Looted Heritage: An Examination of the HEAR Act as a Model to Address the Repatriation of African Art

Authors

Marguerite D. Fisher-Heath, Loyola University Chicago Law School

Abstract

Restitution claims for looted artwork are often limited to Western Art. Legislative acts supporting the return of artwork or items of cultural heritage place particular emphasis on the return of Nazi-looted artwork to European families. In 2016, the United States passed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act ("HEAR Act") which created a uniform, federal six-year statute of limitations on civil restitution claims in the United States for the victims of Nazi-era persecution and their heirs to make a legal demand for the return of artwork or other cultural property. In this article, I argue that the HEAR Act is a promising model for international civil restitution claims and that the Act serves as a guide for the international artwork and heritage communities to engage with the cultural looting of the African continent as a result of colonization. I follow two pieces of artwork that are both involved in heritage disputes: one from Europe (Rue Saint-Honore, apres-midi, effet de pluie, Pissarro) and one from Africa (Rosetta Stone). In this Comment, I discuss the history of each object and the disputes that arose from attempts to get them back to their rightful owner. Through this discussion, I argue that the cultural theft that took place over centuries due to the colonization of the African continent merits the same consideration as stolen European works.

First Page

87

Recommended Citation

Marguerite D. Fisher-Heath Looted Heritage: An Examination of the HEAR Act as a Model to Address the Repatriation of African Art, 20 Loy. U. Chi. Int'l L. Rev. 87 (2023).
Available at: https://lawecommons.luc.edu/lucilr/vol20/iss1/4