Latest news with #RussianWarPrisoner
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Monumental' NYC ruling on Nazi-looted art tied to inspiration for Joel Grey character in ‘Cabaret'
The Art Institute of Chicago has likely spent more than a million dollars trying to keep its claws on a Nazi-looted drawing in a Manhattan case shaping up to be 'monumental' in the history of stolen works. The school's legal challenge to halt Manhattan prosecutors' pursuit of the swiped art backfired last month, when a judge effectively ruled the district attorney's office could hunt down such looted treasures if they ever pass through New York City — regardless of their current location. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Althea Drysdale's scathing decision against the art Institute came as the establishment has been fighting to keep a drawing by expressionist Egon Schiele titled 'Russian War Prisoner' — likely spending well more in the legal battle than the work's value. Her decision found that Nazi officials stole the work from the Viennese Jewish cabaret performer and art collector Fritz Grünbaum years before he was murdered in the Holocaust. Grünbaum served as an inspiration for Joel Grey's character in Hollywood's Oscar-winning classic 'Cabaret.' The institute did not do its due diligence in determining the work's history of ownership, the judge said. 'This Court cannot conclude that Respondent's inquiries into the provenance of Russian War Prisoner were reasonable,' Drysdale wrote in her decision. But critically, the ruling also found that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has jurisdiction to recover the art from Chicago because the work was purchased and displayed by a Manhattan gallery in 1956. The DA's office has not traditionally had to go this far in the courts to retrieve such a work. Raymond Dowd, a lawyer and stolen-art expert who is working to return the stolen Grünbaum collection to the collector's descendants, called the judge's decision 'extraordinary. '[Drysdale's] decision is monumental for the world because it says if it passes through New York City, the court will retain jurisdiction, no matter where it goes,' Dowd told The Post. 'There's billions [of dollars] in Nazi-looted art hidden away,' Dowd said. 'All those people sitting on that stuff are not going to be sleeping as well since Drysdale's decision.' While most institutions holding Nazi-looted work — including 12 other Schiele pieces once owned by Grünbaum — have willingly returned the art, the Chicago museum brought the biggest legal challenge yet to Manhattan prosecutors' art hunt. Experts say the Windy City art house easily blew more than the value of the Schiele drawing, estimated by the DA's office to be $1.25 million, in its challenge. 'The Art Institute fought tooth and nail for well over two years,' Dowd said. 'That's a massive thing to do, an enormous financial investment. They wanted to cut off their jurisdiction. They wanted the DA to stick to New York.' The work is being seized in place as the museum appeals the decision, the DA's office said, adding it is 'pleased' with the ruling. Drysdale's decision is already 'the talk of the town,' said art lawyer and former prosecutor Georges Lederman to The Post. In addition to expanding the DA's jurisdiction, the court ruled that ownership questions, typically a civil matter, can be brought in criminal court when 'there is evidence of theft,' Lederman said. 'I think this is a warning to museums and to collectors to dig deeper,' said lawyer Leila Amineddoleh, who also teaches art law. But even in cases where 'the ethics could not be more clear,' Amineddoleh said she worries about the practicalities of such rulings. 'We are putting today's standards on prior acquisitions,' Amineddoleh said. 'These involve really complicated factual inquiries for scenarios that took place decades ago with very little paper [record].' But Lederman said, 'If I were an institution, a museum, I'd be very concerned at this point in time.' Bragg's office has recovered 12 out of the 76 Schiele artworks once owned by Grünbaum, an outspoken and unafraid critic of Adolf Hitler. Drysdale's ruling traces the history of 'Russian War Prisoner' from when Grünbaum lent the drawing for exhibits in 1925 and 1928 to his arrest and the seizure of his collection by Nazis in 1938. Grünbaum was then sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, where he was murdered three years later. While the dealer who sold the work to the Institute in the 1960s claimed that Grünbaum's sister-in-law sold the Schiele drawing after the war, Drysdale states in her ruling that no record supports that claim. That dealer, who also claimed Nazi's never seized Grünbaum's collection, was later revealed to be a 'prominent dealer in Nazi-looted art,' Drysdale wrote. 'Despite these vibrant red flags, it appears as though the Art Institute of Chicago did nothing further to corroborate the account of a man whose credibility had directly been called into question on this very issue,' the judge said in her decision. The art institute told The Post it is 'disappointed with the ruling.' 'There is significant evidence that demonstrates this work was not looted, and previous courts have found that evidence to be credible,' a rep said.
