Protecting Your Art From Title Claims

When purchasing art, note the importance of both researching the art's provenance, and signing a purchase agreement or a bill of sale with robust warranties and representations with regard to ownership, in order to avoid future title claim issues.

Why title claims are a concern

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for title claims to arise in the context of art purchases and, due to recent court activity, it is worth a reminder to safeguard your art. Last June, for example, art collector Sharyl Davis, who for 10 years owned and displayed in her home a Camille Pissarro monotype entitled Le Marché, was forced to haplessly surrender the artwork in a forfeiture action initiated by the United States Government. Ms Davis took ownership of Le Marché following the dissolution of a corporation that she had partially controlled. The corporation had purchased the work from an art gallery in Texas in 1985. Unknown to Ms Davis, Le Marché was one of two works of art that were stolen from the Musée Faure in Aix‑les-Bains (France), in 1981, and had made its way to San Antonio, Texas, where it was consigned to the gallery that sold it to the corporation.

After displaying Le Marché in her home, Ms Davis consigned it to Sotheby's for sale at auction. The French National Police became aware of Le Marché's impending sale and informed United States law enforcement officials that the Pissarro work soon to be auctioned off by Sotheby's had been stolen from the Musée Faure 22 years earlier. The United States Department of Homeland Security requested that Sotheby's withdraw Le Marché from the auction and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, upholding lower court decisions and a jury verdict of forfeiture based on the art being introduced into the United States contrary to law, ruled in June of this year that Ms Davis must relinquish possession of Le Marché.

If you own art created prior to World War II, you should be aware that claims against collectors possessing art possibly looted during the Holocaust are also on the rise. With the advent of internet technologies publicising the whereabouts of artworks and international policies favoring more intensive provenance research prior to art acquisition, the heirs of families whose collections were lost to the Nazis are now stepping forward to assert title claims. For example, the collector David Bakalar, a Massachusetts resident, was required to initiate a lawsuit in the New York federal courts to...