New York Court Orders Modigliani Restitution as Paula Cooper Gallery Wins Art Basel’s First Legacy Award
A long-running restitution fight over an Amedeo Modigliani painting has reached a new stage in New York, where the state Supreme Court ordered dealer David Nahmad to return the work within 30 days. The painting, “Seated Man With a Cane” (1918), is at the center of an 11-year dispute brought by Philippe Maestracci, the grandson of Holocaust victim and Jewish dealer Oscar Stettiner.
Maestracci prevailed in April, but the court had not previously set a deadline for the handover. That changed this week. Nahmad’s lawyers said they will appeal, arguing that the ruling was issued without testimony from “the only eyewitnesses who saw the Modigliani,” and maintaining that the plaintiffs have identified the wrong painting. Maestracci’s side has filed a memorandum opposing the appeal and says further litigation could delay restitution for years. Nahmad has already appealed four times in the case, and each attempt was denied.
The decision adds fresh pressure to one of the more closely watched Holocaust-looted art disputes in recent years. At stake is not only possession of a single canvas, but the broader question of how courts handle restitution claims when ownership histories are tangled by wartime displacement, postwar sales, and decades of contested provenance.
Separately, Art Basel used its annual awards dinner in Basel to introduce a new honor for galleries. Paula Cooper Gallery received the inaugural Art Basel Gallery Legacy Award, which recognizes a gallery’s long-term commitment to artists and, by design, allowed the winner to nominate a younger gallery for support. Paula Cooper selected Chapter NY, which will receive $50,000 toward participation in next year’s fair.
The award was announced at a dinner in Basel’s medieval Safran Zunft, where 33 nominated medalists for the second edition of the 2026 Art Basel Awards were also recognized. Paula Cooper, who did not attend in person, said in a statement that the fair’s value lies in its accessibility and in the chance to encounter work and people one might not otherwise meet. Steven P. Henry, senior partner at the gallery, accepted the award on her behalf, while Chapter NY founder Nicole Russo said she had long answered that Chapter should aspire to be like Paula Cooper.
Together, the two developments point to the art world’s dual preoccupations: the unresolved legacy of wartime theft and the institutions that shape contemporary artistic circulation today.
