Posted on: November 24, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus
Alea iacta est… The decision in the Causa Gurlitt was highly anticipated. On Saturday, the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern (‘Museum’) decided to accept the bequest of the late Cornelius Gurlitt. This morning, the decision was publicly announced in a joint press meeting by the German government, the State of […]
Posted on: November 20, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus
On 26th November, the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern will decide whether to accept the bequest of Cornelius Gurlitt. Unexpectedly, one of Gurlitt’s two cousins, Uta Werner, has threatened to challenge the will. Her claim is based on a psychiatric report, which she had commissioned from Dr Helmut Hausner, chief physician at […]
Posted on: October 21, 2014 by Alexander Herman
A recent dispute has arisen over the sale of artworks, pitting the relatives of two Jewish victims of the Nazis against a Swiss foundation that has been laying claim to assets once owned by the couple. The convoluted saga has been recounted by the New York Times. It involves the extensive art collection of Berlin metals broker Norbert Levy, a collection which […]
Posted on: October 1, 2014 by Alexander Herman
A fascinating story on the work of the Max Stern Restitution Project has appeared in the latest issue of The Walrus and is thankfully available online. The Stern Project, run out of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada has the task of reconstituting the art collection of the famed Düsseldorf dealer, Max Stern. Stern, who was Jewish, fled Nazi Germany in 1937 […]
Posted on: August 18, 2014 by Alexander Herman
The task force made up of provenance experts dealing with the works found in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt in 2012 has recommended that a painting by impressionist artist Max Liebermann be restituted. The fourteen-member task force, often referred to as the “Schwabing Art Trove” Task Force was established in November 2013 by the German federal government and the […]
Posted on: August 5, 2014 by Alexander Herman
Much has been said and written about the present day treatment of Nazi-looted art. But there is another, less well-known chapter to Germany’s past. This involves the confiscation of works of art from East German citizens by the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Often the confiscations occurred because the owners of the works were considered members […]
Posted on: August 1, 2014 by Alexander Herman
The human remains of an Aboriginal woman from Tasmania who had lived in the early nineteenth century were returned to Hobart, Tasmania earlier today. The remains had been acquired by the Anatomy Institute in Berlin, Germany in the 1840s and, more recently, resided in the collection of Berlin’s Charité Medical Museum. The Charité Museum, in returning the […]
Posted on: May 7, 2014 by Alexander Herman
Cornelius Gurlitt has died in his home in Munich. The story was reported on yesterday by the BBC. The question of possible heirs to the collection remains unanswered for now – and may continue to be for quite some time. This saga is far from over…
Posted on: April 10, 2014 by Alexander Herman
The well-known US news show, CBS’s 60 Minutes, has just this week broadcast a lengthy report on the Cornelius Gurlitt affair, complete with interviews of a distant Gurlitt cousin, his (former) legal team and some provenance and legal experts. The report can be watched online here. More recently, there have been reports that the Augsburg prosecutor, […]
Posted on: April 7, 2014 by Alexander Herman
In recent news regarding the Munich art trove, the Bavarian authorities and the German culture minister have released a statement demonstrating that Cornelius Gurlitt is committed to voluntarily returning any looted art that had been found in his apartment in 2012 to the heirs of the despoiled owners. This forms part of the gradual acceptance […]