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Showing posts with label lawyer's committee for cultural heritage preservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lawyer's committee for cultural heritage preservation. Show all posts

October 11, 2013

Friday, October 11, 2013 - ,,,, No comments

The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation Presents The Monuments Men, Social Media, the Law and Cultural Heritage

The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation Presents "The Monuments Men, Social Media, the Law and Cultural Heritage" on Friday, November 1, 2013 at Fordham Law School in New York City. Map and directions: http://law.fordham.edu/about-fordham/25926.htm.

The program will begin with Diane Penneys Edelman, Villanova University School of Law; President, Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation; Leila Amineddoleh, Adjunct Professor of Law, Fordham Law School; Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation; and Irina Tarsis, Chair, American Society of International Law Cultural Heritage & the Arts Interest Group.

The first panel, Monuments Officers, the Roberts Commission, Rose Valland, Ardelia Hall, the protection of monuments in Europe and Asia during WWII, law governing the “Spoils of War Doctrine,” legacy issues for museums and the art market, will be chaired by Thomas R. Kline, Of Counsel, Andrews Kurth, LLP; Assistant Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University, Museum Studies. Speakers: Elizabeth Hudson, Chief Researcher, Monuments Men Foundation; Marc Masurovsky, Independent Historian and Author and formerly with U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Anne Rothfeld, Independent Historian, Ph.D. Candidate, American University; and Victoria Reed, Curator for Provenance, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The second panel, Prevention efforts in problem areas since WWII: Evolution of U.S. law, policy and practice concerning looting prevention and restitution efforts in post-WWII conflicts, will be chaired by Lucille Roussin, Founder and Director, Holocaust Restitution and Claims Practicum, and Adjunct Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Speakers: Richard B. Jackson, Special Assistant to the Army Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters; Salam al-Kuntar, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology; James McAndrew, Forensic Specialist, Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt.

Lunchtime Conversation with Lynn H. Nicholas, Independent Researcher and Author, The Rape of Europa: 12:15-1:30p.m. Interview by Thomas Kline.

The third panel, Present-day initiatives taken by the US armed forces, law enforcement, the art market and others to prevent and remedy looting and the trade of works looted during times of conflict, as well as law governing trade in looted objects, will be chaired by Chair: Elizabeth Varner, Executive Director, National Art Museum of Sport. Speakers: Corine Wegener, Preservation Specialist for Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution; Laurie W. Rush, Anthropologist and Cultural Resources Manager, United States Army; Thomas Mulhall, Supervisory Special Agent, Department of Homeland Security (ICE); Monica Dugot, Senior Vice President, International Director of Restitution, Christie’s.

The fourth panel, The use of the Internet, social media, television, news industry and film to raise awareness of looting, theft, and cultural heritage issues. A discussion about alternative channels used to reduce cultural heritage loss and increase restitution, will be chaired by Ms. Amineddoleh. Speakers: Darius Arya, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, American Institute for Culture; Jason Felch, Reporter, Los Angeles Times; Co-Author, Chasing Aphrodite; David D’Arcy, Correspondent, The Art Newspaper; Screenwriter/Producer, Portrait of Wally.

Afterword by Robert Edsel, Author and President, Monuments Men Foundation, WWII Monuments Men to the Present: What have we learned? What do we need to relearn? Introduction by Thomas R. Kline.

April 23, 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 - ,,, No comments

Leila Amineddoleh Begins First Month as Executive Director for the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation

by Catherine Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief

Leila Amineddoleh (Cappadocia)
Leila Amineddoleh (ARCA Alum '10) is the new Executive Director for the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation as of April 1.

Ms. Amineddoleh is of counsel at Lombard & Geliebter LLP and Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law. In addition, Leila has been a frequent contributor to the ARCA Blog and a presenter at ARCA's Art Crime Conference. Leila, a pianist, also created "Classical Twist" with ARCA classmate and violinist Daniella Fischetti.

What will you be looking forward to this year in your role as Executive Director?
I am so excited about this position because the LCCHP is a great organization. The committee is in the midst of planning an exciting conference in NYC (tentatively planned for Nov 1-2,2013); submitting a written statement and testifying in support of the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between China and the US; continuing our call for the return of the ancient golden table at issue in In Re: Riven Flamenbaum; supporting the work of the Cambodian and US governments in repatriating a looted statue from Cambodia; and various other advocacy projects that are in the works.
Will we be seeing you in Amelia and are you presenting?
Unfortunately I will not be at the 2013 ARCA conference, but I will be spending time in Italy as I'll be teaching Art & Cultural Heritage Law in Rome for St. John's School of Law's summer program. What other upcoming conferences or panels will you be attending? Earlier this month I moderated a panel at Fordham Law School entitled "Defining Cultural Ownership: Shifting Focus, Shifting Norms..." It was well-attended and absolutely fascinating, as we had a fantastic line-up of speakers. My time in Italy this summer will also be busy with events, as my course includes tours around Rome, a field trip to the Roman Forum (led by an archaeologist), and various other events. I haven't committed to any other major events scheduled for after my time in Rome, due to the demands of my litigation practice. However, things in NY generally start getting hectic again in the fall.

