No Take Backs—The federal government has sued a New Jersey man in an effort to recover an 80-year-old painting that allegedly belongs to the General Services Administration.
According to a complaint filed May 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Matthew Schwartz is in possession of “1934 Farmer,” a painting by John D. Slavin that was created as part of the Public Works of Art Project of 1933. The PWAP employed thousands of artists and over 15,000 works of art were created under its banner, the complaint says, including Slavin’s, which Schwartz allegedly twice listed for sale on eBay.
