The Erie Art Museum has responded to a lawsuit filed on Nov. 7, 2025, by the daughter of a local artist, requesting the return of a watercolor painted by her late father. The artist, George C. Demiel, submitted the painting to be included in an annual juried show in 1966 at the museum, which was then known as the Art Center of Erie. The Art Center did not accept the painting, and Demiel—who died the following year at age 53—never reclaimed the artwork.
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The Erie Times-News, which has been covering the lawsuit, reported that the museum’s December 12 response refers to the watercolor, titled House Boats, as “abandoned personal property.” The response continues to explain that “After Mr. Deimel did not return to retrieve the work and/or notify the Art Center of his intention to reclaim the same, the Art Center then took possession of what was then abandoned personal property, and placed the work in storage until it was formally accessioned to the now Art Museum’s permanent collection in 1983.” (The institution changed names that year.)…