Mondrian’s Heirs Are Suing the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a $100 Million Painting They Claim Was Stolen by the Nazis
The heirs of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian assert that a virtually 100-year-previous canvas by the De Stijl grasp at present in the assortment of the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork (PMA) was stolen by the Nazis. Now, they are suing to get the prized object back.
The painting, Composition With Blue (1926), is truly worth additional than $100 million, according to court paperwork.
It has been on view pretty much repeatedly due to the fact 1952, when it was bequeathed to the museum by famous the collector A.E. Gallatin, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which initial documented news of the lawsuit. Gallatin experienced obtained the artwork 13 many years prior from Buchholz Gallery in New York, one particular of the Nazis’ favored retailers for disposing of looted art.
In a assertion to Artnet Information, the museum described the circumstance as “meritless,” noting that equally the artist and his lone heir were conscious of the painting’s whereabouts after the war and hardly ever sought to reclaim it.
A law firm symbolizing the descendants of Mondrian’s heir, pal and fellow artist Harry Holtzman, filed a criticism in the Philadelphia County Court docket of Popular Pleas, on Friday, December 10, demanding that the portray be returned.
“This great work by Mondrian was seized by the Nazis,” said one particular of the estate’s trustees, Madalena Holtzman, in a assertion. “We are enormously dissatisfied that we have been compelled to take legal motion to implement our legal rights.”
A agent for the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork explained the museum “fully supports restoring artwork looted by the Nazi routine to its rightful owners” and has “done so in the previous.” (Previously this calendar year, the PMA restituted a Nazi-looted “pageant shield” to the Czech Republic.) This circumstance, nevertheless, is distinct due to the fact “the non-public belief that is suing the museum has no genuine claim” to the operate, the PMA spokesperson said.
Gallatin, who donated the painting to the museum, was a mate of Mondrian’s the PMA statements the artist was fully mindful that the collector owned and displayed the portray. He even volunteered to enable restore it at one level.
“We have no rationale now to query Mondrian’s conclusions or all those of his very good buddy and quick heir, Harry Holtzman, who for an additional 43 decades after Mondrian’s demise was fully informed that the Philadelphia Museum of Art owned and displayed the portray and hardly ever made a assert,” the spokesperson claimed.
Soon just after its completion in 1926, Composition With Blue was moved to a museum in Hanover, Germany. There, in 1937, it was seized by the Nazis as portion of a greater work to rid the nation of modern-day artwork. The piece was included in the party’s notorious “Degenerate Art” exhibition that very same yr.
The artwork was later on transferred to the possession of Karl Buchholz, a German dealer Hitler had appointed to market confiscated art, who subsequently despatched the canvas to his small business associate Curt Valentin in New York. It was from Valentin that Gallatin acquired the piece in 1939.
Fearing the increase of fascism throughout Europe, Mondrian had fled Paris for London in 1938, and then London for New York in 1940. Holtzman, an summary painter, sponsored Mondrian’s immigration into the United States, and the two grew to become near pals. On his demise in 1944, Mondrian left all his assets to Holtzman.
A consultant for the estate, which also submitted go well with very last year towards Germany’s Kunstmuseen Krefeld, did not promptly answer to an inquiry about why the heirs decided to reclaim the perform now, 70 years following it very first went on look at in Philadelphia.
Abide by Artnet Information on Fb:
Want to remain ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking information, eye-opening interviews, and incisive crucial takes that drive the discussion forward.
