Get the latest gossip
The Spoils director says film forces art world to confront ‘loaded issue’ of restitution
Documentary shows the fight to recover paintings that Jewish art dealer was forced to sell by the Nazis
From the Benin bronzes to the Parthenon marbles, debates over the restitution of cultural artefacts are now a fact of life in an international art world forced to reckon with the often controversial history of its treasures. But while many of the rows over restitution pertain to centuries-old pieces, the recovery of which is complicated by the sweeping periods of time that have passed since their removal, a new documentary shows how the fight to recover more modern artwork can be just as problematic. Kastner, whose previous documentaries include There Are No Fakes – credited by police with inspiring the investigation that cracked the world’s largest art fraud – said the lesson from his film was that “nothing ever happens or is achieved easily”.
Or read this on The Guardian