Restituted Nazi paintings sold in New York
| A collection of more than 30 Old Masters looted from a Dutch dealer by the Nazis during World War II and returned to his heirs last year fetched almost 10 million dollars at auction Thursday April 19, 2007. The 31 lots sold for a total of 9.7 million dollars, Christie's auction house said, with a river landscape by Salomon van Ruysdael the top-selling lot, bought for 2.2 million dollars, well below its estimate of three to five million. The lots were part of a collection of 200 artworks looted by the Nazis in 1940 and restituted to Marei von Saher, the daughter-in-law of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, by the Dutch government last year. Other works from the collection, which features Dutch Old Masters from the 15th to 19th centuries as well as works from 16th century Germany and 18th century France, are to go on sale in London in July and Amsterdam in November. "The Dutch government's return of these pictures was a historic event for us and for all families whose possessions were stolen during the Holocaust era," Von Saher said in a statement. She said she was pleased with Thursday's sale. "It was also a milestone in my family's mission to restore the legacy of Jacques Goudstikker and to recover the property that was stolen from his gallery," she added. |
Marc Porter from Christie's described the collection as of
"exceptional historical importance," while
director Nicholas Hall said it was "arguably the most
important collection of Old Master pictures ever
restituted."
The paintings were looted when Nazi forces invaded the
Netherlands in 1940. Goudstikker fled the
country with his wife and son and was forced to abandon
his business and 1,400 works of art. However, he took
with him a black notebook that recorded details of over
1,000 of his pictures and proved essential in the search
for his lost works.
While the Goudstikkers eventually managed to escape to
the United States, Jacques Goudstikker died
on the journey. According to Christie's, Luftwaffe
commander Hermann Goering was among the officers
who looted Goudstikker's gallery, taking some works
back to Germany.
And while some 280 paintings from the original
collection were returned after the war, Dutch
authorities held on to the paintings and incorporated
them into the Dutch national collection.
"exceptional historical importance," while
director Nicholas Hall said it was "arguably the most
important collection of Old Master pictures ever
restituted."
The paintings were looted when Nazi forces invaded the
Netherlands in 1940. Goudstikker fled the
country with his wife and son and was forced to abandon
his business and 1,400 works of art. However, he took
with him a black notebook that recorded details of over
1,000 of his pictures and proved essential in the search
for his lost works.
While the Goudstikkers eventually managed to escape to
the United States, Jacques Goudstikker died
on the journey. According to Christie's, Luftwaffe
commander Hermann Goering was among the officers
who looted Goudstikker's gallery, taking some works
back to Germany.
And while some 280 paintings from the original
collection were returned after the war, Dutch
authorities held on to the paintings and incorporated
them into the Dutch national collection.
| The heirs to the collection began an eight-year legal battle to win back the works in 1998. Von Saher remains committed to tracking down other works that were looted from the original collection and are believed to be spread around the world. Art recovery specialist Clemens Toussaint is among those helping Von Saher locate missing parts of the collection. "This is perhaps the most comprehensive research project ever undertaken to track down a single-owner art collection looted by the Nazis, and it is our goal to find every single work," he said. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Provenance Author Gustqve Courbet 1819-1877 Gift from the artist to Clément Laurier [1831-1878].[1] Private collection, Poitiers, France, by 1935.[2] (Paul Rosenberg et Cie., Paris), by 1937;[3] (Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York); sold June 1947 to Marie N. Harriman [1903-1970] and W. Averell Harriman [1891-1986], New York;[4] The W. Averell Harriman Foundation, New York; gift 1972 to NGA. [1] Letter from Robert Fernier to David Rust, dated 31 July 1972, in NGA curatorial files. [2] Lent to Gustave Courbet, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1935, no. 44, from a private collection in Poitiers. [3] Exhibited at Paul Rosenberg Galleries in Paris in 1937. It was deposited with part of the Rosenberg collection at the Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie in Libourne, from which it was confiscated by the Nazi's ERR on 28 April 1941 (see Rosenberg claim file, National Archives RG260/Box 743, copies in NGA curatorial files). Documents from the National Archives in Washington indicate that the painting had been selected by Hermann Goering on 14 September 1941 from the Jeu de Paume (OSS Consolidated Interrogation Report #2, The Goering Collection, 15 September 1945, Attachment 5, Liste der für die Sammlung des Reichsmarschalls Hermann Göring abgegebenen Kunstgegenstände, dated 20 October 1942, no. 52, National Archives RG239/Entry 73/Box 78, copy in NGA curatorial files). The records of the Munich Central Collecting Point indicate that the painting was recovered by the Allies and restituted to France on 29 January 1946 (Munich property card #5836/788; French Receipt for Cultural Objects no. IIIa, item no. 167, National Archives RG260/Box 503 and RG260/Box 287, copies in NGA curatorial files). The painting was returned to the Rosenbergs on 17 May 1946 (see correspondence dated 23 June 2000 from the French Ministere des Affiaires Étrangeres in NGA curatorial files.) [4] See Harriman collection cards in NGA curatorial files. |