police raid on American museums, three drawings by Egon Schiele recovered – Libération

2023-09-15 08:00:45

The New York Times revealed that three drawings by the Austrian artist had been seized by American justice in museums in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Oberlin. They were allegedly stolen by the Nazis from an Austrian collector, who died in a concentration camp in 1941.

A duty of memory and history. The heirs of Fritz Grünbaum tirelessly claim the collection of their ancestor, a Jewish Austrian cabaret artist, art lover and critic of the Nazi regime, killed in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. According to the New York Times, American police are currently investigating a dozen works by Austrian artist Egon Schiele that were looted by the Nazis. The American daily revealed Thursday, September 14 that three drawings had already been seized by American justice in major museums in the United States.

The Grünbaum heirs have been taking legal action for years to recover works of art that belonged to him. They rely on the fact that he signed an official document for the benefit of the Nazi regime in 1938, while he was a prisoner in the Dachau camp. American justice ruled against them in 2005, considering that they acted too late, but they won their case regarding two works in 2018. In the meantime, the American Congress had adopted the “Hear” law of 2016 extending the deadline for claiming the return of a work.

“Illegally detained”

The subject is also current in other countries. In France, Parliament adopted a framework law in July to facilitate the restitution by public collections of cultural property stolen from Jews under Nazi Germany.

In seizure orders dated Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the State of New York finds that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that these drawings by the Austrian expressionist artist “are stolen” and “illegally possessed”.

Museums defend themselves

“Russian Prisoner of War” (1916), a watercolor and pencil on paper worth $1.25 million, was seized from the Art Institute of Chicago; “Portrait of a Man” (1917), a pencil-on-paper drawing worth $1 million, was seized from the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while “Dark-Haired Girl” (1917) 1911), a watercolor and pencil on paper worth $1.5 million, was seized from the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin University (Ohio). The orders specify that works can remain “on site” for a period of 60 days.

“We are convinced that Oberlin University legally acquired “Girl with Black Hair” by Egon Schiele in 1958, and that we legally own it,” Oberlin University responded in a statement, adding that it cooperates with the investigation. The work “Russian Prisoner of War” “remains in our custody at this time,” the Chicago museum said. “We are convinced that we have acquired and possessed this work legally,” added the museum, saying it wanted to defend itself in the context of “(open) civil litigation before a federal court.” The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh have assured that they want to cooperate with the authorities.

According to figures published at an international conference in Terezin in the Czech Republic in 2009, around 100,000 works out of 650,000 stolen had still not been returned at the time.