Strikes, Seizures, and the Art World Under Siege

A New York restitution case just got more expensive for billionaire dealer David Nahmad. According to ARTnews, weeks after Justice Joel M. Cohen ordered Nahmad to return an Amedeo Modigliani painting, Cohen has now ruled the work’s rightful heirs are also entitled to prejudgment interest under New York law. The painting is Seated Man with a Cane, and Cohen previously found it belonged to the estate of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner, who left it behind while fleeing Paris ahead of the Nazi occupation. An interim stay granted by the Appellate Division allows the Nahmads to keep custody for now as the appeal proceeds. The interest amount isn’t set yet: an evidentiary hearing in September will determine value, with heirs citing roughly twenty dollars million in 2014 and Nahmad’s side six dollars million.

Staying in Pennsylvania, ARTnews reports the FBI executed a search at Dane Fine Art in Ardmore on Wednesday. The bureau didn’t say what the search concerned, but a spokesperson told CBS Philadelphia it was a “court-authorized law enforcement activity.” Philadelphia magazine reporter Victor Fiorillo said he saw several agents going in and out of the two-story building, and one agent told him they were executing a search warrant. Afterward, a handwritten note on the gallery door listed a phone number; when Fiorillo called, an employee said the gallery was “closed” for the day but didn’t know why. Fiorillo also found incorporation documents listing a mailing address for a property once owned by Leslie Isen, wife of collector Nathan “Nicky” Isen, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to money laundering.

Across the Atlantic, workers at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new East London location have voted unanimously for strike action. The report says the V&A East Storehouse opened in May last year and offers an “order an object” service for viewing items from a collection of more than two hundred fifty thousand objects. But collection access officers facilitating that service say they’re denied sufficient time for bathroom and hydration breaks. Prospect, the union representing them, called the conditions “Amazon-style,” and said turnout was just below 88 percent with 100 percent backing strike action. Prospect is asking for two paid breaks a day—something other V&A staff already receive—and says a previous collective grievance failed to reach agreement. The V&A says staff have access to water, toilets, and regular breaks, and notes water fountains on every floor.

That Storehouse dispute is also part of a broader labor fight across the V&A in London. The same union, Prospect, says staff from across the museum voted on July 29 to strike over pay, working conditions, and the museum refusing to seek living wage accreditation. That vote had 83 percent support with 82 percent turnout. Prospect is calling for a minimum four-percent pay raise, increased pay for staff working on bank holidays, accreditation as a London Living Wage employer, and improved food provision at V&A East sites. Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy said V&A senior management has shown “a shocking lack of respect” for employees. The V&A says it has been negotiating since February, and that its current offer would result in a 3.6 percent overall pay increase and a 6.9 percent increase for the lowest-paid colleagues.

Also in Europe, The Art Newspaper reports artist, journalist, and activist Emma Shapiro has started legal action after Meta permanently terminated her Instagram account @nipeople on 8 December 2025, one day after she appealed its suspension. Shapiro, from the US and living in Spain, created the account in 2018 as part of her Exposure Therapy project, launched in 2017, which challenges censorship of female-presenting bodies—particularly the unequal treatment of female versus male nipples. Her lawyers at Avant-Garde Lawyers filed a complaint with Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, arguing Meta failed to meet obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The complaint says Meta didn’t provide a clear statement of reasons, denied an effective internal complaint process, and acted without diligence and proportionality in permanently terminating the account.

Staying with institutional vulnerability, ARTnews reports German authorities have revealed new details about the January cyberattack on the Dresden State Art Collections. Monopol reported that the Saxon Ministry of Justice confirmed the perpetrators remain unidentified, and investigators found the attack lasted several days—from January 17 to 21—until the breach was detected. The Dresden State Art Collections, a network of around 15 museums, said after discovery that “large parts” of its digital infrastructure were targeted, leaving limited phone and digital services, including online ticket sales and visitor services, though it remained open. Saxony’s culture ministry said security systems protecting the collections were intact. The case was referred to the Central Office for Cybercrime Saxony within the General Prosecutor’s Office in Dresden. Investigators are still working on motive and who masterminded the breach.

