Art Law Blog

Money Laundering and Art

Daniel Schnapp — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:02:04 -0500

In an industry that lacks much in the way of regulation and heavily relies upon privacy, it is no surprise that the sale and transfer of fine art is one of the world's most popular methods of money laundering. This article takes an in depth look at the world of art and money laundering and is worth a read.

One important question is whether an innocent purchaser or seller of laundered art has any right to receive back the work or the funds used in the sale of the work. Certainly a major concern would be if the art is forfeited by the government. The artwork is then potentially subject to the criminal proceedings against the accused money launderer and a long delay in recovering either the work or the funds may be inevitable.

Legal counsel is critical in this situation in order to properly assert rights in the allegedly laundered funds or artwork as the process is detailed and complex.

Chris Brown's Controversial Art - City Street Art Meets Suburbia

Marie C. Dooley — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:41:56 -0500

Pop star, Chris Brown, famous for his recent run-ins with the law and public break up with Rihanna, is now famous for scaring his neighbors with colorful street art goblins painted on a retaining wall at his Hollywood Hills home. According to recent reports, Brown has been the target of angry neighbors who claim that the monster-like figures are not only scaring children but devaluing the aesthetic beauty of the area. The city of Los Angeles responded to the neighbors' complaints by citing Brown for unpermitted art, which includes a fine of $376. The citation allows Brown thirty (30) days to remove the art. Brown’s attorney has commented that this is a first amendment issue and that Brown is prepared to fight.

FOLK ART MUSEUM COLLECTION TO BE SOLD AT AUCTION

Marie C. Dooley — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:23:17 -0500

Ralph Esmerian, jeweler, art collector and former chairman of the now defunct Folk Art Museum in New York City, is currently serving a six-year prison term for wire fraud and other charges. As part of his fraudulent scheme, Esmerian, promised to donate 263 works of art to the Folk Art Museum in 2005. At the same time, Esmerian used the same works of art as collateral to secure multimillion-dollar loans from Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York recently approved the sale of all but 53 of the works at forthcoming Sotheby’s auctions. Under an approved settlement agreement, the Folk Art Museum was permitted to keep 53 of the most valuable works and the balance was to be sold at auction. Proceeds of the auction will be used to pay unsecured creditor claims in the bankruptcy. Sotheby’s and Christie’s each have a claim against the Esmerian estate. Christie’s filed an objection against the Sotheby’s sales in the bankruptcy proceeding, which alleged that Sotheby’s intimidated the trustee into granting it authority to auction Esmerian’s collection.

In other related news, the vacant Folk Art Museums’ building, which is located next to New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is slated for demolition. According to reports, MoMA is set to take over the space and has indicated that the destruction was necessary because the current structure does not demonstrate acceptable esthetics. The decision to raze the building has brought much criticism.

SKATE'S ART MARKET RESEARCH LAUNCHES SKATE'S FOCUS WITH INSIDE VIEW OF POLAND'S ART MARKET FOR INAUGURAL ISSUE

Lisa Karczewski — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:25:16 -0500

As a supplement to its highly acclaimed publications devoted to the state of the global art market, Skate’s Art Market Research recently launched its latest publication entitled Skate’s Focus. In its selection of the country of Poland, regarded as a “young but innovative and quickly growing art market in central Europe,” for the pilot issue Skate’s partners with local art market specialists to present an accurate and timely view of the country’s art market from the inside. In this manner, Skate’s Focus uniquely provides a dual perspective of the selected country, namely, the “global market presence of native artists” and the “performance of the country’s domestic art market.” The leading Polish magazine devoted to art, Art&Business Magazine, teams up with Skate’s for the current report in the inaugural issue of Skate’s Focus.

The current report of Skate’s Focus is organized into two parts. In the first part, Skate’s provides an overview of the Polish art market from a global perspective and devotes this part to several native artists, including Tamara de Lempicka, Roman Opalka, Henryk Siemiradzki, Piotr Uklanski, and Max Weber. In the second part, Skate’s highlights Poland’s local market along with a detailed overview of the country’s auction trading. This second part includes a wealth of information, such as annual turnover figures since 1990 to present, background of the leading local auction houses, geographical distribution of auction trading, investment performance of the country’s art, key artists on the market, and the price structure of the country’s art pursuant to various criteria.

