pierre Valentin
Pierre has spent the last 30 years advising art collectors and art businesses on the law, first as in-house counsel to Sotheby’s, then as a partner of Withers LLP and more recently as a partner of Constantine Cannon LLP. He is now Co Chair of the art law team at Fieldfisher LLP.
Pierre’s clients include art collectors, art galleries and dealers, auction houses, artists, museums, private banks, family offices and governments funding cultural projects. About half of his clients are based in the UK and the rest of Europe, a quarter in the USA and the rest in the Middle East and Asia.
Pierre founded PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market) and ICRA (International Catalogue Raisonné Association). He is a co-founder and director of Artistate. He was for many year a trustee, then Chair, of World Monuments Fund Britain.
Pierre “is streets ahead of most in his field”- Legal 500. He is praised by commentators as “one of the best exponents of art law in the business.” “A veritable giant in the field, he introduced art law to the firm, and now oversees a team looking after art collectors, artists and galleries, museums and foundations.” – UK Spear’s 500.
Isabel von Klitzing
Isabel established Provenance Research & Art Consulting in 2012. With her team she provides detailed research on the provenance of works of art in both private and public collections world-wide thereby helping to provide tailor-made solutions on provenance related issues to the art world.
Before setting up her own business, she worked for 10 years as a Senior Restitution Specialist for Sotheby’s in London, Belgrade and Frankfurt.
Isabel is a member of the German Bar Association. Since 2020, she has served as a provenance expert for the Court of Arbitration for Art in The Hague (Cafa) and a member of the board of the German provenance group, Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. Since 2011, she has lectured on the topic Provenance Research in the Art Trade at Free University, Berlin and provided regular provenance research training to stakeholders of the art market.
Images
Speakers
Pierre Valentin
Co-Chair Art Law Team, Fieldfisher LLP, London
Isabel von Klitzing
Founder, Provenance Research & Art Consulting