New York Post
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘Monumental' NYC ruling on Nazi-looted art tied to inspiration for Joel Grey character in ‘Cabaret'
The Art Institute of Chicago has likely spent more than a million dollars trying to keep its claws on a Nazi-looted drawing in a Manhattan case shaping up to be 'monumental' in the history of stolen works. The school's legal challenge to halt Manhattan prosecutors' pursuit of the swiped art backfired last month, when a judge effectively ruled the district attorney's office could hunt down such looted treasures if they ever pass through New York City — regardless of their current location. 8 This drawing, 'Russian War Prisoner' by Egon Schiele, was part of an art collection looted by the Nazis. Manhattan District Attorney's Office 8 Jewish Viennese cabaret performer and onetime owner Fritz Grünbaum was murdered in the Holocaust. New York Post Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Althea Drysdale's scathing decision against the art Institute came as the establishment has been fighting to keep a drawing by expressionist Egon Schiele titled 'Russian War Prisoner' — likely spending well more in the legal battle than the work's value. Her decision found that Nazi officials stole the work from the Viennese Jewish cabaret performer and art collector Fritz Grünbaum years before he was murdered in the Holocaust. Grünbaum served as an inspiration for Joel Grey's character in Hollywood's Oscar-winning classic 'Cabaret.' The institute did not do its due diligence in determining the work's history of ownership, the judge said. 'This Court cannot conclude that Respondent's inquiries into the provenance of Russian War Prisoner were reasonable,' Drysdale wrote in her decision. But critically, the ruling also found that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has jurisdiction to recover the art from Chicago because the work was purchased and displayed by a Manhattan gallery in 1956. The DA's office has not traditionally had to go this far in the courts to retrieve such a work. Raymond Dowd, a lawyer and stolen-art expert who is working to return the stolen Grünbaum collection to the collector's descendants, called the judge's decision 'extraordinary. '[Drysdale's] decision is monumental for the world because it says if it passes through New York City, the court will retain jurisdiction, no matter where it goes,' Dowd told The Post. 8 The Art Institute of Chicago sought to curtail the reach of Manhattan prosecutors, likely spending far more in legal fees than the value of the work itself, experts told The Post. Bumble Dee – 'There's billions [of dollars] in Nazi-looted art hidden away,' Dowd said. 'All those people sitting on that stuff are not going to be sleeping as well since Drysdale's decision.' While most institutions holding Nazi-looted work — including 12 other Schiele pieces once owned by Grünbaum — have willingly returned the art, the Chicago museum brought the biggest legal challenge yet to Manhattan prosecutors' art hunt. Experts say the Windy City art house easily blew more than the value of the Schiele drawing, estimated by the DA's office to be $1.25 million, in its challenge. 'The Art Institute fought tooth and nail for well over two years,' Dowd said. 'That's a massive thing to do, an enormous financial investment. They wanted to cut off their jurisdiction. They wanted the DA to stick to New York.' 8 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has returned 12 Schiele paintings so far to the Grünbaum family, in addition to hunting down numerous other looted artworks. LP Media The work is being seized in place as the museum appeals the decision, the DA's office said, adding it is 'pleased' with the ruling. Drysdale's decision is already 'the talk of the town,' said art lawyer and former prosecutor Georges Lederman to The Post. In addition to expanding the DA's jurisdiction, the court ruled that ownership questions, typically a civil matter, can be brought in criminal court when 'there is evidence of theft,' Lederman said. 8 Grünbaum descendant Judge Timothy Reif (second left) and family members pose at a news conference with the Manhattan DA's Office announcing the return of another Schiele work from Grünbaum's collection. Steven Hirsch 'I think this is a warning to museums and to collectors to dig deeper,' said lawyer Leila Amineddoleh, who also teaches art law. But even in cases where 'the ethics could not be more clear,' Amineddoleh said she worries about the practicalities of such rulings. 8 While imprisoned at the Nazi's Dachau death camp, 'fellow detainees remember Grünbaum employing his trademark wit and defiance to mock his captors and the conditions that he and other prisoners were subjected to,' Judge Drysdale wrote in her decision. New York Post 'We are putting today's standards on prior acquisitions,' Amineddoleh said. 'These involve really complicated factual inquiries for scenarios that took place decades ago with very little paper [record].' But Lederman said, 'If I were an institution, a museum, I'd be very concerned at this point in time.' Bragg's office has recovered 12 out of the 76 Schiele artworks once owned by Grünbaum, an outspoken and unafraid critic of Adolf Hitler. Drysdale's ruling traces the history of 'Russian War Prisoner' from when Grünbaum lent the drawing for exhibits in 1925 and 1928 to his arrest and the seizure of his collection by Nazis in 1938. 8 Bragg's office has made the pursuit of stolen art a major focus, with a massive team of experts devoted to researching suspected looted works. LP Media Grünbaum was then sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, where he was murdered three years later. While the dealer who sold the work to the Institute in the 1960s claimed that Grünbaum's sister-in-law sold the Schiele drawing after the war, Drysdale states in her ruling that no record supports that claim. That dealer, who also claimed Nazi's never seized Grünbaum's collection, was later revealed to be a 'prominent dealer in Nazi-looted art,' Drysdale wrote. 8 Another Schiele work, 'Girl with Black Hair,' was recovered from the Allen Museum of Art at Oberlin College and valued at approximately $1.5 million. LP Media 'Despite these vibrant red flags, it appears as though the Art Institute of Chicago did nothing further to corroborate the account of a man whose credibility had directly been called into question on this very issue,' the judge said in her decision. The art institute told The Post it is 'disappointed with the ruling.' 'There is significant evidence that demonstrates this work was not looted, and previous courts have found that evidence to be credible,' a rep said.