Skate’s Focus concludes that one of the “most striking features” of Poland’s art market is the significant separation between those artists who represent the country on a global scale and those local artists who are active nearly exclusively at Polish auctions. It is very rare for artists who have achieved international acclaim and monetary appreciation to have their respective works auctioned in their home country, rather such works are traded at the big international auction houses, namely, Christie’s and Sotheby’s. For the locally established artists who have not yet surpassed the domestic market and the young contemporary artists who are at the start of their careers, the Polish auction market is the typical venue where such artists’ works are actively traded.

One Woman's Trash Is Another Woman's Treasure

Marie C. Dooley — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:50:49 -0500

A West Virginia woman who purchased an authenticate miniature painting by renowned French impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, for $7 at a flea market along with other trinkets, is fighting in a Virginia federal court to keep ownership of the small work known as “Paysage bords de Seine” (On the Shore of the Seine). According to reports, prior to authenticating the painting, the woman stored the diminutive painting in a plastic trash bag for over two years. However, after the work was offered for auction last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stopped the sale and confiscated the work on the grounds that it had been stolen from a Baltimore museum in 1951. The woman argues that she is an innocent buyer who should retain the painting. The federal government filed an action to determine ownership of the work last month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. Each party has been instructed by the court to submit written pleadings setting forth the legal basis for the ownership interest in the Renoir.

The Philadelphia Antique Show Scheduled For April 12th - 15th To Include Mid-Twentieth Century Art And Objects

Marie C. Dooley — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:31:51 -0500

The Philadelphia Antique Show will be held April 12^th-15^that the Philadelphia Convention Center in Center City, Philadelphia. Like last year’s event, this year the Philadelphia Antique Show, which has been celebrated for fifty-two (52) years, will include works of art through the mid-twentieth century. Katharine Eyre, the event’s chair, noted that “the combination of modern art and objects alongside exemplary antiques of the American home will attract an audience of serious art collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts, as well as invite returning patrons to experience this must-attend event.” To be accurate – I guess the Philadelphia Antique Show should consider changing its name because for an object to be an “antique” it must be at least one hundred years old. I have to chuckle because on a trip down South a few years back, my husband and I were traveling on a quiet road in Virginia dappled with artisans and antique shops when we saw a sign that read “Antiques Made Daily” – it still makes me laugh.

As part of this April event, the Pewter Collectors’ Club of America (PCCA) will present Pewter: The Philadelphia Story as the 2013 loan exhibit for the event. In conjunction with the PCCA display, on Saturday, April 13th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Richard B. Benson, the current President of the PCCA, will present an illustrated lecture on the Business and Craftsmanship of colonial era Philadelphia pewterers. Additionally, on Sunday, April 14th from 1:00-2:00 p.m. acclaimed architect, Gil Schafer, will give a talk - The Great American House: Tradition for the Way We Live Now - in which he will describe how blending classical architecture, interior decoration, and landscape can create homes with a feeling of history. Further, on Monday, April 15th from 2:00-3:00 p.m. a panel of experts will explore developments in furniture and furnishings from the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. The panelists include - David Raizman (moderator), History of Modern Design, Drexel University Westphal School of Design; Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Professor of History and Chair in the History of Business and Society at the University of Leeds and author of The Color Revolution; Alexandra Kirtley, the Montgomery-Galvin Assoc. Curator of American Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Thomas Savage, Director of Museum Affairs, Winterthur. In addition to the preview party festivities, which will be held Friday night, April 12th, the event will include a wine and cheese event for new collectors on Saturday evening, April 13th. Proceeds of the Philadelphia Antique Show will benefit the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Center for Resuscitation Science (CRS) at Penn Medicine.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART UNDER FIRE AGAIN FOR ADMISSION FEES

Marie C. Dooley — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:06:41 -0500

