New York – An explosive report by the New York Post today (http://bit.ly/PhZXxn) reveals that many New York City museums, particularly the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), are in possession of Nazi-seized artwork.
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Some 650,000 pieces of art were seized from Jewish families between 1933 and 1945. Many works by artists Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and van Gogh, which had been deemed by the Nazis as “degenerate art”, were removed from the walls of German museums and were destroyed. Other paintings were sold overseas, with the profits applied to Nazi coffers.
In 1988, over 40 countries assembled in Washington, DC to establish guidelines for identifying, returning, and settling claims for looted art. The principles stated that a “just and fair solution” should be reached in the event that pre-war owners made a claim for their stolen artwork. The United States supported the move to investigate the origins of museum artwork and to determine if the works could be traced back to Nazi-era Europe.
MoMa Director Glenn Lowry said that MoMa “does not and will not knowingly exhibit stolen works of art,” and promised, along with other New York museums, to review its collections for seized Nazi-art. MoMa launched its “Provenance Research Project” in 2001. It identified approximately 800 pieces that met the definition of works acquired after 1932 that may have been in Europe during the Nazi era. However, the museum said the majority of the works “have provenance records that are sufficiently complete to eliminate the likelihood of Nazi misappropriation.”
Ironically, MoMa’s website lists one of its paintings by Andre Derain called “Valley of the Lot at Vers” as having been seized and termed “degenerate art.” It was “sold by the Nazi government” and purchased by the museum in 1939 at a gallery owned by a Nazi agent.
“The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse,” a George Grosz painting, is currently hanging in MoMa’s European painting gallery. Grosz was a German Expressionist painter and a critic of Hitler. MoMa bought “The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse” for $750, plus a $100 commission in 1952 from a man authorized by the Nazis to sell German art abroad. Grosz’s other two works were auctioned off in a fraudulent sale in the Netherlands in 1938. MoMa later purchased one of the paintings and received the other one as a donation. These two paintings are being held in MoMa’s storage.
The family of Grosz sued MoMa for the return of his three paintings. But the museum prevailed by arguing that the three-year statute of limitations to bring a claim had expired. “We had hoped for a settlement and that they would make nice, some kind of an attempt,” said Lillian Grosz, the widow of George Grosz’s son. “The big thing was that they hung the whole thing on a date. It was a moral issue for us.”
To date, MoMa has yet to return a single work.
“This is perhaps the greatest property crime in human history, and our courts of law are rubber-stamping it for the duplicitous museums who are getting to keep the benefits of Hitler’s crimes and to continue to display stolen art to American schoolchildren,” said Raymond Dowd, attorney for the Grosz family.
Lillian Grosz said the family has given up and cannot keep fighting MoMa for the return of the stolen art. “We have no desire to reopen it [the lawsuit],” she said. “MoMa has very deep pockets and is a very powerful institution.”
The Grosz family attorney added, “They’re hiding the records that show that they have received stolen property and then blaming the victims of the crime.”
Other museums, including the Met, identified 500 works which were allegedly in Europe during the Nazi era, and thus far, has settled five claims and returned six pieces. The Brooklyn Museum found 200 pieces tied to the Nazi era, but said it has not received any claims and has not returned any works. The Jewish Museum, with 275 paintings dating back to World War II, also said it has not received any claims. The Guggenheim would not comment as to whether it had returned any of its 300 Nazi-era pieces.
Most of these are old allegations that have been examined and rejected several times over by the courts and by independent art historians. At some point, you have to get closure on these issues and move on. If there is “new” evidence that contradicts earlier representations, than of course they should be pursued. Otherwise, this is just a rehash of the same issues previously adjudicated.
Just wait.
A few more days of bad press will get things moving.
All of these museums’ display of “culture” means NOTHING as they have no shame in exhibiting art that was possibly looted from Jews by the Nazis (yemach shemum). They are as guilty as those who stole them!
What these museums don’t know, they don’t want to know; it reminds me of the problems with the Swiss Government in the late 1990’s, whereby the World Jewish Congress had to force the Swiss to honor the life insurance policies of Holocaust victims; also, the Swiss had to be forced to turn over savings accounts, to the relatives of Holocaust victims. All of these institutions suffer from Waldheim’s disease; the latter disease means that they have no collective memory of anything!
Maybe people who are members should not renew!
Very simple solution to this problem of looted art from Yidden. The people suing should arrange for day in and day out protests outside of MOMA handing out flyers to people going into the museum. MOMA will then beg to give up the looted paintings.