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First Persecuted, Then Defrauded

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First Persecuted, Then Defrauded Culture ART 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 paintings 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 Vienna. 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 painting". 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 Egon Schiele 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 Rudolf Leopold, Austria'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 Leopold Museum, 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. 160 D E R S P I E G E L 1 4 / 2 0 0 8 “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 drawings. 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” ("Portrait of 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), drawing “Sich aufstützende Frau in demanding that the Republic of Austria ►“Akt eines jungen Madchens” ("Nude 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? D E R S P I E G E L 1 4 / 2 0 0 8 161 Auction of the restituted Kirchner painting “Berliner Strassenszene” (“Berlin 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". Gustav Klimt (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.
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