HEIRS FILE SUIT AGAINST AUSTRIA
FOR RETURN OF KLIMT PAINTINGS
Vienna, Austria, September 14, 1999

Several heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer have filed suit in Vienna, Austria, seeking the return of five paintings by Gustav Klimt which were looted by the Nazis during WWII. The suit was filed in response to the Austrian government's recent refusal to return the five works.

In July, Austrian federal minister Elisabeth Gehrer wrote to the heirs that she would not return the paintings. She stated that the heirs should file a lawsuit if they disagreed with her decision. "The heirs were given no other choice but to file this suit," said E. Randol Schoenberg, the heirs' American attorney. "All of our efforts to initiate negotiations of a settlement or arbitrate the matter were rebuffed."

The five Klimt paintings, currently housed in the Austrian gallery's Belvedere Museum in Vienna, are estimated to be worth well over $100 million. Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer were patrons of the great Austrian artist, who died in 1918, and the two portraits of Adele are considered his finest. The 1907 "gold" portrait is one of the most reproduced paintings in the world, with an estimated value of $50 million or more.

In 1938, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer fled Austria, finding refuge in Switzerland, where he remained until his death in 1945. His art collection  immediately attracted the attention of the Nazis. Two of the Klimt paintings were traded to the Austrian Gallery in 1941 during the Nazi liquidation of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer's estate. Another work was purchased by the museum in 1943. Two other paintings arrived at the Austrian Gallery in 1948, as part of a deal for export permits for other confiscated artworks. Last year, Austria passed a law declaring such transactions immoral extortion by Austria's post-war government, and promised to return artworks in federal collections that had been obtained in such a manner.

However, in June, a government committee decided not to return the valuable Klimt paintings, citing the will of Adele Bloch-Bauer, who died in 1925, which requested that her husband donate the works to the museum after his death. The heirs maintain that the language of the will was legally unenforceable, and that in any case, the paintings were stolen from Ferdinand by the Nazis during his lifetime. Ferdinand's last will from October 1945 leaves his entire estate to his nieces and nephew and did not make any donation to the museum.

"The lawsuit seeks a judicial resolution of the legal issues, which will force the government committee to reconsider its decision and return the paintings to the heirs," said attorney Stefan Gulner, who represents the heirs in Austria.

For further information, please visit the homepage at http://www.adele.at
or contact E. Randol Schoenberg in Los Angeles, tel: 1-213-473-2045, fax: 1-213-473-2222, e-mail: schoera@ffhsj.com; or Dr. Stefan Gulner in Vienna, tel: 43-1-513-4093, fax: 43-1-513-4092-74; e-mail: office@gulner.at.