FRAME is pleased to announce Lucian Simmons as keynote speaker at its upcoming 2024 annual conference, being held this year in Nancy, France.

The Head of Provenance Research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mr. Simmons oversees research efforts on all objects currently in the museum’s collections, or on acquisitions that are considered cultural property or that may require examination of Nazi-era provenance.

Prior to joining the museum, Simmons was Vice Chairman and Worldwide Head of Restitution, and the Senior Specialist for the Impressionist and Modern Art Departments at Sotheby’s. While at Sotheby’s, he was instrumental in establishing the global compliance program and led the firm’s provenance research and restitution department, resolving legal and ethical claims against artworks selling for an aggregate in excess of $1 billion. Simmons has worked extensively with art collectors and their advisors throughout North America and Europe on the acquisition and deaccession of fine and decorative arts, predominantly in the Contemporary and Modern fields.

Lucian Simmons has spoken widely on art market issues, with an emphasis on the displacement of art during WWII.  He is a much sought after subject matter expert on television, radio and documentary film, and gives regular seminars at universities and law schools across North America.

Having studied law at the London School of Economics, Simmons was called to the Bar in 1984, and later requalified as the Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He was previously a partner at Barlow, Lyde and Gilbert in London.