Three works by the Austrian artist Egon Schiele, claimed by the heirs of their former owner, a Jewish collector who was a victim of the Nazis, were seized by American courts in museums in the United States, a judicial source announced this Thursday.
In Tuesday’s seizure orders, released by Agence France-Presse (AFP) after being picked up by the New York Times, the Supreme Court of the State of New York considers that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that these drawings by the expressionist artist Austrian “are robbed” and “illegally detained.”
“Russian Prisoner of War” (1916), a watercolor and pencil on paper valued at $1.25 million, was confiscated from the Art Institute of Chicago; “Portrait of a Man” (1917), a pencil drawing on paper valued at one million dollars, was seized at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, northeast, while “The Girl with Black Hair” (1911 ), a watercolor and a pencil on paper worth $1.5 million were seized at the Allen Memorial Museum of Art at Oberlin University (northeast, Ohio).
The orders specify that the works can remain “standing” for a period of 60 days.
“We are convinced that we have legally acquired this work and that we are legal owners of it,” said the Chicago museum, adding that it intends to defend itself in the context of “civil litigation before federal court.”
“We will cooperate fully with the requests of the authorities,” stressed the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Ownership of the works is claimed by the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, Austrian Jewish artist, great art collector and critic of the Nazi regime, who died in the Dachau concentration camp, in Germany, in 1941.
According to the New York Times, the current investigation concerns a dozen works by Egon Schiele looted by the Nazis.
Fritz Grünbaum’s heirs took legal action years ago to recover works of art that belonged to their ancestor.
The American court ruled against this family in 2005, considering that they acted too late, but Fritz Grünbaum’s heirs won the case regarding two works in 2018.
Source: TSF