Axios
02-05-2025
- Axios
Egon Schiele's "Russian War Prisoner" stays at Art Institute of Chicago, for now
A New York judge ruled recently that Art Institute of Chicago has to surrender a hotly contested artwork that the Nazis allegedly looted, but an appellate judge issued an emergency stay this week, allowing the artwork to stay in Chicago, for now. Catch up quick: Fritz Grünbaum was a Jewish Austrian cabaret singer and art collector who had dozens of works by Egon Schiele, including a piece called "Russian War Prisoner." Grünbaum was murdered at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office alleges Nazis stole his art collection. But AIC says Grünbaum's sister-in-law inherited the collection, and "Russian War Prisoner" was sold to a series of galleries before the museum purchased it in 1966. What they're saying: "There is significant evidence that demonstrates this work was not looted and previous courts have found that evidence to be credible," museum spokesperson Megan Michienzi told Axios in a statement. "We have been granted a stay, allowing the work to remain in our custody while we continue exploring our options for appeal." Zoom in: "Russian War Prisoner" is not currently on display at the museum and is estimated to be worth about $1.25 million. Zoom out: Several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and Carnegie Museum of Art, as well as private collectors, have returned Schiele works to Grünbaum's heirs after the DA's office tracked them down.
CBS News
25-04-2025
- CBS News
New York judge orders Art Institute of Chicago surrender drawing stolen by Nazis
New York judge rules Art Institute of Chicago must give back art stolen by Nazis New York judge rules Art Institute of Chicago must give back art stolen by Nazis New York judge rules Art Institute of Chicago must give back art stolen by Nazis A New York judge has ruled the Art Institute of Chicago must surrender a 1916 drawing stolen from a Jewish art collector by Nazis in the Holocaust. A pencil and watercolor piece titled "Russian War Prisoner," by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele, was once owned by Jewish art collector Fritz Grünbaum, who died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. The Art Institute purchased the piece in 1966. New York investigators issued warrants two years ago to seize the piece, along with other artworks at other museums, because they said they had been stolen by the Nazis. Other pieces of Schiele's art from Grünbaum's collection were seized from the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburg and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio. The Art Institute disputed their evidence, but the New York Times now reports a judge has agreed the artwork could be considered stolen, so the Art Institute must give it up. contributed to this report.
