A Russian war prisoner worth $1.25 million was seized at the Art Institute
US authorities have seized three works of art allegedly looted by the Nazis and wanted by the heirs of a Jewish art collector who died in the Holocaust, officials said Thursday.
They confirmed a report in DailyExpertNews that New York researchers had removed these works by 20th century Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele from three American museums.
In arrest warrants issued on Tuesday and seen by AFP, the New York State Supreme Court said “there are reasonable grounds to believe” the works are stolen property.
The works were seized from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio.
The works in question include “Russian War Prisoner” (1916), a watercolor and pencil on paper valued at $1.25 million, seized from the Art Institute, and “Portrait of a Man” (1917) , a pencil on paper drawing worth $1.25 million. $1 million and from the Carnegie Museums.
“Girl With Black Hair” (1911), a watercolor and pencil on paperwork valued at $1.5 million, was seized at Oberlin.
The warrants state that these works can remain where they are for 60 days, and that they will be brought to New York at a later date.
“We are confident that Oberlin College legally acquired Egon Schiele’s Girl with Black Hair in 1958, and that we rightfully own it,” Oberlin said in a statement to AFP. “We are cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal investigation.”
The artworks are being sought by the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, a prominent Jewish art collector and comedian who died in 1941 in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
“We are confident in our legal acquisition and rightful possession of this work,” the Art Institute of Chicago said, adding that the piece held there is the subject of a civil lawsuit in federal court.
The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh pledged to “fully cooperate with inquiries from relevant authorities.”
The Times said the ongoing investigation concerns a dozen Schiele works allegedly stolen by the Nazis.
Grunbaum’s heirs have been trying for years to get back works that belonged to him in court.
Courts ruled in 2005 that they had waited too long to act.
But in 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act to help recover art embezzled or looted by the Nazis, and in 2018 Grunbaum’s heirs received a favorable court ruling and recovered two pieces back.
The subject also remains topical in other countries. In France, parliament passed a framework law in July to facilitate the return of property stolen from Jews under German Nazi rule.
According to statistics released at an international conference in the Czech Republic in 2009, around 100,000 of the estimated 650,000 stolen works have still not been returned.
