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☆ Chicago Museum Says Investigators Have No Evidence Art Was Looted
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Graham Bowley | Tom Mashberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Art Institute of Chicago has rebuffed an attempt by New York investigators to seize an Egon Schiele drawing in its collection, asserting in a strongly-worded 132-page court filing that the investigators have produced no evidence that the artwork was looted by the Nazis as they claim. The drawing, “Russian War Prisoner,” was purchased by the Art Institute in 1966. It is one of a number of works by Schiele that ended up in the hands of museums and collectors and have been sought by the heirs of the collector Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish cabaret entertainer from Vienna who was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp in 1941. In a court filing in February, the Manhattan district attorney’s office accused the museum of ignoring evidence of an elaborate fraud undertaken to conceal that the artwork had been stolen by the Nazis on the eve of World War II. But the museum in its filing on Tuesday argued that the drawing had legitimately passed from Grünbaum to his sister-in-law, who had sold it to a Swiss dealer after the war in 1956.

Persons: Egon Schiele, ”, Schiele, Fritz Grünbaum Organizations: Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute Locations: New York, Vienna, Manhattan, Grünbaum, Swiss

☆ Schiele drawings stolen by Nazis have been returned to their former owner’s heirs more than 80 years later
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —During a ceremony and press conference Wednesday in New York, seven drawings by the Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele were returned to the heirs of their former owner, Fritz Grünbaum, whose art collection was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. His routines, which often openly derided Nazism and Hitler, were eventually banned, and Nazis arrested Grünbaum in 1938. His wife, Elisabeth, was later forced to turn over her husband’s art collection — which Bragg said Wednesday included “hundreds of pieces” — to the Nazis. Grünbaum’s collection included “I Love Antithesis,” a colorful watercolor painting of the artist, and “Girl Putting on Shoe,” which was previously held by MoMA. Earlier this week, additional Schiele pieces were “seized” from three US museums amid other efforts to reunite Grünbaum’s collection, though they currently remain at the museums pending further investigation.

Persons: Egon Schiele, Fritz Grünbaum, “, ”, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr, Nazism, Hitler, Grünbaum, Elisabeth, Bragg, Timothy Reif, ” Bragg, Edith, Grünbaum’s, they’d, Ronald Lauder, Reif, ” Reif, Hitler’s Organizations: CNN, Manhattan District, Attorney, MoMA, Nazi, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Morgan Library, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Fischer Foundation, New York Times Locations: New York, Austrian, Jewish Austrian, Vienna, Dachau, Germany, Minsk, Belarus, Schiele, Swiss, California

☆ Billionaire Ronald Lauder, others to return art to heirs of collector killed by Nazis
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune and president of the World Jewish Congress, is seen on Sept. 21, 2022. The billionaire Ronald Lauder has agreed to return a piece of art looted by Nazis from a collector who was later killed in a concentration camp. Lauder, the heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune and a Republican megadonor, also is the president of the World Jewish Congress. Grunbaum acquired a collection of 81 Schiele works before he was arrested in Austria in 1938 by the Nazis. Lauder acquired the artwork "through an art dealer decades after it was misappropriated" by the Nazis, his spokesperson said.

Persons: Ronald Lauder, Lauder, Egon Schiele's, Fritz Grunbaum, Grunbaum, Fritz Grünbaum's Organizations: World Jewish, Manhattan District, Republican, Nazis Locations: Austria, Dachau, Germany

☆ Schiele Works Believed to Be Stolen Are Seized From U.S. Museums
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Tom Mashberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Whether you are a plaintiff, prosecutor or defense counsel, attorneys are always looking for new precedents,” Mark Vlasic, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University and former United Nations war crimes prosecutor, said in an email. The art will be transported to New York at a later date. In a statement, the Art Institute said: “We are confident in our legal acquisition and lawful possession of this work. Before Wednesday’s actions, the Grünbaum heirs had filed civil claims not just against the three museums, but also against the Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan Library and Museum, both in New York City; the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California; and several individual defendants. The plaintiffs in this case had filed claims seeking the return of other Schiele works at other museums.

Persons: ” Mark Vlasic, ” Organizations: Georgetown University, United, Art Institute, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie, Oberlin, Museum of Modern Art, Morgan Library and Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art Locations: United Nations, Oberlin, New York, New York City, California

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