Greetings!

🎉 2024 Was an Incredible Year for the Art, Law, and Finance Project! 🎉

We had a whirlwind of a year, full of remarkable milestones and thrilling events. Our third annual symposium at SFMOMA was a hit, bringing together leading voices from academia, government, and industry, covering an array of fascinating topics – from creating artwork with AI to current trends in investing. If you missed it, you can check out the key takeaways here. Last year our programs were graced by top-notch experts from academia, Christie's, the Wall Street Journal, DLA Piper, Nixon Peabody, BofA, and many others. We wrapped up 2024 with an engaging panel discussion that delved into the contrasting cultural property approaches of Italy and the US, using the European Court of Human Rights decision in Getty v. Italy as a key example. Dive into the insights here.

All in all, we managed to significantly expand our programming in 2024, and look forward to doing even more in 2025.

This month, we're buzzing with excitement as we bring you the latest scoop on the legal dramas of art market heavyweights, evolving trends in art investment, the rise of AI-generated art, AI fashion stepping into the prêt-à-porter spotlight, artists influencing cultural change, and more.



We hope that over the past year our newsletter has added a spark to your day. We can't wait to share more inspiring stories and welcome you to our events in the upcoming year. Have a fantastic New Year, everyone! 🎉🥳

Delia Violante

Founder of the Art, Law, and Finance Project

Berkeley Center for Law and Business

Robert Cox - She Is On Her Own, Oil on Canvas 24x24

Academic Corner

DEBORAH M. WEISSMAN, LOUIS A. PEREZ | UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

In their recent article, The Art Belongs to the Artists, UNC Law professors Deborah M. Weissman, and Louis A. Perez dissect the US government's refusal to grant Guantánamo Bay detainees ownership of the art they created during their detention, framing the confiscation of these works as a form of cultural plunder. They argue that this practice mirrors colonial strategies designed to dehumanize detainees and strip them of their agency, reflecting broader patterns of retribution associated with the aftermath of 9/11. The article asserts that such actions violate both international and domestic laws that protect cultural expression and uphold human dignity. Read More>

Call for Applications

IMT LUCCA

IMT Lucca is accepting applications for their 2025 summer program titled Regulating and Managing Cultural Heritage in Europe Project. For further details and to apply, visit their website>

Sotheby's Settles Tax Evasion Case

THE ART NEWSPAPER

Sotheby’s has agreed to pay $6.25 million to settle a lawsuit by the state of New York in which they were accused of helping collectors evade sales tax on art purchases between 2010 and 2020. The settlement also requires the auction house to implement reforms to prevent future violations of New York tax laws. Read More>

United Nations Addresses Illicit Antique Trade

UNITED NATIONS

On December 6, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/79/L.16, which emphasizes the need for international cooperation to combat the illicit trade of cultural property and to return stolen cultural artifacts to their countries of origin. Read More>

The Looting of Aleppo

TÜRKIYE TODAY

According to Youssef Kanjou, the former director of the Aleppo National Museum, illegal excavations have been a longstanding issue in the areas surrounding Aleppo. Many of these illicit activities have been shielded by the Syrian regime’s secret police, implicating the Assad family. Read More>

Looted Etruscan Treasures Seized

HYPERALLERGIC

Italian authorities have recovered a collection of Etruscan funeral artifacts, including urns, sarcophagi, and beauty accessories, stolen from a 2,300-year-old tomb in Umbria. Experts have hailed the find as one of the most significant recoveries of Etruscan treasures, valued at over €8 million. Read More>

Restitution of Cultural Heritage Will Race Ahead in 2025

THE ECONOMIST

The Parthenon Marbles, housed in the British Museum since 1816, have been at the heart of a longstanding dispute over cultural property, with Greece formally requesting their return since 1983. As negotiations gain momentum, public opinion is shifting, with increasing support for repatriation. Read More>

Manhattan DA Announces Return of Over 1,400 Antiques

MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. announced the return of 1,440 stolen antiquities, worth $10 million, to India following investigations into trafficking networks, including those linked to Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener. Read More>

The State of Fashion for 2025

BUSINESS OF FASHION



Business of Fashion's insights team, along with analysis from McKinsey & Company, project turbulent times for the fashion Industry. Lack of consumer confidence, worrisome growth patterns, and the seemingly widespread disregard for sustainability paint a significant shift for the trillion-dollar industry. Read More>

