Untitled (1928) by Kandinsky. @Grisebach
Poland claims Kandinsky's painting was stolen
The Polish ministry of culture has started a dispute over the origin of a watercolor painting by Wassily Kandinsky that was sold at the Grisebach auction house in Berlin. Officials say that the abstract work on cardboard that sold for €387,500 (including fees) is the same one that was stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw in 1984. In 1982, the National Museum of Warsaw bought Untitled (1928) from a private collection at an auction. In 1984, the work was shown at an art show called "Concepts of Space in Contemporary Art." It was taken from that show. On the back of the painting, the seal of the National Museum in Warsaw, which shows where it came from, has been kept. In 1985, the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) said that the painting was taken from the museum in a report about stolen art. After it was found in Grisebach's auction catalog, Poland's Ministry of Culture asked the Warsaw police to add the painting to Interpol's database of stolen artworks. Ministry and Polish embassy officials in Berlin asked Grisebach to take the Kandinsky off the sale list for December 1. A lot of information about the stolen art was also sent to the auction house to prove where it came from.
Poland will take legal action
After the painting was sold, Lukasz Jasina, a spokesman for Poland's foreign ministry, said in a statement that the country will now take "further legal steps" to get the painting back. The auction house's website has the catalogue notes for the sale, which confirm that the piece was in the Warsaw museum's collection from "roughly 1965 to 1983." It also says that the work was later kept in a private collection in the United States. It was given to the Grisebach sale by Maren Otto, a German philanthropist who lives in Hamburg and bought it from Galerie Thomas in Munich in 1988. A person who works for Grisebach says that there is no doubt that the painting was bought in good faith in 1988. "Grisebach heard about a possible theft from a Polish museum for the first time from the Polish Ministry of Culture just before the auction. This information was used right away as a chance to start a new legal investigation. This made it clear that the watercolor could be sold at auction without breaking any laws." They also say that the work was sold in "the first half of the 1980s" at Sotheby's in London.
Untitled (1928) by Kandinsky. @Grisebach
The Polish Ministry of Culture has indicated that the transaction is unethical and against the rules of the international art market
Grisebach has talked to the people who sent the goods and the people who bought them. Now, a spokesperson says, the company will "try to get a second legal review by a court to get a binding answer." "Most of the time, this market can't work well without trust. It's sad that auction houses don't always keep up with these standards, and this should be condemned "said Piotr Glinski, Poland's vice prime minister. He also says that this is not the first time Grisebach has sold a stolen painting from Poland. In 2011, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and some Polish diplomats stopped the auction house from selling the painting Negress (1884) by Anna Biliska. In 2012, the painting was given back to Poland. The Polish culture ministry makes it clear that it thinks the Grisebach's transaction was very unethical and against the rules that should be followed on the international art market.
Selena Mattei