In a recent lawsuit, several museum goers, which include foreign tourists, have challenged the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “recommended” admission fee of $25 stating that the admission policy is deceptive and that most visitors do not understand that there is a “pay-as-you-wish (but-you-must-pay-something)” policy for admission to the museum. The Met, which is located at 82ndStreet and Fifth Avenue in heart of New York City, has enjoyed its prime rent free location at the edge of Central Park since its inception. In exchange for certain subsidies, including payment by the City of New York for maintenance, utilities and security, there is a 1893 New York statute that mandates that the public be admitted free of charge at least five days and two evenings per week. However, proponents of the “pay-as-you-wish” policy state the City of New York agreed to the revised admission policy, which required a donation if even a penny, in the 1970s. The Met’s admission policy has been challenged before. It will interesting to see where this lawsuit leads.

LA"s Museum of Contemporary Art To "Go It Alone"

Daniel Schnapp — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:38:17 -0500

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is in a slump. It has reportedly faced an exodus of board members and challenges raising money.

Now, according to this article in the New York Times, after exploring the potential for a merger to help with its finances, the the Museum appears to have decided to try to go it alone, releasing a statement on Tuesday announcing its intention to stay independent.

Apparently this included a decision to reject a merger offer extended by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Hopefully the museum will find better sailing in the days ahead, particularly as it is the only, or one of the only, major museums in the LA area dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary art.

IS THE ISABELLA GARDNER MUSEUM MYSTERY FINALLY SOLVED?

Marie C. Dooley — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:54:21 -0500

Federal law enforcement officials released information today indicating that the thieves linked to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist may have been identified (curiously, however, the thieves identities have not been disclosed). In 1990 thirteen masterworks of art, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet, and Renoir valued at approximately $500 million, were stolen from the Boston museum. Vacant frames which remain on the museum walls remind visitors to the museum of the infamous heist. Unfortunately, although the thieves may have been identified, the artwork is still at large and law enforcement is asking for the public to provide any information to help with the recovery.

MASTERPIECES OF ANCIENT ART EXHIBITION SET TO OPEN IN APRIL AT THE GETTY VILLA

Lisa Karczewski — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:04:44 -0500

An exquisite new exhibition entitled "Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome" is scheduled to open at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California on April 3, 2013 and will run through August 13, 2013.

This latest much anticipated exhibition at the Getty Villa will present a number of masterpieces of ancient art from the Mediterranean region.

For an interesting historical background of this upcoming exhibition, the J. Paul Getty Museum website offers as follows: "On the island dear to Demeter and blessed with agricultural abundance, former Greek colonies emerged as powerful kingdoms during the fifth to third centuries B.C. Innovations in art, architecture, theater, poetry, philosophy, and science flourished, leaving an enduring stamp on mainland Greece and later on Rome. Over 150 objects bear witness to the athletic and military victories, religious rituals, opulent lifestyles, and intellectual attainments that shaped Classical culture at its peak."

DON'T MISS PHILADELPHIA'S PREMIERE SOCIAL EVENT AND SUPPORT THE ARTS!

Marie C. Dooley — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0500

On March 2, 2013, the Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will hold their annual Winter Gala celebrating the exhibition “Great and Mighty Things”: Outsider Art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection. The event attracts over six hundred (600) young professionals and art enthusiasts of all ages. Tickets are available on the Museum’s website. All are welcome to this event. Click here for more information regarding tickets.

Fox Rothschild LLP is a donor/sponsor of this much-anticipated annual event. The black-tie reception, entitled “A Great and Mighty Benefit,” will take place in the Museum’s Great Stair Hall. Guests will have the opportunity to stroll and mingle in the exhibition galleries where one of the country’s finest private collections of outsider art will be on view. The evening will begin with an exclusive VIP pre-gala reception and tour of the exhibition given by Museum trustee and collector Sheldon Bonovitz. VIP guests will also receive a gift bag and access to the Museum’s East Balcony, which will host a lounge, extended bar, and the best view of the city. The gala itself, which begins at 8:00 p.m., features dancing, live music, and a raffle and silent auction. Guests can win orchestra tickets, private dance lessons, a rafting adventure, and much more. Visitors will also have the opportunity to see themselves on the walls of the Museum, as images from a photo booth will project on a large screen in the Great Stair Hall.

