PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release -- November 5, 1998
Contact E. Randol Schoenberg 1-213-473-2045
New Legislation Could Result In Return Of Famous
Paintings In Austrian Museums
Los Angeles -- Legislation approved today by the Austrian parliament may result in the return of several well-known paintings in Austrian museums that formerly belonged to one of Austria's wealthiest Jewish families.
On November 5, 1998, the Austrian parliament passed new legislation directing the government to return artworks which were confiscated by the Nazis, or which were donated or sold under duress during and after the Nazi period. The Austrian government has established a scientific commission to investigate the provenance of artworks obtained by federal museums, with the hope that the government will begin returning artworks by the end of the year.
Maria Altmann née Bloch-Bauer, born in Vienna and residing in Los Angeles, is named as a beneficiary in the last will of her uncle, the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who died November 13, 1945 in Zürich, Switzerland. "My uncle died a broken man," said Mrs. Altmann. "All of his possessions had been taken away from him by the Nazis. His intention was that my brother, sister and I would inherit whatever was recovered after the War."
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was the majority share-holder of one of the largest sugar factories in Central Europe. He and his wife, Adele, owned an impressive art collection, which included a world-renowned porcelain collection, and paintings by Austrian masters, including Rudolf von Alt, August Pettenkofen, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Gustav Klimt.
Adele was at the center of Viennese society, and in her home, she entertained artists, writers, doctors, composers, musicians and intellectuals. She was a wealthy patron of Klimt, who also used her as a model. "After Adele died in 1925," Mrs. Altmann said, "my uncle set up a memorial room for her in their Palais on the Elisabethstrasse in Vienna, in which he placed six of their seven Klimt paintings, including the two portraits of Aunt Adele." The "golden" portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer is one of the most famous of the modern Austrian master's paintings, estimated to be worth in excess of $30 million.
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer's property was confiscated by the Nazis after the invasion of Austria in March, 1938. Ferdinand, who was Jewish, was living in his estate in Czechoslovakia at the time. Before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, he fled to Zürich, Switzerland where he remained throughout the war. Several of Ferdinand's paintings were sent to Adolf Hitler and his henchman Hermann Goering for their private collections. Others were sent to German museums in Munich or Dresden, or selected for Hitler's planned museum in Linz, Austria. In 1939, Ferdinand's estate in Brezan, Czechoslovakia was occupied by Reinhard Heydrich, before the latter's assassination.
In 1941, the Nazis auctioned off Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer's porcelain collection, paintings and other property to pay special taxes the Nazis levied against Ferdinand and his sugar factory. Some of Ferdinand's Klimt paintings were then sold or given to the Austrian Gallery by Ferdinand's lawyer in Vienna, Dr. Erich Führer. The pretext for the gifts to the Austrian Gallery was a clause in Adele's 1923 will in which she asked that her husband donate the paintings to the Austrian Gallery after his death.
After Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer died in 1945, just months after the conclusion of the War, the Austrian Gallery resisted returning the Klimt paintings to Ferdinand's heirs, to whom he had willed his entire estate. The heirs' attorney, Dr. Gustav Rinesch, was told that Adele's will had provided that the Klimt paintings would be donated to the Austrian Gallery, and that Ferdinand had agreed to abide by her wishes.
After looking at Adele's will, Dr. Rinesch concluded that the clause concerning the Klimt paintings was not legally enforceable, but advised his clients not to contest the matter so that the Austrian Gallery and Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monument Office) would not oppose the return of other artworks to the heirs. (In many cases after the War, the Bundesdenkmalamt refused to permit the exportation of valuable artworks that had been confiscated from Jewish families, forcing their exiled owners to "donate" some artworks in exchange for permission to export others.)
After a number of years of negotiations with the Austrian Gallery and the Bundesdenkmalamt, Ferdinand's heirs received only a handful of paintings and a small fraction of the famed porcelain collection, but the Klimt paintings, the Palais and other valuables were never returned. Given the high prices obtained at recent auctions -- a Klimt landscape similar to one in the Bloch-Bauer collection sold last October in London for £14 million -- the value of the unreturned artworks and property could well exceed $100 million.
"My uncle certainly would have wanted us to inherit his property, and would never have donated anything to Austria after the way he had been treated," said Mrs. Altmann. "After 60 years, we thought all these things were lost. I am gratified that the present Austrian government is fair enough to rectify the injustice of sixty years ago. I only regret that my dear brother and sister did not live to see this day."
Mrs. Altmann has retained E. Randol Schoenberg of the Los Angeles office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (tel: 1-213-473-2045, fax: 1-213-473-2222, email: schoera@ffhsj.com), to act as her attorney. "At the moment, it is unclear what properties will be returned to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer," said Mr. Schoenberg. "The government has not yet responded to our inquiries, nor have the researchers investigating the history of the paintings asked the family for any information. But we are hopeful that with the new legislation, the government will act quickly to return all of the looted artworks and property to the family."
"This is a courageous step for Austria," said Schoenberg. "Austria is not the only country holding artworks of dubious provenance, but it may be the only country in Europe committed to giving them back to their rightful owners."
