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BN 11/05 09:32 *ARTWORKS WILL NOT BE LISTED ONLINE, PROSECUTOR SAYS BN 11/05 09:31 *MANY ARTWORKS WERE NOT KNOWN BEFORE, OTHERS BELIEVED LOST BN 11/05 09:31 *HOFFMANN SAYS ART IS OF EXTRAORDINARY QUALITY, WELL PRESERVED BN 11/05 09:29 *LEGAL SITUATION OF SEIZED ART IS `VERY COMPLEX' PROSECUTOR SAYS BN 11/05 09:26 *RESEARCH INTO THE ARTWORKS IS STILL UNDERWAY, HOFFMANN SAYS BN 11/05 09:25 *ARTWORKS WERE SEIZED FROM MUSEUMS, OTHERS IN JEWS' FORCED SALES BN 11/05 09:25 *SOME WORKS IN HOARD WERE CLEARLY SEIZED BY NAZIS, HOFFMANN SAYS BN 11/05 09:16 *MUNICH ART HOARD INCLUDED CANALETTO, NOT JUST `DEGENERATE' ART BN 11/05 09:15 *ART HISTORIAN HOFFMANN SAYS NOT ONLY MODERN, ALSO MEDIEVAL ART BN 11/05 09:13 *BECKMANN, DIX, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, PICASSO AMONG ARTISTS IN HOARD BN 11/05 09:12 *PAINTINGS WERE IN GOOD CONDITION, CUSTOMS AUTHORITIES SAY BN 11/05 09:11 *GERMAN AUTHORITIES SEARCHED MUNICH ART APARTMENT IN 2012
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Nazi-Seized Stash in Munich Includes Unknown Dix, Chagall (1) 2013-11-05 10:57:56.978 GMT
(Updates with more artworks, starting in first paragraph. For more Bloomberg Muse, click on MUSE <GO>.)
By Eva von Schaper and Catherine Hickley Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A stash of art uncovered in a Munich apartment in 2012 included works that were previously unknown, among them a self-portrait by Otto Dix and a Chagall gouache, said Meike Hoffmann, an art historian investigating the hoard. The cache of 1,400 paintings, lithographs, drawings and prints was discovered by authorities investigating Cornelius Gurlitt on suspicion of tax evasion. It included works by Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Oskar Kokoschka, Franz Marc, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Max Liebermann, said Siegfried Kloeble of the Munich customs authorities. Some works were seized by the Nazis from German museums -- others may have been sold by Jewish families under duress, Hoffmann said. Reinhard Nemetz, the chief prosecutor in Augsburg, said authorities won’t publish a list online. “The legal situation of the artworks is very complex,” Nemetz said at a news conference today in Augsburg. “We don’t want a situation where there are 10 claims for one painting.” The Nazis seized more than 20,000 modern artworks that they saw as contrary to Aryan ideals from German museums. They also stole hundreds of thousands of artworks from Jewish families. “Without a list, we can’t do anything,” said David Rowland of Rowland & Petroff in New York, who represents the heirs of Curt Glaser, an art critic and collector. “They should put a list on the Internet with photos.”
Good Condition
Some of the art dates back as far as the 16th century. It was stored correctly and in good condition, Hoffmann said. It also includes a long-lost Courbet painting that was auctioned in 1949 and a Franz Marc landscape with horses. A Matisse is known to have been seized in France from the Rosenberg family, Hoffmann said. Cornelius Gurlitt was held by officials investigating possible money laundering during a random check on a train from Switzerland to Munich. The investigation led to his Munich home in 2012, Kloeble said. The Munich apartment is where Gurlitt kept the artworks handed down by his father, Hildebrand, according to Focus magazine, which first reported the story. Based in Hamburg before World War II, Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895-1956), was one of just four art dealers permitted by the Nazi authorities to sell artworks seized as “degenerate” from German museums from the end of 1938 to 1941. Though they were instructed to sell them abroad for hard currency, the four passed many on to fellow German dealers or kept them for themselves, according to the Free University’s “Degenerate Art” website.
Muse highlights include Martin Gayford on European art, Greg Evans on U.S. television, Amanda Gordon’s Scene Last Night and Philip Boroff on U.S. theater.
For Related News and Information: Top Stories: TOP<GO> For top arts and lifestyle stories, MUSE <GO> For stories about Nazi-looted art, TNI ART HOLOCAUST <GO> For stories by Catherine Hickley: NI HICKLEY <GO>
--Editors: Mark Beech, Farah Nayeri
To contact the reporters on this story: Eva von Schaper in Munich at +49-89-24447-8801 or evonschaper@bloomberg.net or Catherine Hickley in Berlin at +49-30-700106-224, or chickley@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at +1-212-617-3486 or mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.