Now to Canada, where museum funding and a contested exhibition are colliding publicly. The Art Newspaper reports Gail Asper said her family will no longer fund the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg over concerns about the exhibition Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, which runs until 30 November 2028. In a CBC Radio interview aired in Winnipeg on Monday, 27 July, Asper said she felt the exhibition lacked context, citing omissions including the Palestinian rejection of a state offered in the UN’s 1947 partition plan and Jews displaced in Arab lands. She said she had no issue with including testimonies from Palestinian Canadian survivors of the Nakba, but objected to not mentioning the hostages Hamas took on 7 October 2023 and not stating that Hamas wants to eradicate Israel. She said she feels “betrayed” by the museum’s curators and leadership.

The museum says Asper’s paused support won’t change exhibits or current programming. The Art Newspaper reports the Asper Foundation donated over Ctwenty three dollarsm toward construction, and Asper personally gave another Cone dollarsm, while she has now indefinitely paused a Cfifty thousand dollars donation intended to expand Holocaust exhibit programming called “Dimensions in Testimony.” A CMHR spokesperson said that program requires special facilitation and staffing, that it will continue and be offered, and that the withdrawn funds “will not impact our exhibits or current programming.” The spokesperson also confirmed the museum hasn’t received Asper Foundation funding since 2023, and said that since Palestine Uprooted opened, the museum has received an influx of support from new donors. A union representing CMHR workers objected to the campaign against the exhibit, and a petition opposing perceived political interference has gathered more than twelve thousand signatures.

Back in Texas, Hyperallergic reports hundreds of archaeological sites—including six thousand-year-old cave paintings—are under threat as the Trump administration moves to expand a southern border barrier in the Big Bend region. Amanda Castañeda, archaeology director of the Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, said at least 425 Texas archaeological sites, including 84 cave murals, could be disrupted by a plan for a forty six dollars billion “smart wall” combining physical barriers and AI-powered surveillance infrastructure. On Monday, July 27, the federal government exempted the Texan portion of the border wall from environmental preservation laws, including the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The administration argues the area is a “high illegal entry” point, even as the region has been described as remote and seldom trafficked by migrants. Castañeda warned the route cuts through canyons, raising damage potential.

On the world heritage front, Hyperallergic reports UNESCO has urgently added the Mount Amel Castles in Lebanon and the archaeological ruins of Sebastia in the Occupied West Bank to its World Heritage Sites in Danger list, among six new locations inscribed this week. The agency recognized both as vulnerable immediately upon inscription at the World Heritage Committee’s 48th session in Busan, South Korea. Israel condemned the designations, accusing UNESCO of “cynical exploitation of cultural heritage for political purposes.” The report situates the move amid Israel’s targeted land seizures and ongoing military offensives, and emphasizes the “in danger” status attached to the newly inscribed sites. Beyond the symbolism, the action places international attention on places UNESCO considers at risk, while also escalating political tensions around cultural recognition and protection in contested and conflict-affected areas.

Shifting back to galleries, ARTnews takes a close look at a new Richard Estes survey at Schoelkopf Gallery in New York. “Richard Estes: My Camera Is My Sketchbook,” on view through August 21, features new paintings alongside works from the last four decades, focusing on scenes from New York and Maine—Estes’s two long-time bases. It also marks the first time his photographs, previously seen mainly as reference material, are being shown as artworks in their own right. The piece notes Photorealism was coined in 1969 by dealer Louis K. Meisel, and that Estes is among the originators alongside Audrey Flack, Chuck Close, and Charles Bell. Estes told ARTnews by email he found abstraction “aesthetically boring,” and said his paintings are constructed images rather than exact replication.

Finally, the art world is marking the loss of Simone Forti. ARTnews reports the Italian-American artist, whose experiments helped break new ground for postmodern dance, died earlier this month in Los Angeles at 91; her gallery, Raffaella Cortese, confirmed the news on social media on Wednesday night. Forti battled Parkinson’s disease in her later years. The report traces her “Dance Constructions,” initiated in 1960, where participants received simple props and instructions, with performances shaped by chance rather than traditional choreography—like See Saw (1960). Born in Florence in 1935, she emigrated with her family amid rising fascism. She worked alongside figures including Robert Morris, Yvonne Rainer, and Steve Paxton, and her influence reached Judson Dance Theater. Late honors included MoMA collecting her “Dance Constructions” in 2015 and a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement in dance at the Venice Biennale in 2023.

That’s the download for today. Links to every story are in the show notes—come back tomorrow for more art world news, neatly untangled.

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