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Home , Egon Schiele, Leopold Museum, Rudolf Leopold

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First persecuted, then defrauded

The current debate on NS-looted art in the Viennese collection “Sammlung Leopold” proves that the strategies to avoid the long overdue return of are becoming increasingly brazen. Several museums and private collectors are holding on to cultural assets that were wrested from their Jewish owners after 1933.

A soft buzz is heard, and then the wooden his reputation and that of the Leopold door opens, disclosing a view of a garden Museum named after him, a sand-colored house at the foot of the Viennese vineyards. temple of art situated in the heart of . The Philippine maid welcomes us with a Some of the art it houses, according to friendly smile, then a slender elderly what is actually an old suspicion that has gentleman carrying a briefcase breezes busily recently become the subject of heated past her, the tails of his trench coat flaring discussion, was looted. The term refers to out behind him. works of art that were taken by extortion He has an important appointment, Rudolf from their Jewish owners during the Nazi Leopold informs us, and asks us to please be period. so kind and wait. The interview, with a Over several decades, the Viennese photographer present, means it is absolutely collector has amassed a staggering 5,500 necessary to go to the beard trimmer round works of art; a feat, he says proudly, for the corner first. which you need "natural talent". And the Three-quarters of an hour later, the 83- general medical practitioner and year-old appears in the living room of the ophthalmologist makes no secret of the fact house full of nooks and crannies and sits that this is what he possesses. He makes sure Works from the Leopold Collection by Egger-Lienz down on one of the rustic chairs. Dark oil to let us know that he is renowned as one of paintings by artists such as the Dutchman the world's "leading experts on 19th and 20th There is no doubt that Leopold has tried Roelant Savery, painted in 1606, decorate the century ". to achieve a great deal for Austrian art, and walls. It was he, Leopold, who first brought the that he has had considerable effect. In His grey-streaked beard accurately work of the Austrian painter to particular among Schiele enthusiasts, his trimmed, the man appears belligerent, as international fame in an exhibition in collection is the prime location world-wide though his visit to the hairdresser’s had not Amsterdam in 1955 – the work of an artist because of its unmatched plethora of works only prepared him visually, but also braced who, although he died in 1918 at the age of by this Expressionist artist. him mentally for an exhausting fight. only 28, left a large oeuvre in which angular, However, these days the publicly funded , 's best-known art often near-pornographic nudes of women and museum seems to be well on the way to collector, is indeed fighting to save girls are the focus. becoming a national scandal. The chairman of the Israelite Cultural Community in Vienna, Ariel Muzicant, has even demanded that the collection be closed until the issues have been resolved – and the Community has just submitted an expert opinion on the immoral works that the Leopold Collection comprises. So in the very year in which Austria is hosting a multitude of events commemorating the 'Anschluss', the country's annexation to Nazi Germany 70 years ago, it is above all art that is making plain the extent to which the delicate and awkward chapters of that past have still not been aired. And indeed, the accusations are serious. The private foundation , established in 1994, is at the focus of the dispute. The Austrian government, which bought Leopold's collection from him for 160 million Euros, holds a 50 % share in the foundation, and yet his gallery, in spite of being funded by public money, enjoys the Collector Leopold: "I have always acted in good faith" benefits of a private museum.

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“The Mountain Reapers") and Schiele ("Reclining Woman ...", "Three Standing Women "): how many questionable matters have yet to come to light?

This construct protects the museum against ►and four other, lesser-known Schiele Rieger, a Jewish Viennese dentist, was restitution claims, since such claims can be brought . murdered in Theresienstadt in October of forward only against state institutions. According to experts, more detailed 1942. About six months later, the On the one hand, the debate concerns paintings research would certainly bring even more "Völkische Beobachter" newspaper that are being shown in the ongoing special looted art to light. published by the National Socialist party exhibition of works of art by the Austrian painter of Each and every painting has a dramatic announced the confiscation of his assets. history paintings, Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926). history of its own. Schiele's “Die Häuser The fact that the painting once belonged to While he is not particularly well-known, he was am Meer” ("The Houses by the Sea") was Rieger is not mentioned in the provenance greatly admired by the Nazis in his time. The originally owned by the Jewish art database of the Leopold Museum. provenance of at least 15 paintings, among them a collector, Jenny Steiner. After the Nazis Critics have long seen Leopold as a man few on loan from smaller provincial Austrian seized power, she fled to the United States obsessed, as someone who will stick at museums, is thought to be questionable. via Brazil, but she had to leave her assets nothing where his paintings are concerned. They include the paintings "Waldinneres" ("In behind, her art, in her Vienna apartment. It is rumored among insiders that the the Forest") and “Die Bergmäher” ("The Mountain The Nazi Vermögensverkehrsstelle (Assets ambitious and single-minded art-lover Reapers"), as well as the draft for “Nach dem Transactions Office) grabbed this conned clueless owners out of their Friedensschluss” ("After the Armistice"), which involuntary legacy, just as it did in treasures and smuggled his valuable booty were all acquired by Leopold. hundreds of thousands of other cases too. across borders in a battered suitcase, The provenance of other paintings forming part So what did Leopold know when he wrapped in his dirty laundry. of the museum's collection is also shady. Experts bought his paintings? Was he clueless, as The wiry old man rejects all these cite several works by Egon Schiele and by Anton he portrays himself? Or did his passion, accusations. People want to ruin his life's Romako (1832-1889), a fellow Austrian, in this his desire for his beloved art, win out over work and personally discredit him, he regard: his knowledge of the facts, at least in one thunders, and bangs his hand down on the ►“Bildnis Wally” ("") (Schiele), or the other case? rustic, wooden table. The accusations are ►“Die Häuser am Meer” ("The Houses by the The 1930 Schiele catalogue raisonné nothing but "lies", he says. "There is not a Sea") (Schiele), lists Jenny Steiner as the owner of "The single picture of which I have not become ►“Sich aufstützende Frau in Unterwäsche” Houses by the Sea". Leopold himself the legitimate owner. I have always acted ("Reclining Woman in Dessous") (Schiele), acquired the comprehensive tome at in good faith." ►“Nike mit Kranz” ("Nike with a Wreath") auction. The Israelite Cultural Community (Romako), And what about Schiele's chalk thinks little of these protestations. It is ►“Die Quelle” ("The Spring") (Romako), “Sich aufstützende Frau in demanding that the Republic of Austria ►“Akt eines jungen Madchens” (" of a Unterwäsche” ("Reclining Woman in take action. They say the country has been Young Girl") (Romako) Dessous") from the collection of Heinrich forcing the victims of Nazi terror Rieger?

