Manhattan’s DA and Chicago’s Art Institute Slug It Out

Last week, I raised questions lots of people are asking, most sub rosa, about the Manhattan DA’s art-trafficking division. It has confiscated and returned thousands of antiquities worth hundreds of millions of dollars, almost all from American museums, dealers, and private collectors. In the last couple of weeks alone, a boatload of ancient bronzes was sent back to Turkey. Why, and what’s the legal rationale? It’s not a pretty picture. Turkey, by the way, is among the world’s laggards in restituting anything.

Today, I’ll write about the art-trafficking division’s fight in court with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), a heavy hitter. The DA might lose. At stake is a drawing by Egon Schiele, but the lawsuit implicates the return of other Schiele works that together are valued at millions.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Last week, I raised questions lots of people are asking, most sub rosa, about the Manhattan DA’s art-trafficking division. It has confiscated and returned thousands of antiquities worth hundreds of millions of dollars, almost all from American museums, dealers, and private collectors. In the last couple of weeks alone, a boatload of ancient bronzes was sent back to Turkey. Why, and what’s the legal rationale? It’s not a pretty picture. Turkey, by the way, is among the world’s laggards in restituting anything.

Today, I’ll write about the art-trafficking division’s fight in court with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), a heavy hitter. The DA might lose. At stake is a drawing by Egon Schiele, but the lawsuit implicates the return of other Schiele works that together are valued at millions.