There was a curious non-development today in Austria concerning the dispute over Gustav Klimt’s famed “Beethoven Frieze” located in the Secession Building in Vienna. At issue is whether a post-war sale by Jewish survivors to Austria of a famous painting that the law of the time did not allow to be exported can be considered… Continue Reading
Category Archives: World War II
Subscribe to World War II RSS FeedGurlitt Collection Information Finally On View, Provenance Details Still Needed
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIAs the world adjusts to the announcement last week that the Kunstmuseum Bern has decided to accept Cornelius Gurlitt’s bequest (amid the continuing uncertainty about the validity of the will itself), the most significant development has been the museum’s posting of an inventory of the objects themselves. The museum issued a press release that states: ‘We… Continue Reading
The Kunstmuseum Bern’s Agreement to Accept Gurlitt Inheritance—Analysis and Lingering Issues
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIWith the benefit of (a little) time after the initial announcement that the Kunstmuseum Bern had agreed to accept the inheritance of Cornelius Gurlitt, more information has become available about the agreement with Germany and Bavaria that paved the way for the museum’s decision. It practical terms, the agreement resolves nothing definitively. The inheritance itself… Continue Reading
Kunstmuseum Bern Accepts Appointment as Cornelius Gurlitt’s Heir, Agreement with Germany
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIAs expected, the press conference today in Berlin held by the Kunstmuseum Bern along with German officials announced that the museum has decided to accept the appointment as Cornelius Gurlitt‘s heir. As we surmised, the decision was accompanied by an agreement concerning the Nazi-looting suspicions that have followed the one time collection of his father… Continue Reading
Gurlitt Relatives Formally Challenge Will that Named Kunstmuseum Bern as Heir
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIWhen we wrote yesterday that everything had been said before seeing how the press conference plays out on Monday at which the Kunstmuseum Bern and Germany will make an announcement, it was somewhat tongue in cheek. Today provides an example why: relatives of Cornelius Gurlitt, who would be his heirs at law in the absence… Continue Reading
Gurlitt and Kunstmuseum Bern Press Conference in Berlin Monday November 24, 2014
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIThe federal government of Germany, the Bavarian Ministry of Culture, and the Kunstmuseum Bern announced today that they will hold a joint press conference on Monday November 24, 2014 concerning the bequest by Cornelius Gurlitt to the Swiss museum when he died. It seems hard to imagine that such an event would announce anything other than… Continue Reading
Expert Opinion Casts Doubt on Gurlitt’s Testamentary Capacity to Make the Will that Names the Kunstmuseum Bern as Heir
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIWhile we have tried to read the tea leaves and predict what the Kunstmuseum Bern will do on or before November 26 (the deadline to accept or reject the appointment as Cornelius Gurlitt’s heir)—and what others might do if the museum turns it down, less prominent has been the validity of the will in question… Continue Reading
If the Kunstmuseum Bern Says No: Gurlitt Heirs Discuss Plans if They Inherit Schwabing Trove
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIAs the November 26, 2014 deadline approaches by which the Kunstmuseum Bern must accept or reject the appointment as Cornelius Gurlitt’s heir and the bequest of the paintings seized by the Bavarian government on suspicions of Nazi-looting concerns (as well as those in other countries that were not seized), most observers expect the museum to… Continue Reading
Reports that Gurlitt Task Force May Not Meet Deadline—What Happens Then?
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIThere were reports over the weekend that the Gurlitt Task Force, currently reviewing the provenance of more than 900 of the 1,280 works of art seized from Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment, may not complete that review within the year reportedly set out in the agreement between Bavaria and Gurlitt before he died. There is still confusion… Continue Reading
One Year After Gurlitt Revelation, No One is Pleased
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIIt has now been one year since Focus magazine in Germany broke the Cornelius Gurlitt story on November 3, 2013. Looking back at the history of the case as it has unfolded since then, the overriding theme has been difficulty in obtaining accurate information about the current state of affairs. The appointed Task Force has… Continue Reading
Museums in Bamberg and Karlsruhe Recognize a Sale Under Duress For What it Was, Seek to Do Right Thing
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Museums, Restitution, World War IIRestitution policy at the federal and state level in Germany in recent months seems to have taken a certain direction that has been cause for criticism. Whether it is the recent decisions by the Limbach Commission that ignore longstanding law about sales under duress, the odd decision by the Federal Republic of Germany to resist… Continue Reading
Toren Amends Complaint Against Bavaria Over Liebermann Seized from Gurlitt, Spotlights Task Force Recommendation of Restitution in Support of Bailment Theory
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IITwo weeks ago, the Federal Republic of Germany and Bavaria moved to dismiss the restitution claims brought by David Toren over ownership of Two Riders on the Beach (Zwei Ritter am Strand) by the German painter Max Liebermann. Toren’s uncle David Friedmann owned the painting in Breslau before he was targeted for his collection and… Continue Reading
Conflicting Reports About Possible Acceptance of Gurlitt Bequest by Kunstmuseum Bern
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIThere have been multiple and conflict reports in the last 48 hours about whether the Kunstmuseum Bern had reached a decision to accept the inheritance from and appointment as heir by Cornelius Gurlitt. Gurlitt, who died in early May shortly after reaching an agreement with the Bavarian prosecutor concerning the 1,280 works of art seized… Continue Reading
