Studio KO/Courtesy Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation.
Good Morning!
- The heirs of a prominent German Jewish banker and art collector have urged a federal court to revive their lawsuit seeking the return of a Van Gogh painting.
- Japan’s Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art will sell several high-end works through Christie’s during the fall auctions.
- Is Uzbekistan on the brink of becoming a major art world player?
The Headlines
HEAR, HEAR! The heirs of German Jewish banker and art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy urged the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on Thursday to revive their lawsuit seeking the return of a Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers painting they claim was sold under Nazi duress, Courthouse News reports. They sued Sompo Holdings, a Japanese insurance company whose predecessor purchased the work at a 1987 Christie’s auction, alleging that Mendelssohn-Bartholdy surrendered it to escape Nazi persecution. Filed under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016, the suit aims to recover both the painting and profits Sompo gained when it was shown at a 2001 Art Institute of Chicago exhibition. A lower court dismissed the case in 2024, citing lack of jurisdiction. The heirs appealed, arguing that Sompo’s Chicago office and the work’s display there establish sufficient legal ties to Illinois. Attorney Thomas Hamilton, representing the heirs, described the sale as a “devil’s bargain” forced by Nazi oppression. He contended that the HEAR Act and the Terezin Declaration—a 2009 international agreement—reflect US foreign policy priorities to return Nazi-looted art, even if the declaration is nonbinding.
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DIC MUSEUM’S HAND FORCED. As Karen K. Ho reports for ARTnews, Christie’s will sell works from the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art’s collection during its fall marquee auctions. They include pieces by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, and Henry Moore. The house called the consignment a “rare opportunity for the most distinguished collectors” to acquire works from “one of Japan’s foremost collections of Western art.” Monet’s Nymphéas (1907), which has a low estimate of $40 million, is one of the headliners. Last summer, the severely indebted chemical company DIC Corporation, which owns the museum, announced that it was reevaluating the institution’s future. At the end of the year, DIC Corp said its board of directors had decided to “downsize and relocate” the museum—along with seven of Mark Rothko’s Seagram Murals—to the International House of Japan (IHJ), a private members’ club in Tokyo. Hong Kong–based Oasis Management, an activist fund with a reputation for aggressively demanding changes at Japanese companies, is a major shareholder in DIC Corp and criticized the move. Oasis said IHJ has “close ties” to DIC Corp chairman Yoshihisa Kawamura and called the relocation “highly inappropriate.”
The Digest
On Wednesday, a man was killed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., while unloading a 1979 BMW Art Car custom-painted by Andy Warhol. The vehicle reportedly slipped when a winch securing it to a flatbed truck came loose, pinning the man under the car. [The Art Newspaper]
CULTURED just released its 2025 Young Photographer’s List. [CULTURED]
Anna Higgins has won the William & Winifred Bowness photography prize, now in its 20th year and Australia’s top photography award. She also won $30,000 in the process. Here’s a look at this year’s entrees. [Guardian]
A newly discovered painting of Dara Maar by Pablo PIcasso, Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat (Dora Maar), is on view at the auction house Lucien Paris, where it will hit the block on October 24. [Guardian]
Sotheby’s announced Friday that it will sell a collection of Surrealist “masterpieces” in November, led by Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama), which carries an estimate of $40 million to $60 million. [Associated Press]
The Kicker
SLEEPING GIANT? Is Uzbekistan on the brink of becoming a major arts hub? Artnet Newsthinks so. The landlocked Central Asian nation, historically on the fringes of the global art world, is rapidly emerging as a new cultural destination. Despite its relative geographic isolation—though it boasts direct flights from New York to its capital, Tashkent —the country has recently captured international attention through a wave of ambitious, state-supported arts initiatives. Spearheaded by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) under Gayane Umerova, the country is making significant investments in cultural infrastructure. These include the launch of the Bukhara Biennial, new artist residencies, and the upcoming Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Tashkent. Housed in a historic former diesel station designed by Wilhelm Heinzelmann, the CCA is being reimagined by Studio KO to blend traditional Uzbek elements with contemporary design. Set to open in March 2026, its first exhibition, “Hikmah” (“wisdom” in Uzbek), will explore knowledge and culture across disciplines.
