The heirs of a Jewish art patron who died in a concentration camp in 1941 recently received seven Egon Schiele pieces that were just returned to them by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
During a ceremony on September 20 in the New York Supreme Civil Court, Fritz Grünbaum's heirs received all seven of the Schiele drawings and paintings back.
Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, remarked at a press conference that was held in advance of Yom Kippur, one of the most significant Jewish holy festivals, that "today is historic and groundbreaking."
The New York Times, which broke the news, estimated the value of each Austrian Expressionist piece that was returned on September 20 to be between $780,000 and $2.75 million.
The seven pieces were once owned by two private collectors—the late Serge Sabarsky and Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress—as well as a number of museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Morgan Library & Museum, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
After being contacted by Grünbaum's heirs in December, the Manhattan district attorney's office launched an inquiry that led to the returns. The decision in 2018 that required collector Richard Nagy to return two Schiele pieces gave the heirs the confidence to act. Nagy intended to sell the works, but Judge Charles V. Ramos decided that Grünbaum was not entitled to do so since he signed away his title while incarcerated in a concentration camp, thus he could not have sold them voluntarily.
The Grünbaum heirs sought the Manhattan District Attorney's office to investigate more Schiele pieces that were either in New York City or had been acquired and sold by American art dealer Otto Kallir. They thought that these pieces may qualify as stolen property under New York law.
Grünbaum's heirs have maintained for more than 25 years that during his imprisonment at Dachau, he and his wife were forced to liquidate their assets, including a sizable art collection.
Jewish Property Declaration records provide proof that 81 pieces of art from Grünbaum's collection moved through Nazi control, according to the lawsuit MoMA filed against it.
Prostitute (1912), a watercolor and pencil on paper, as well as Girl Putting on Shoe (1910), were both given back to MoMA. Portrait of the Artist's Wife, Edith (1915), a pencil on paper drawing, was returned by the Santa Barbara Museum. The Self-Portrait (1910), a black chalk and watercolor drawing on tan paper, was turned over by the Morgan Library.
I Love Antithesis (1912), a watercolor and pencil on paper, was returned by Lauder. Two pieces by Herbert Reiner, Portrait of a Boy (1910), and Seated Woman (1911), both on paper with gouache, watercolor, and pencil, were returned by the Sabarsky estate.
Eighty years after the conclusion of World War II, Grünbaum heir Timothy Reif told the New York Times that the long-term search for looted goods by the ancestors of Holocaust victims "is of huge importance in our world." It establishes the tone and schedule for all next cases.
According to The Times, the three museums and the two collectors agreed to waive all claims to the pieces "pursuant to a criminal investigation" into "Nazi looted art" by signing agreements with the district attorney's office.
Regarding these seven works of art, civil lawsuits were filed in New York Supreme Court last year; however, according to Raymond Dowd, the heirs' attorney, those claims have now been dropped.
Later this year, at least six of the returned pieces will be auctioned off at Christie's in New York. Reif, a judge on the United States Court of International Trade, told the Times that the money will go toward establishing a scholarship program for aspiring artists and funding the recently established Grünbaum Fischer Foundation.
I Love Antithesis, which the Manhattan DA's office estimated to be worth $2.75 million, was the most highly valued piece of the returned Schieles, it should be noted. This is a small portion of the record price Hauser mit bunter Wasche (Vorstadt II), 1914, brought in at auction at Sotheby's in London in 2011, which went for £24.7 million ($40.1 million).
David Fraenkel, a co-trustee of Grünbaum's estate, and Milos Vavra are the other two heirs. Grünbaum, according to Reif, was the first cousin of his paternal grandpa.
The warrants for three further Schiele masterpieces at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College were issued by the Manhattan District Attorney's office earlier this month, which led to the news conference.
Selena Mattei