Chicago Tribune
24-04-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Art Institute of Chicago told to surrender drawing to heirs of man killed in Nazi concentration camp
A judge in New York ruled on Wednesday that the Art Institute of Chicago must surrender a 1916 drawing by Egon Schiele to investigators who plan to return it to the heirs of a Jewish cabaret entertainer from Vienna who was murdered in a Nazi concentration camp in 1941. The drawing 'Russian War Prisoner' was purchased by the Art Institute in 1966, but investigators for the Manhattan district attorney's office had asserted that it and other works once owned by entertainer and art collector Fritz Grünbaum had been looted by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Many of the works created by Schiele, the Austrian Expressionist, that Grünbaum owned ended up in the hands of museums and collectors around the world. Grünbaum's heirs have spent years working to reclaim them. In her ruling, New York Supreme Court Judge Althea Drysdale said she agreed that the work had been stolen from Grünbaum by the Nazis. ' 'Russian War Prisoner' has been stolen property for the last 86 years,' she said in a 25-minute reading of her order from the bench. Over the past two years, other museums and private collectors had returned Schiele works to the heirs after being presented evidence by the investigators that they had been seized by the Nazis. But the Art Institute disputed that evidence and challenged the jurisdiction of the Manhattan district attorney to bring what was a criminal proceeding that treated the museum's Schiele as stolen property. In hearings last year, the district attorney's office accused the Chicago museum of ignoring evidence of an elaborate fraud undertaken to conceal that the artwork had been stolen from Grünbaum by the Nazis on the eve of World War II. The museum insisted there was no evidence to suggest the work had been stolen, and it challenged the authority of the investigators to lay claim to a painting that had been located beyond New York for 60 years, arguing that disputes like this are civil matters and that New York criminal law has no place in the discussion. Instead, it said, the drawing had legitimately passed from Grünbaum to his sister-in-law, who had sold it to a Swiss dealer after the war. Its refusal of the art unit's claims represented a sustained and very public battle threatening to undercut the trafficking unit's authority in this case — and by extension, many others. But in her 79-page ruling, Drysdale agreed with the investigators on all points. She found that the work could still be considered stolen property under New York law, that the criminal laws applied and that New York investigators had jurisdiction over the matter. The Manhattan investigators had argued they had jurisdiction because the Schiele works were owned by a New York gallery before being sold on to other owners. She also found that the Art Institute had failed to make reasonable inquiries about the work's provenance when it acquired the work and did not live up to its own standards for provenance research. 'We are disappointed with the ruling,' Megan Michienzi, a spokesperson for the museum, said in a statement. 'We are reviewing the court's decision and will look at all available options for appeal.' These options include applying for a stay on the handover of the work to investigators. Raymond Dowd, the lawyer for the Grünbaum heirs, welcomed the decision. 'This judge wrote a clear warning call to any people in the world who are hiding Nazi looted art that you had better not bring it anywhere near New York. Ever,' he said. The Art Institute routinely displayed the work during its many years at the museum until it was seized in place by investigators in 2023 on the basis of a warrant signed by Drysdale. In her decision, she not only discussed the law but also the history of the work, of Grünbaum and of the artist who created the drawing. 'Throughout his storied career, Grünbaum was an outspoken critic of the treatment of Jews in Austria,' she wrote. 'This advocacy, coupled with his Jewish heritage and his fame within Vienna's performing arts industry, would lead to his capture, imprisonment at Dachau Concentration Camp, and murder at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.' At the center of the dispute was the question of what happened to the drawing and other Schiele works when they were deposited by Grünbaum's family at a storage facility in Vienna in 1938. Investigators in the Manhattan district attorney's art trafficking unit maintained that this was tantamount to surrendering them to the Nazis, who they say controlled the warehouse. The museum said that while the storage company had been 'affiliated' with the Nazi regime, it 'also provided lawful storage and moving services to Jewish families' including to Grünbaum's sister-in-law, Mathilde Lukacs, who the museum argued had inherited the drawing and others from the entertainer's collection. The dealer who brought 'Russian War Prisoner' and other Schieles once owned by Grünbaum to the New York art market in the 1950s, Eberhard Kornfeld, said he had bought them from Lukacs. The museum said it believed his account to be credible. But the New York investigators worked to compile evidence that the judge embraced as a convincing rebuttal of Kornfeld's account. She noted that investigators dismissed as forgeries the several invoices that Kornfeld produced as evidence of his transactions with Lukacs. On some the signature for her name was misspelled, for example. 'It's highly improbable that Mathilde Lukacs ever obtained proper title to 'Russian War Prisoner,' ' Drysdale said, and she suggested the museum needed to have done more to investigate the work's ownership trail. 'They instead relied upon the assurances of a discredited art dealer with an obvious self-serving agenda,' she wrote in her ruling. Before Manhattan investigators entered the debate, the Grünbaum artworks had already been the subject of considerable civil litigation in which other courts have come to varying conclusions. In 2018, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled in the case of two other Schiele drawings that Grünbaum never sold or surrendered any works before his death, and that they were indeed looted by the Nazis, making his heirs their true owners. In another civil case, a federal court ruled on procedural grounds that the Grünbaum heirs came forward too late to lay claim to the works and described Kornfeld's account as credible. 'Russian War Prisoner' is also the subject of a separate civil case in federal court in New York in which the Art Institute is arguing it has good title to the drawing. Dowd, who represents the Grünbaum heirs, said that he did not think 'the federal procedure survives' Drysdale's decision.