The Outsider Art collection of Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz is an interesting collection of self- taught American artists from 1930-1980. Highlights of the collection include works by William Edmondson (1874-1951). Edmondson was a retired janitor from Nashville, Tennessee, who took up carving tombstones and outdoor stone ornaments in his mid to late fifties. As he honed his craft, Edmondson’s created a sculpture garden in his backyard of hand carved limestone sculptures of birds, animals and figures. Six of Edmondson’s work will be on display with the collection. Click here for more information regarding the collection.

ART STUDENTS AT THE RENOWNED PRATT INSTITUTE SUFFER HEART BREAKING ART LOSS AFTER FIRE DESTROYS STUDIO

Marie C. Dooley — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:00:00 -0500

On Friday February 15, 2013 a devastating fire ravaged Pratt Institute’s historic landmark six-story main building in Brooklyn, New York. Designed by Lamb & Rich Architects, the Romanesque Revival fortress dating back to 1887 was designated a New York City landmark and has been on the national register of historic places along with thirty-five (35) other buildings that make up the Pratt Institute district since 2005. The Pratt Institute is a prestigious undergraduate art and design school founded by American businessman Charles Pratt. The school started as a center for vocational training for tradesmen and blossomed into renowned art and design school we know today. The Friday fire destroyed hundreds of works of art stored in the studio as well as expensive art supplies and materials. One student set to interview with Yale University’s graduate art program lost her entire portfolio of paintings and prints to the fire. Being an attorney, I ask - does insurance compensate loss of student’s art work in a situation like this? How does one quantify such a loss? Click here for more details about the incident.

GLOBAL HIGH-END ART MARKET TRUMPS EUROPE'S STILL UNCERTAIN ECONOMY

Lisa Karczewski — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:42:00 -0500

This latest post is a follow up to my colleague Daniel Schnapp's recent post from earlier this week on last week's London art auctions.

Last week London art auctions brought in about $440 million with international bidders not shy about snapping up various high-profile works in the high-end art market, as recently reported in this article. Two of the biggest auction houses, namely, Christie's and Sotheby's, had "exceptionally strong sales" in which a number of pre-sale estimates were shattered with respect to sales of impressionist, modern, and surrealist art.

Despite Europe's economic storm, all the money out there in the art market is "very global" and the art market appears to "confound all other financial indicators," observes Judd Tully, editor-at-large of Art and Auction magazine.

One of the biggest sales at Christie's last week was an Amedeo Modigliani 1919 portrait of his lover Jeanne Hebuterne that sold above its top estimate to an anonymous telephone bidder for $42.1 million. Christie's impressionist and modern auctions garnered a total of $214 million.

At Sotheby's the day before, a 1932 work by Pablo Picasso entitled "Woman Sitting Near a Window" (a portrait of Picasso's muse, Marie-Therese Walter) was snatched up for $45 million. Sotheby's impressionist and modern auctions brought in slightly more than Christie's at $228 million.

Although other works by artists Egon Schiele and Claude Monet likewise commanded high prices at the recent London auctions, there were some high-profile lots that fell short of meeting their respective reserve prices.

Amidst the talk of the impressionist and modern art market fading away due to lack of material, Tully further observes that when really good works appear there seems to be "a lot of appetite" for such art.

London Auction Results Indicate Art Market Remains Strong

Daniel Schnapp — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:11:37 -0500

A recent contemporary art auction at Sotheby's in London brought in more than £74 million, which, according to the Huffington Post, is the auction house's second-highest total for a February sale of contemporary art in London.

The sale of the auction included works by Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Francis Bacon. According to the article, buyers from 14 countries participated in the auction, which also saw 14 works sell for over £1 million.

The highest amount for the evening's sale was Francis Bacon's oil on canvas triptych 'Three Studies For A Self-Portrait', which sold for £13,761,250, approximately dead center in the estimate of £10-15 million.

ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION RULES BOLSTERED FOR ACQUISITION OF ANCIENT ART FOR NORTH AMERICAN ART MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Lisa Karczewski — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:51:38 -0500

In recent years, the Association of Art Museum Directors ("AAMD") announced the implementation of its landmark 2008 guidelines with respect to the addition of ancient art to North American art museum collections. The impetus for the AAMD guidelines arose from numerous complaints from Greece, Italy, and other ancient regions, in which museums had for quite some time turned a "blind eye" to evidence that certain pieces in their collections had been in fact looted from various archeological sites.

This article discusses the recent additions to the AAMD's 2008 guidelines, including the requirement of "a public explanation on the AAMD's website if a museum decides to acquire a piece despite gaps in its ownership record go back to the fall of 1970." The date November 17, 1970 is of particular significance in the legitimate antiquities market as it has become a "standard dividing line", the date when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization adopted a convention focused on stopping looted art and artifacts in the global trade.

Regarding the AAMD 2008 guidelines, an Object Registry was set up on the AAMD website in which member institutions are expected to post information and photographs of any newly acquired antiquities for which the ownership record since 1970 is not clear or otherwise complete. The objective of the Object Registry is to enable nations of origin or other parties with potential claims and/or information to obtain knowledge of a particular work's present location and come forward to present new evidence.

Further, under the guidelines, if a museum "establishes another party's right to ownership," through new evidence it comes across, the museum is expected to volunteer such evidence, and to repatriate the work at issue "if the case warrants."

Among the hardest hit by the AAMD's effort to repatriate looted antiquities has been the Getty Museum of Los Angeles in which the museum returned nearly 50 pieces to Italy and Greece since 2007. The Getty exhibits its ancient art collection at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. This past summer, the Getty initiated an "internal effort to determine the ownership history of everything in its 45,000-piece antiquities collection and publish the results."

It should be noted that the AAMD codes and guidelines have no legal effect, but the association can effectively exclude member museums in violation of them.

FATE OF OSLO'S TREASURED PICASSO MURALS UP IN THE AIR

Lisa Karczewski — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:35:24 -0500

As recently reported by The Art World Daily, two buildings of Oslo's government headquarters damaged during the July 2011 terrorist attacks are now at the center of debate as to their cultural significance. In particular, in its decision of whether or not to demolish the affected buildings, the city will need to consider several concrete murals by the famed late artist Pablo Picasso that are integrated into the structure of the government buildings.

The Picasso art work consists of five murals designed during the period of the late 1950s and the early 1970s using the breccia technique. Such technique was once a popular mid-century method that relies on natural concrete. Picasso formed a collaboration with Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar to execute the designs as he was not familiar with the technique.

One of the Oslo murals entitled The Fisherman (1970) is set on the facade of the Y-block building and was not damaged during the explosion. However, the other Picasso murals integrated into the H-block building were heavily damaged. As neither building was officially listed, there is a possibility of complete demolition such that the buildings could be entirely reconstructed from ground up.

The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has openly expressed concern that the Picasso murals will be destroyed should the buildings be demolished and reintegrating them into new building structures is not a viable option. According to the Directorate's head, "[i]f the buildings were demolished and the murals integrated into new ones or brought to another site, they would no longer be the works Picasso intended." An independent report conducted by the Directorate concluded that the buildings are sound enough to renovate and may still be used despite the bombings.

A number of architects have been approached by Oslo's government to create solutions for the government buildings, which include retaining the original building structure. The solutions are expected to be presented this summer.

The Picasso works of art in concrete may be viewed here.

ART WORLD'S RECORD-BREAKING YEAR OF 2012 AS TOP 10 EARNERS AT AUCTION SURPASSED A HALF BILLION IN SALES

Lisa Karczewski — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:46:43 -0500

According to a recent post in The Art World Daily, 2012 represented a "record-breaking year" for the art world, which is not surprising considering last May's nearly $120 million sale of Edvard Munch's The Scream. Art proved to be a favored alternative with investors to the volatile global stock market in 2012 as the top ten highest earners at auction garnered nearly $600 million in sales (i.e., $594.6 million), which is reportedly a 44% increase from 2011.

Contemporary art made a strong presence in 2012's Top 10 earners at auction. "Postwar [art] has become a new blue-chip where modern art was the blue-chip 10 years ago[,]" advised Artvest Principal, Michael Plummer. Art auction houses in London and New York generated evening sales of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art up to nearly $4 billion, over half of which ($2.3 billion) represented sales in the Post-War and Contemporary Art category.

