Max Stern Art Restitution Project: Dr. Willi Korte On Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art, Sales Under Duress, and the German Advisory Commission

Warfare of Art & Law Podcast

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Show Notes:
3:30 Dr. Korte’s initial inquiries in Düsseldorf
4:00 Galerie Stern dealt in Old Masters and 19th / early 20th Century artists
4:30 Dr. Korte’s research of Nazi records and post-war restitution claims
5:50 Stern inventory sold in November 1937 at Lempertz auction house in Cologne
7:00 Stern’s 1933-1938 inventory
9:30 post-war restitution proceeding confirmed 1937 auction was a sale under duress
11:30 Stern’s art pursued as stolen property
12:50 Max Stern Art Restitution Project unique as a foundation only
13:30 Girl from the Sabiner Mountains sold at the 1937 Lempertz Auction; surfaced in Rhode Island auction house
14:50 Civil suit for Sabiner Mountains focused on 1937 Auction as stolen property
Phases I – III Approach of Restitution:
16:20 Phase I: Sabiner Mountains case argument that sales under duress are the same as seizures and confiscations, and Stern’s 228 paintings were sold as stolen property
17:30 Stern approached Customs Service at U.S. Attorney’s Office in S.D.N.Y. to have remaining 227 paintings reported to Interpol as stolen property
19:50 August 1935 Order from Nazis required Stern to shut gallery, creating period of persecution that ran until 1937 auction
21:25 Phase II: Italian gallery that held painting sold in 1935-1937 period in its collection ignored requests from project that painting be returned; painting then seized while it was in New York; stipulation signed confirmed work sold in 1936 was sold under duress
23:10 Phase III: 2019 German Advisory Commission recommended return of painting sold by Stern in 1936, “Uhlans on the March”, and concluded Stern was under duress as of spring/summer 1933
25:00 Project will now pursue hundreds of paintings sold as of mid-1933
27:00 Private collectors in Europe not held to German Advisory Commission’s recommendations/Washington Principles; German collector of Sicilian landscape by Andreas Achenbach sold by Stern in 1937 sued for its listing with Interpol.
35:00 Dynamic within Germany’s Commission appointment of two Jewish members.
36:45 Paintings sought are mostly on German art market with some Dutch Old Masters expected to appear on European/ U.S. markets.
43:20 Bruegel painting returned by the Dutch Government.
44:30 recent criticism of Dutch commission may invite requests to Dutch Museum.
47:00 Dutch government may have thought these claims were only P.R. problem.
48:00 Jewish gallery owners are challenging group seeking restitution.
52:45 justice is part of the Project’s work and losses that have occurred thus far.
58:00 Stern Cooperation Project is a German-Canadian-Israeli scholarly research project focused on the Stern family.
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© Stephanie Drawdy [2024]