November 7, 2012

Wednesday, November 07, 2012 - ,,,, No comments

Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation Conference Opens Tomorrow: "From Plunder to Preservation: The Untold Story of Cultural Heritage, World War II, and the Pacific"

by Catherine Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief

The Lawyer’s Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation is opening its annual conference in Washington DC on Thursday, “From Plunder to Preservation: The Untold Story of Cultural Heritage, World War II, and the Pacific.” Here are links to information about the conference and its program. Here’s a link to the conference program: Panels include The Destruction and Plunder of Cultural Heritage in the Pacific War: A Silent Legacy; Old Records: New Possibilities, and The Legal Framework for Preserving the Pacific’s World War II-Era Past.

Thomas R. Kline, Of Counsel with the law firm of Andrews Kurth, volunteered on behalf of LCCHP to speak about the conference.  Mr. Kline began his work in the recovery of stolen art and cultural property in 1989 when he represented the Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus in litigation against an art dealer in Indianapolis that led to the recovery of Byzantine mosaics that had been stolen from a Church in the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus.

“We thought no one had done a conference on cultural property stolen during World War II in the Pacific,” Mr. Kline said via telephone from his office in Washington DC where he has practiced for 35 years. “When we tried to find people knowledgeable about losses and restitution in the Pacific arena, it was very difficult to identify such experts.”

Mr. Kline is moderator of the panel on Old Records: New Possibilities:
The National Archives here in Washington contain some historical American records and translations of captured Japanese records. Records on wartime and occupation looting in the Pacific Theatre parallel the European records, but the records on events in Europe have been closely studied and due to the interest in Holocaust-related events. Archives on looting in the Pacific have been largely untouched, but we will have as speakers the people with the most knowledge about those records and how they can be put to use by scholars.
Mr. Kline represented the Church of St. Servatii, Quedlinburg, Germany, in recovering world-famous medieval religious treasures stolen in Allied-occupied Germany by an American officer and mailed home to Texas in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Mr. Kline has represented families of Holocaust survivors and heirs of Holocaust victims in recovering art taken by the Nazis during World War II in the systematic looting of art owned by Jews and others.

Old Records: New Possibilities also includes Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs Specialist for the National Archives and Records Administration; Greg Bradsher, Archivist with the National Archives; and historian Marc Masurovsky.  Mr. Kline explained:
Miriam Kleiman will talk about the history of these archives and how they developed. Greg Bradsher has produced a finding aid for the National Archives and he will discuss the records that exist and how his finding aid can be used.  Marc Masurovsky will discuss the history of losses and restitution in the Pacific.
Mr. Kline discussed the example of Okinawa, one of the outer Japanese islands.
Okinawa was devastated in one of the worst battles of the war, on the level of Stalingrad.  Whatever wasn’t destroyed was stolen later. Japanese soldiers are believed to have looted throughout the Pacific theatre that stretched all the way to India. The scope of Allied looting in Asia/Pacific region is not well understood. Recently an auction in Michigan attempted to sell 125 objects that shared the same provenance – that of an American sergeant who claimed that the pieces had been a gift to him after the Korean War. Fortunately the art market is getting more knowledgeable and more careful and these events are more commonly identified, followed up and referred to Homeland Security.
Mr. Kline mentioned that wartime and military occupation, beyond the loss of life and human suffering, raises many issues for the victor and the vanquished concerning the fate of culturally significant objects and sites.

"Stolen objects may remain concealed for decades in private collections or be donated or sold to a museum," Mr. Kline said.  "Whether or not the object ends up in a private collection or a museum, theft is theft and the ownership of such objects must be considered.”

November 2, 2011

Wednesday, November 02, 2011 - ,,, No comments

Underwater Cultural Heritage: "Keeping the Lid on Davy Jones' Locker: A Conference on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage from Titanic to Today

Tomorrow begins a conference in Washington DC to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, "Keeping the Lid on Davy Jones' Locker: A Conference on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage from Titanic to Today" organized by the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation.

The story of the sinking of the luxury liners RMS Titanic on April 12, 1912, fictionalized in the captivating movie Titanic by James Cameron (1997) was motivated, according to the director, because of his fascination with shipwrecks. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is currently in Las Vegas. I saw it in Montreal in 2009 and found it fascinating, including realizing that many people on the ship had never  purchased their tickets for the maiden voyage but had been rebooked from another ship.

The conference will address such issues such as who owns or controls shipwrecks and the knowledge and artifacts newly available with recent technology that can reach these sunken treasures. You may read more about this conference here.

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