Pataki Okays Art Seizures - Governor George Pataki signs law permitting seizure of art publicly displayed if ownership of that art is in question - Brief Article

Art in America, July, 2000 by Raphael Rubinstein

A new piece of legislation has been signed by New York Governor George E. Pataki permitting the seizure of publicly displayed works of art whose ownership is in dispute. The move came despite warnings from the museum community that it will discourage private collectors from making exhibition loans.

For decades, New York law has protected art in public venues from seizure, but recent cases involving suspected Nazi loot on view in New York museums have changed the thinking of many in government. Impetus to change the law came largely from a case involving two works by Egon Schiele that have been the subject of legal battles between district attorney Robert Morgenthau, the Museum of Modern Art and the Austrian museum that loaned the paintings for a show at MOMA [see "Artworld," Nov. '99]. Under the new law, which applies only to criminal and not to civil claims, art works in any museum, school or not-for-profit gallery can be impounded by state authorities if they are suspected of being stolen property. "This law," the governor said at the May 25 enactment in Albany, "sends a clear message that New York State will not be a safe haven for art work stolen by the Nazis or other criminals."