2012's Top 10 highest earners at auction may be viewed here.

SKATE'S TO PUBLISH ITS ANNUAL ART INVESTMENT REPORT FOR 2012 IN THREE PARTS

Lisa Karczewski — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:47:24 -0500

Skate's Art Market Research recently announced that it would publish its Annual Art Investment Report for 2012 in three parts. In the first part published earlier this month, Skate's examines its Top 5000 ranking of the art world's most valuable works of art as determined by public auction price. Specifically, Skate's addresses the various changes that occurred in this premium segment of the art market by comparing market performance with 2011 as to artist rankings, sales volume and value, investment performance, and general changes in the ranking structure.

The second part (to be published shortly) will focus on the global art industry, particularly many of the challenges currently affecting art industry companies. In this regard, Skate's will devote analysis to "companies in the art industry (e.g., auction houses, dealerships, e-commerce platforms, and media businesses), art investment funds, art financial services, and publicly traded art industry companies (i.e., the companies comprising Skate's Art Stocks Index)."

Finally, the third part (to be published later in January) is expected to cover Skate's predictions for 2013, which include those in connection with the premium segment of the art industry market (i.e., Skate's Top 5000) and the global art industry.

STOLEN MATISSE FROM STOCKHOLM MUSEUM 25 YEARS AGO RECOVERED

Lisa Karczewski — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:05:43 -0500

Earlier this week, British art recovery specialist Christopher Marinello of the Art Loss Register ("ALR") in London successfully recovered a painting by French artist Henri Matisse stolen from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm back in May 1987, as recently reported by MSN.com.

Matisse's "Le Jardin" painting is currently valued at just under $1 million (i.e., $916,200).

The 25-year old theft was reported to both Interpol and the ALR, which is the "world's largest international private database of stolen, missing and looted artwork[,]" according to MSN.com.

An art dealer in Britain checked with the ALR register before selling the Matisse, which led to the safe recovery of the painting said to be in "good condition" by the Moderna Museet's spokesperson, Kristin Ek. A painting by Georges Braque remains missing from the Moderna Museet following a subsequent theft in 1993.

Last fall, as highlighted in a past Art Law blog post, thieves made away with a number of paintings by prominent artists Picasso, Matisse, Monet, and others, from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, valued in the tens of millions of dollars.

Stolen art is becoming a very lucrative industry reports MSN.com, with approximately $6 billion to $7 billion worth of thefts each year, and the current global economic climate may be responsible in part for the recent surge in such crimes. According to Marinello, only about 5-10 percent of stolen art is ever successfully recovered.

TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART'S ACCLAIMED IMPRESSIONIST MANET EXHIBITION SET TO CLOSE IN JANUARY

Lisa Karczewski — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:01:41 -0500

As I head back to my hometown of Toledo, Ohio for the upcoming holidays to visit with family later this week, I look forward to taking in the Manet: Portraying Life exhibition set to close on January 1, 2013 at the world class Toledo Museum of Art, which happens to be the exclusive North American venue for the exhibition. According to the Toledo Museum of Art's website, the exhibition includes about 40 works of art from numerous museums and private collections spanning the globe from Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Portugal, and Spain, to the United States.

French artist Edouard Manet (1832-1883), often referred to as one of the Fathers of Impressionism, is considered a contemporary of the Impressionists and was the "most stylish of the 19th-century French painters and a major recorder of Parisian life at that time." Manet: Portraying Life represents the first up close examination of the artist's significant talents as a portraitist. Manet had the extraordinary ability to make his subjects appear to life on canvas as viewers often tend to become curious about these people and their lives when admiring a Manet painting. The French artist was known to paint his family and friends as well as the artistic, literary, and political figures of his day, favoring casual settings over traditional style portraits.

The exhibition will open at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in late January, the co-organizer of Manet: Portraying Life with the Toledo Museum of Art, after its run in the United States.

To access the Toledo Museum of Art's secondary curriculum materials relating to the Manet exhibition, please click here.