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Auction of the restituted Kirchner painting “Berliner Strassenszene” (“ Street Scene”) in New York (2006): “The limits of what is permissible have been passed“.

for decades to fight long and hard for the everybody wants to obtain a restitution. He cites and “Tote Stadt III” ("Dead City III") to return of their property. his first Schiele as an example, the draft for the the New York Museum of Modem Art – The rather unfortunate moves Austria painting “Tote Stadt” ("Dead City"). In 1950, he where District Attorney Robert has been making in matters of restitution paid all of 2,200 Schillings, or 160 Euros, for it. Morgenthau had the pictures confiscated until the very recent past became apparent Today the folio is worth around 300,000 Euros. in January of 1998. The "Dead City" was in the undignified tug of war over five Leopold's paintings are just a few of the tens of released again, but not the portrait world-famous pictures by the painter thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of "Wally". (1862-1918) from the cultural assets world-wide that ought to give their Since then, it has been lying in a depot Austrian Galerie Belvedere – after present owners moral pause for thought. But in New York, and since just as long, a protracted litigation, they had to be many art lovers and museum directors seem to be court case has been pending, in which the returned to the niece of the former owner in as intransigent as he is. heirs of the former Jewish owner are 2006. In Germany, but in many other countries as insisting on restitution. More court The elderly heiress sold the most famous well, just asking about looted art was a taboo for hearings will be held soon. The former picture, the portrait entitled "Adele Bloch- decades. The Western Allies returned some of the owner herself, incidentally, had already Bauer I", to the New York collector Ronald art taken from the Nazis soon after the end of approached Leopold in the 1950s – to no Lauder. He paid US $ 135 million for it, World War II, but thereafter an oppressive cloud avail. making it the most expensive painting in of silence descended over the German art world. But that scandal in New York and the the world for a time. Now, critics are "The ways of thinking in the museums have not international headlines about what is accusing him of having supported the been denazified, you see," says Clemens called Holocaust Art have had a lasting efforts at discovering and restituting looted Toussaint, 47, who, as a kind of art detective, has effect. The silence was broken. Many art for so many years simply because this been tracing the inheritances of Jewish families for museums and private collectors worldwide has enabled him to get his hands on over 20 years. It is only in the past few years, he were open to accusations that they owned museum masterpieces. says, that the extent of the cultural robbery done looted art, among them Hollywood icon Could all of this be dealt with in a more by the Nazis has become clear. Elizabeth Taylor, who had bought a Van civilized way, and with less ill will? Of all people, it was the collector Leopold who, Gogh without paying any regard to its Since 1998 already, a Restitution Act totally involuntarily, first heightened public complicated past. was passed in Austria to provide for this awareness of this matter and of its scope. In the When, on the initiative of a US-Under touchy issue. This summer, it has been fall of 1997, he loaned Schiele's “Bildnis Wally” Secretary of State, a conference on announced, the Act is to be amended. ("Portrait of Wally") Holocaust-era assets took place in However, critics like the Viennese lawyer Washington in December of 1998, the Alfred Noll, who represents Nazi victims, general public focused on the issue of lost complain that the law contains gaps and art belonging to Jewish owners in will most likely continue to be flawed particular. It was taken as a sensation that because it turns each restitution into a “pure representatives from all 44 participating act of mercy” since victims have no countries signed an important document enforceable legal claim. that later became known as the Moreover, the Act only applies to the “Washington Principles“. These property held by the federal government. Principles express the commitment by the Extending the duty of restitution to private countries to reappraise questionable cases ownership would be possible under the in national institutions and to offer fair Austrian constitution, according to another solutions irrespective of whether or not the expert opinion by the Israelite Cultural matter has become time-barred. Community. Now, nearly ten years after the That has Leopold thundering again: It Washington Conference, it is time to assess would be tantamount to an "expropriation". The Leopold Museum in Vienna what. in the meantime. has been achieved For decades, he grumbles, nobody took an Mysterious treasures all over the world. The are interest in his paintings, but now that prices organizing a new meeting to take place in have risen by up to 20,000 per cent,

