Europe

European Union tightens anti-money-laundering rules in the art market: On 19 April, the European Parliament adopted the fifth Anti-Money-Laundering directive, which will tighten regulation of the art market. The aim of the new rules, first proposed in 2016 in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, is to increase transparency around financial transactions and require banks and vendors to verify clients’ identities and to report any suspicious behaviour.

30.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: European Union tightens anti-money-laundering rules in the art market

30.04.2018, Artnet: Art Dealers Push Back Against the European Union’s New Money-Laundering Regulations

Germany to fund museum investigations into provenance of colonial-era artefacts: The German Lost Art Foundation has said it will oversee government grants to museums for provenance research into artefacts acquired from former colonies.

30.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: Germany to fund museum investigations into provenance of colonial-era artefacts

Scotland Yard joins global crackdown on looted pharaonic antiquities: Scotland Yard is working with the British Museum and the governments of Egypt and Sudan to tackle the looting of pharaonic antiquities. The plan is to create a publicly available database of 80,000 objects that have been identified as having passed through the trade or have been in private collections since 1970, the year of the Unesco convention on cultural property.

30.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: Scotland Yard joins global crackdown on looted pharaonic antiquities

Canadians withdraw from Düsseldorf show about Jewish dealer Max Stern: Two Canadian curators said they are withdrawing from a planned exhibition at the Düsseldorf Stadtmuseum about the life and work of the Jewish art dealer Max Stern after the mayor first cancelled the show, then backtracked on his decision weeks later.

03.05.2018, The Art Newspaper: Canadians withdraw from Düsseldorf show about Jewish dealer Max Stern

United States

Is Stock Market Volatility Good for the Art Market?: Until January, the stock market was on an almost-unbroken bull run for nine years. Now that run appears to be ending and prominent members of the financial community are warning about the possibility of a significant correction, leaving people in the art world wrestling with whether this will affect their sales.

26.04.2018, Bloomberg: Is Stock Market Volatility Good for the Art Market?

US Art Dealers May Soon Be Subject to Government Financial Regulation: After years of whispers—and a lot of grumblings—about the need to achieve greater transparency in the ultra-secret, multi-billion dollar art market, US lawmakers appear to be moving fast on new legislation to do just that. With more and more trophy artworks tipping the seven- eight- and even nine-figure mark, the stakes have never been higher.

02.05.2018, Artnet: US Art Dealers May Soon Be Subject to Government Financial Regulation

Collector sues Jeff Koons and Gagosian Gallery over years-long delivery delays: The collector Steven Tananbaum filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court that charges the artist Jeff Koons and Gagosian Gallery of failing to deliver three sculptures for which he paid over $13m in contractual deposits over a five-year period.

20.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: Collector sues Jeff Koons and Gagosian Gallery over years-long delivery delays

‘The Matrix’ Producer Sues Gagosian Over a Missing Jeff Koons Sculpture—the Second Such Complaint This Month: The collector Steven Tananbaum filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court that charges the artist Jeff Koons and Gagosian Gallery of failing to deliver three sculptures for which he paid over $13m in contractual deposits over a five-year period.

20.04.2018, Artnet: ‘The Matrix’ Producer Sues Gagosian Over a Missing Jeff Koons Sculpture—the Second Such Complaint This Month

Legal battle over Modigliani painting rumbles on: The powerful art-dealing Nahmad family was dealt another blow in a long-running legal battle over the ownership of Amedeo Modigliani’s Seated Man with a Cane (1918), when a New York State judge denied their motion to dismiss the case.

20.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: Legal battle over Modigliani painting rumbles on

New York Museums Move to Dismiss Artist’s ‘Implausible’ Lawsuit That Claims the Art Industry Is Rigged: A quintet of New York museums are moving to dismiss a $100 million lawsuit filed against them by artist Robert Cenedella. Cenedella insists that the institutions are conspiring to raise prices for a group of pre-approved artists’ work while purposely excluding equally deserving artists like himself, in violation of antitrust laws.

01.05.2018, Artnet: New York Museums Move to Dismiss Artist’s ‘Implausible’ Lawsuit That Claims the Art Industry Is Rigged

Art Collector Michael Shvo Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion, But Avoids Jail Time: New York real estate developer and art collector Michael Shvo pleaded guilty to tax evasion in Manhattan Supreme Court. He must pay $3.5 million in back taxes and fines, but will avoid jail time, which the Manhattan District Attorney’s office originally pushed for.

27.04.2018, Artnet: Art Collector Michael Shvo Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion, But Avoids Jail Time

26.04.2018, The Wall Street Journal: Michael Shvo, Manhattan Real-Estate Developer and Art Collector, Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Rubens painting that fooled the Met goes up for sale: A painting sold as an unexceptional work by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art five years ago has gone up for sale with an estimate of £3m-£5m after experts concluded it was by Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish master considered one of the greatest artists of his era.

01.05.2018, The Financial Times: Rubens painting that fooled the Met goes up for sale

Antiques Trade Groups Sue to Strike Down New York’s ‘Restrictive’ Ivory Law: Two art trade organizations are suing New York State over the right to sell antique ivory.

23.04.2018, Artnet: Antiques Trade Groups Sue to Strike Down New York’s ‘Restrictive’ Ivory Law

World

Ethiopia toughens position on Maqdala treasures calling for full restitution: The Ethiopian government appears to be hardening its position, and is now pressing for full restitution of artefacts seized by the British at the battle of Maqdala in 1868 – not long-term loans.

20.04.2018, The Art Newspaper: Ethiopia toughens position on Maqdala treasures calling for full restitution