Posted on: April 16, 2015 by Alexander Herman
‘What do you know about art restitution?’ ‘Not a thing.’ The question comes from Maria Altmann, played by Helen Mirren, and the answer is from her lawyer, Randol Schoenberg, played by Ryan Reynolds, in Woman in Gold, the film dramatising Altmann’s quest for the return of five Gustav Klimt paintings that had been taken from her family during the […]
Posted on: February 27, 2015 by Alexander Herman
A complaint was filed this week in a US court which seeks the return of the Guelph Treasure, a famous collection of German medieval items, currently held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The complaint is being brought by descendants of the one-time Jewish owners of the treasure, who had to part with it in 1935. The collection had […]
Posted on: February 24, 2015 by Alexander Herman
In a press release last week, the Kunstmuseum Bern explained that, due to the legal challenge to Cornelius Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner (discussed by Nina Neuhaus here), there have as yet been no restitutions of artworks from the 2012 Munich art trove, neither by the museum, nor by any other body. Of course, news […]
Posted on: December 3, 2014 by Alexander Herman
For the first time since its discovery in February of 2012 – or indeed for the first time ever – the collection of approximately 1600 works of art belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt has been made public. This has been done by the Museum of Fine Art Bern (or Kunstmuseum) in two separate parts: those found in his […]
Posted on: November 25, 2014 by Alexander Herman
As reported yesterday, an agreement has been reached between the Bern Museum of Fine Arts (or Kunstmuseum), the German Republic and the Bavarian State on how to deal with the works of art bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt in his will to the Museum. A summary of the agreement is now available in English. In general […]
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 4, 2014 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Tonight on BBC One will be the second of a two-part series on the Cornelius Gurlitt art trove entitled ‘The Sins of the Father’. The episode is part of the programme Imagine hosted by Alan Yentob and will air at 22.35. The first in the series, ‘The Art That Hitler Hated‘ aired last Tuesday on BBC One, […]
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: September 16, 2014 by Alexander Herman
Recent reports have come out involving a 1902 portrait of Gertrud Loew by Gustav Klimt that had allegedly been taken by the Nazis in Austria from the painting’s subject and owner. Loew had left Austria for the United States in 1939 following the Anschluss of the previous year. It is unclear exactly what happened to the […]