Following the Penitent Madeleine restitution conference held on February 1st, 2024, the Fondation des Etats-Unis, with the City of Antibes, invites you to a unique hors-les-murs event offering a transdisciplinary perspective on a topical global issue: the restitution and repatriation of artworks and cultural artifacts looted during World War II and the European colonization of Africa. The event will take place on June 29th at Villa Eilenroc.
Concert
Musicians from the FEU have planned a special concert on the theme of “Restitution: A Work of Justice and Humanity.”
Expert Panel
Experts will share their knowledge and perspectives on various aspects of restitution and repatriation, addressing historical, legal, and ethical issues. Topics discussed will include recent cases of legal justice, ongoing international questions, and the role of performance art as political activism.
Partnership
With the City of Antibes, the Fondation des Etats-Unis is holding this event at the Villa Eilenroc. A peaceful and culturally relevant setting overlooking the Antibes coastline, the Villa regularly welcomes art exhibitions and performances, making it a felicitous location for cultural and diplomatic subjects.
Practical Information
Date Saturday, June 29 | Time 5pm | Facebook Event
About the Expert Panel
David Zivie is a senior civil servant at the French Ministry of Culture. He holds a master’s degree in Contemporary History from Sciences Po and is an alumnus of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He was Deputy Director General of the Mission du centenaire de la Première Guerre mondiale (“World War I Centenary Mission”) from 2012 to 2015 and the advisor in charge of Heritage and Architecture at the office of cultural ministers Fleur Pellerin and Audrey Azoulay (2015-17). Author of the 2018 report, “’Des traces subsistent dans des registres…’ Looted Cultural Property during the Second World War: An Ambition to Research, Recover, Restitute, and Explain,” he has headed the Ministry of Culture’s Mission to Search for and Restore Cultural Property Stolen Between 1933 and 1945 since May 2019. The Mission is responsible for coordinating and leading the public policy of reparation for the spoliation of cultural property between 1933 and 1945, and for examining individual files for the restitution of looted works, in particular those works still held by public institutions, and files for the compensation of missing looted works.
Raymond Dowd is a partner in the law firm of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP in New York City. He litigated landmark decisions from Surrogate’s Court to the New York Court of Appeals, including the Estate of Doris Duke and recovering an ancient Assyrian tablet for Berlin’s Pergamon Museum. An adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, Mr. Dowd serves on the Board of Governors of the National Arts Club, co-founded the annual Art Litigation and Dispute Resolution Institute at New York County Lawyers’ Association and served as the Federal Bar Association’s General Counsel. He authored Copyright Litigation Handbook (now in its 16th edition). In recent years, Dowd has achieved high profile recoveries of Egon Schiele artworks on behalf of the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a famous Jewish cabaret performer who was murdered by the Nazis in the Dachau Concentration Camp. Dowd recently represented the heirs of Heinrich Rieger, Egon Schiele’s dentist, in a trial over a Portrait of the Artist’s Wife. Dowd is a frequent lecturer, including as Visiting Professor at the Paris I Sorbonne Law School in 2024.
Julie Peghini is an anthropologist and filmmaker. She is a lecturer at the University of Paris 8, a member of CEMTI, and director of the Fondation Lucien Paye at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. Her academic work centers around the relationship between the arts and politics in Africa and the Indian Ocean. Her works include the 2016 book, Ile rêvée, île réelle : le multiculturalisme à l’île Maurice (“Dream Island, Real Island: Multiculturalism in Mauritius”), and the 2019 film, her first feature-length documentary, Insurrection du verbe aimer (“The Insurrection of the Verb ‘Love’”), about the poetry and contemporary legacy of Sony Labou Tansi. Peghini studies performance art in Africa, and is particularly interested in the center role performance and artistic creation play in debates surrounding restitution and returns, questioning the violence of colonial spoliations and the futures of those acts of restitution.
Musical Program
Part I
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude and Fugue in B Flat Major, Prelude and Fugue in b flat minor
Ian Tomaz, piano
Part II
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Meditation
Aron Frank, violin, Ian Tomaz, piano
John Williams (1932-)
Theme from Schindler’s List
Aron Frank, violin, Ian Tomaz, piano
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Après un Rêve
Aron Frank, violin, Ian Tomaz, piano
Part III
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Ondine
Ian Tomaz, piano
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ondine
Ian Tomaz, piano
Part IV
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
Saudades do Brasil
Ian Tomaz, piano
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin
Aron Frank, violin, Ian Tomaz, piano
Feu d’Artifice
Ian Tomaz, piano
About the Musicians
Aron Frank is an award-winning composer, conductor, and violinist of American-Colombian descent. A recent laureate of the Cite internationale des arts in Paris, Aron received his bachelor and master degrees of music at the Indiana University – Jacobs School of Music. A Harriet Hale Woolley alumnus, he subsequently served as an artist-in-residence at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris for the 2021-2022 academic year. He has also studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and the Ecoles d’art americaines de Fontainebleau, where he earned the Ravel prize in composition. Composing for film scores, ensembles, and soloists, his work has been featured at the Montclair Film Festival (Jury Award), Project Involve, and stages across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Aron is currently Conductor of the Harmony Program Youth Orchestras in Manhattan. Recent performances of his include appearances at Lincoln Center, the United Nations, and with violinist Joshua Bell.
Ian Tomaz is an American pianist currently based in Paris, France. He has studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot since 2021, working with Pascal Roge. He is in residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis in 2022-2023 as a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholar, performing concerts as an Artist in Residence at the FEU and around Paris while working on the major solo, chamber and art song compositions of Francis Poulenc. Since moving to Paris, he has performed at Salle Cortot, Musee J.J. Henner and the Centre Culturel Czech and was also chosen as a full scholarship participant for the Academie de Musique Francaise, playing for renowned French pianists including Michel Beroff, Jacques Rouvier, Anne Queffelec, Marie Catherine Girod and Francoise Thinat. He began his studies at the ENMP thanks to the generous support of the Bourse Marandon from the Societe des Professeurs de Français et Francophones D’Amérique in New York.