After seven years of litigation, which included a trip to the
United States Supreme Court,
Los Angeles’
closely knit Austrian-Jewish émigré community has managed to
recover art works seized by the Nazis.
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Due to threats by the Nazis, many of
Vienna’s
Jewish intelligensia fled to
Los Angeles
in the late 1930's. Included in the group were the renowned
composer Arnold Schoenberg and Maria Altmann, the niece of
Adele Bauer. The ties remained close, and when Altmann
decided to initiate litigation to recover portraits of
Altman’s aunt, Adle painted by art deco artist Gustav Klimt,
Scheoenberg’s grandson, Randol, a Los Angeles lawyer, agreed
to lead the fight.
The pictures in question were
painted in the early 1900's by Gustav Klimt and featured a
portrait of Adele Bauer painted in 1907. The Nazis during
World War II seized the Bauer art collection, which eventually
landed in the Austrian State Museum.
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The Austrian government
resisted return of the works to the Altmann’s claiming that a
foreign government was not subject to litigation in US courts.
However, the Klimt portrait was the jewel of the Vienna
museum's collection and was used commercially to promote
tourism. Due to commercial exploitation of the art, the US
Supreme court held that litigation could proceed in the
states. Following arbitration the five works were awarded to
the heirs of Bauer. Because of the value of the paintings, the
Austrian government decided that purchase was out of the
question.
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The paintings were briefly
displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Eventually
the Bauer portrait was purchased for $135 million by Ron
Lauer, heir to the Estee Lauder fortune for his Neue Museum.
The Neue is a museum devoted to Austrian art, features a café
designed to capture the charm of turn of the century Viennese
cafes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Bloch
Bauer_I
http://www.neuegalerie.org/main.html?langkey=english
http://www.neuegalerie.org/main.html?langkey=english
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/arts/design/06klim.html
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/klimt/index.aspx