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Culture

December of 2008 – however, one that will not carry any greater significance. Instead of a political conference as had been held in Washington, it will be a conference of provenance researchers. Experts talking, with no consequences. The German Bundestag parliament has recently turned down the proposal for an event that will have greater weight. It is quite conceivable that other countries will now grab the opportunity to make their mark with a true follow-up summit. After all, there is quite a bit to discuss. After the Washington Conference, many works of art have been restituted. Particularly in Germany, a lot has happened and museums have given up – not always voluntarily –works that they had possessed with no legal basis. But it was only the restitution of the Expressionist painting “Berliner Strassenszene” ("Berlin Street Scene") by the Brücke painter (1880 – 1938) that developed into an actually political case. The aggressiveness of the dispute over the painting indicates a strange change of the general mood as far as issues of restitution are concerned. Apparently, many stakeholders would like to close off once and for all the issue of compensation. For a long time, the painting hung in the Brücke Museum in Berlin. When Anita Halpin, a descendant of the owner living in London, demanded its return in 2004, a clique of art dealers and museum sponsors raised doubts about the legitimacy of her claim. The protest took on the character of a campaign. A special committee of the Berlin local parliament (Abgeordnetenhaus) found, however, that the picture had been handed over to Halpin quite legitimately. In the meantime, she has had it sold at action, and was criticized for that as well. Originally, the painting belonged to her grandfather, who died in 1931. His widow, Thekla Hess, moved to Switzerland, but her mother stayed in Germany. The Gestapo used Halpin’s mother to extort the painting from Thekla Hess. Hess had to return some of the art collection to Germany, where the Kirchner painting was sold; however, the agreed sum seems never to have been paid. In the controversy surrounding the restitution of the painting – and this is the real scandal – the situation of the family was misrepresented, the tone became rough, frequently even insulting. Victims and their lawyers were generally accused of practically looting German museums out of greed. "They say Holocaust and mean money," Bernd Schultz, the head of the Berlin auction house Villa Grisebach, berated the “unscrupulous and savvy restitution lawyers” in an article for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine" newspaper. Georg Heuberger, head of the Jewish Claims Conference in Germany, recalls other disparaging comments, "The limits of what is permissible have been passed." What he finds particularly shameful is that the persecution of Thekla Hess and that of her son, Hans, has been belittled. "These people created the impression that they even had a good time of it." Of course some lawyers have specialized D E R S P I E G E L 1 4 / 2 0 0 8 163

in researching such cases in the meantime, he continues. "The museums often make investigations difficult. So how else are the descendants supposed to get information?" In any case, those works of arts that are owned by private individuals are as good as out of the victims’ reach everywhere. The deadlines for filing claims have expired long ago – even if there is documentary proof of Jewish provenance. In the end, it is all a matter of ethics. Rather more exemplary than in the case of the Leopold Collection was the conduct of the privately-run Kunsthalle in Emden, which the publisher Henri Nannen founded. An Expressionist painting was returned to the family of the Wroclaw lawyer Ismar Littmann, who had killed himself under the pressure of persecution. The largest part of his collection had been confiscated in a procedure that is called “persecution-dependent expropriation” these days. The destinies that come to light when restitution claims are lodged are always tragic. Countless collections in half of Europe were brutally taken apart, and Old Masters, Impressionists and works of classic were scattered to the winds. To top it all, the Nazis even made money from avant-garde art, which they had defamed as "degenerate" and which they sold, often via Switzerland. And after the end of World War II, a lot of art started appearing on the market from very dark sources. And today? Coming to terms with this past is still surprisingly difficult. One example: after the Germans had invaded Hungary in 1944, the banker and entrepreneur Baron Mor Lipot Herzog hid his family's collection, which included paintings by Velázquez, Renoir and Manet, in one of his factories. The SS criminal Adolf Eichmann sniffed them out. He sent many paintings to Germany, while some remained in Hungarian museums and others were brought there after the war. Herzog's granddaughter, Martha Nierenberg, is now an old lady who lives in New York. She took the Hungarian government to court and won her case – but this has not meant that she received her family's art still located there. The art investigator Toussaint reports that recently, the family inquired about his services, and that he is considering whether he could justify taking this matter on, since actually, he has "got enough to keep him busy for the next five to ten years." If all countries that had offered ten years ago to do research, to make the issue transparent and to ensure fair solutions were to keep their promise, the nerve-racking fights of the relatives could finally end because they are no longer necessary. And it might well be that collector Leopold would end up owning fewer paintings.

ULRIKE KNÖFEL, MARION KRASKE

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