A Review of the 2017 Nicosia Convention

CENTER FOR ART LAW

Berkeley Law 2L Eleanor Iris Gartstein revisits the 2017 Nicosia Convention and dissects how it acts as the only international treaty imposing criminal penalties for crimes related to cultural heritage, aiming to address offenses such as looting and trafficking. Read More>

Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian Sells for $6.2 Million

THE NEW YORK TIMES

A controversial banana artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, titled Comedian, sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s, making it one of the most expensive fruits in the world, despite its likely short lifespan. Read more>

Murakami on Using AI to Reimagine Japanese Art History

ARTNET

Famed Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami explores themes of mortality, legacy, and identity while blending Kyoto's rich history with the use of A.I. in his new collection "Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami" at the Gagosian. Read More>

A Museum Through a Virtual Lens

THE ART NEWSPAPER

The Lewis chess pieces, originally small and untouchable artifacts from the 1831 discovery on the Isle of Lewis, are being recreated as highly detailed 3D digital models for a new XR platform, Museums in the Metaverse, developed by University of Glasgow researchers. Read More>

Report Alert: How Can the G20 Protect Cultural Heritage?

ANTIQUES COALITION THINK TANK

This policy brief, written by Australian Professor Ian Lilley, argues that the G20’s intervention is very welcome, but the foundations of its approach need to be strengthened to ensure its commitment to the protection of cultural heritage can be effectively translated into action on the ground. Read More>

UK Art Imports Decline by 16% for Second Year in a Row

THE ART NEWSPAPER

The UK's art trade is urging the government to simplify import and export processes as Brexit and a shift in global wealth towards Asia contribute to a significant decline in the sector, with imports and exports both falling by 16% in 2023. Read More>

Upcoming AI Tool Receives Accusations of Art Washing

ARTNET

A group of artists who were given early access to Sora, an AI video generation tool by OpenAI, leaked its code and criticized the company for exploiting their unpaid or under-compensated labor to improve its image. In response to the claims, OpenAI has suspended access to Sora. Read More >

AI Painting of Alan Turing Sells for a Record $1.08 Million

CNN

An AI robot’s painting of Alan Turing was sold at auction to an undisclosed buyer for $1.08 million, setting a new record for an artwork by a humanoid robot. The final price after 27 bids far surpassed the pre-auction estimate of $120,000-$180,000. Read more>

Kate Walbert on Lillie P. Bliss

MOMA MAGAZINE

Novelist Kate Walbert reviews how Lillie P. Bliss, a prominent art collector, contributed to the greater art world through her work with the Armory Show of 1913, organized by Arthur B. Davies and the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. Read More>

Notre Dame Cathedral Open to the Public on December 8th

THE ART NEWSPAPER

With the reopening of Notre Dame on December 8, 2024, significant restoration milestones have been met, including the completion of the charpente, the crossing vault, and the return of the bells, with finishing touches like the Virgin of Paris statue and organ fine-tuning remaining. Read More>

Report Alert: Iranian Artists Influencing Cultural Change

ARTISTIC FREEDOM INITIATIVE

Since September 2022, Iranian artists have faced severe repression, including arrests, torture, and bans on their work, for their support of the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement. Despite these threats, their artistic expression remains a crucial form of resistance and advocacy for the right to freedom of expression. Read More>

Meet the Artist

ROB COX

Rob Cox, born in Stoneham, MA, holds a B.F.A. in Painting and Art History from the Massachusetts College of Art and later studied at the University of California Extension in Berkeley. His work focuses on urban landscapes, figures, and everyday objects, emphasizing the importance of paint and the process itself. Cox believes the act of painting, especially the brush strokes and textures, is just as important as the visual illusion of the subject, like a distant roadway. His style blends Pop art with a more muted, abstract approach, drawing influence from artists like Paul Cézanne, David Park, and Richard Diebenkorn. Cox uses representational painting as a foundation to explore tension between literal imagery and abstract expression, aiming to create something more precious than the original subject. He views the painting process as an evolving conversation between his hand and the canvas, where mixing colors and layering paint becomes an alchemical act. His work, marked by impasto and aggressive brush strokes, continues the Northern California figurative tradition, and has been showcased in galleries in San Francisco, Tucson, Scottsdale, and Oakland. Learn More >

Please note that some articles listed may be subject to a paywall.

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