Bavaria and Germany Move to Dismiss Gurlitt Litigation, But Raise Questions About Why They Are Resisting a Lawsuit Over Painting that Task Force Recommended They Restitute to David Toren
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IITo date, only one lawsuit has been filed in the United States related to the seizure from Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment of some 1,280 works of art, a story that broke a year ago with the concern about the objects’ Nazi-looting connections via his father Hildebrand Gurlitt (the view here last winter was that the longer… Continue Reading
Vienna Natural History Museum Restitutes Botanical Drawings to Nazi Victims’ Heirs, Acknowledges the Too-Often-Ignored Reality of Persecution and Coerced Sales
Posted in Museums, Restitution, World War IIVienna’s Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum) has restituted 177 botanical drawings and prints to the heirs of Dr. Ernst Moritz Kronfeld. The restitution, while somewhat delayed following a 2011 recommendation by Austria’s Advisory Council under the country’s Law for the Restitution of Artworks from the Austrian National Museums (Bundesgesetz über die Rückgabe von Kunstgegenstände aus… Continue Reading
Books of Note: “The Art Collecting Legal Handbook” Reviewed
Posted in Art Fairs, Auctions, Immunity from Seizure Act, Legislation, Litigation, Moral Rights, Museums, Publications, Restitution, World War IIIn the course of our work here, I like to call out books and articles that I feel are worthy of praise, usually the in the course of a particular post or issue. After a too-long stay on the corner of my desk awaiting time to read it, I finally finished a book published last… Continue Reading
Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Detailed Report Published on Worldwide Efforts to Restitute Nazi-Looted Art Since the 1998 Washington Conference
Posted in Restitution, World War IIAfter the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets and the eponymous Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Stolen Art that came out of it, it is hardly surprising that a recurring theme has been to assess the progress of those nations that participated and signed on. Equally unsurprisingly, those assessments are usually more anecdotal than empirical,… Continue Reading
Are “Flight Goods” Different than Looted Art? Questions About Fair Value and Duress in Wartime Resonate After Recent Limbach Commission Decision
Posted in Auctions, Restitution, World War IIA conference was held last week at the Oskar Reinhart Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland, entitled “Fluchtgut: Geschichte, Recht und Moral” (Flight Goods: History, Law and Morality). The objective conference was described in its program as follows (my translation): As a result of the Nazi policies of persecution, expropriation, and plundering, Switzerland has played a significant… Continue Reading
Limbach Commission Rules Against Claimants to Restitution of “Three Graces” by Lovis Corinth in Unpersuasive Opinion
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Museums, Restitution, World War IIThe German Advisory Commission for the Return of Cultural Property Seized as a Result of Nazi Persecution, Especially Jewish Property (Beratende Kommission) has issued its latest decision concerning allegedly Nazi-looted art in German museums. For the second case in a row after the widely (and wisely) derided opinion not to restitute the Welfenschatz or Guelph… Continue Reading
Gurlitt Task Force Issues Second Public Recommendation, Urges Restitution of Liebermann painting to David Toren—Lawsuit Not Over Yet
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIEileen Kinsella at ArtNet news reported today that the Gurlitt Taskforce has recommended the restitution of the Max Liebermann painting Riders on the Beach (Reiter am Strand) to David Toren, a New York man who left Germany at age 14 in 1939. His great uncle David Friedmann lived in Breslau, the capital of Silesia (now… Continue Reading
Curiouser and Curiouser: Still More Gurlitt Paintings Found, Nazi-Looting Connections Unknown
Posted in Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIAs if the Cornelius/Hildebrand Gurlitt saga needed any more complications as the world awaits the official decision by the Kunstmuseum Bern about whether to accept the appointment as Cornelius Gurlitt’s heir, even more artwork has apparently turned up. Der Spiegel, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Wall Street Journal have reported that one picture and… Continue Reading
Lauder Wall Street Journal Nazi-Looted Art Editorial, Art Law Report Post, and the Response: Some Clarification and Context
Posted in Restitution, World War IITwo weeks ago, we posted an article entitled “Lauder Editorial on Stolen Art Fails the Glass House Test.” The metaphor was not intended to be complicated: it seemed inconsistent, to put it politely, for the honorary board chairman of a museum that has resisted restitution claims by asserting, for example, the statute of limitations and… Continue Reading
Bavarian State Paintings Collection in the News Again, May Face Claims from Eva Braun Heirs
Posted in Restitution, World War IIQuite by coincidence, two stories we have covered in the last few days have centered around the claims by the heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a Jewish banker and art collector who was the target of Nazi persecution before he died in 1935: Julius Schoeps, Edelgard von Lavergne-Peguilhen, and Florence Kesselstatt. Another common thread… Continue Reading
Claims by Mendelssohn Bartholdy Heirs over Picasso “Madame Soler” Dismissed, Court Finds No FSIA Jurisdiction After Evidentiary Hearings
Posted in Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Gurlitt Collection, Restitution, World War IIThe U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed claims for ownership of Madame Soler by Pablo Picasso, currently at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Just as the relevance of Judge Jed Rakoff’s comments over another art restitution case brought by the heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn Bartholdy unexpectedly came… Continue Reading
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