The Art Law Podcast

Katie and Steve continue discussing the Barnes Foundation with attorney Ralph Wellington, who represented the Barnes Foundation during its successful but extremely controversial multi-year effort to amend its founding documents and create a new arts education center in Philadelphia. They discuss the origins of the Foundation, its governing documents, financial struggles, and evolution over the many decades since Albert Barnes' death in 1951, as well as the legal doctrines at play in "breaking" the terms Barnes created for the Foundation.
 
Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2026/02/17/barnes-part-ii-the-legal-battles/
 
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Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.

Steve and Katie speak with critic and author Blake Gopnik about his new book The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream. They discuss Barnes's rise out of poverty to the heights of modern art collecting and his progressive societal priorities, namely the foundation he started to educate common people through a formalist approach to modern art. This foundation, like Barnes himself, became mired in controversy and a victim of Barnes's desire to have complete control after his death. Part II will be released next month and will focus on the legal battles involving the Foundation after Barnes's death, culminating in the Foundation's transformation to a public museum in a new building in downtown Philadelphia.
 
Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2026/01/05/albert-barnes-part-i-the-controversial-man-and-his-foundation/
 
Follow the Art Law Podcast
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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast
Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.

Steve and Katie talk with fellow art lawyer Maggie Hoag about her journey from art to law and then to art law, including her transition from private practice to a long career as a top lawyer at Christie's in New York. They discuss the nature of legal work at a major auction house and how the practice and industry has changed over time.
 
Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2025/11/12/art-law-at-christies-with-maggie-hoag/
 
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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast
Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.

Steve and Katie speak with art market regulatory and compliance expert Jane Levine about the state of anti-money laundering regulations in the art world and the efficacy and limitations of new legislation proposed in the United States.
 
Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2025/10/14/the-art-market-integrity-act-are-aml-regulations-finally-coming-to-the-us-art-market/
 
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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast
Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.

Katie and Steve speak with Swiss art lawyer Florian Schmidt-Gabain about Switzerland's (very) recent establishment of an "Independent Committee for Cultural Property with a Burdened Past" that will hear ownership disputes about Nazi-looted art as well cultural property acquired during the colonial era. They discuss why it has taken the Swiss so long to establish a process like this, the unique role of Switzerland during WWII, the challenges of the mostly voluntary and non-binding process, and the many questions that remain open as implementation unfolds.
 
Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2025/09/04/switzerland-starts-to-address-cultural-property-with-a-burdened-past/
 
Follow the Art Law Podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast
Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.