Relatives of art historian fight with Munich over Klee painting
The mayor of Munich says he's not going to allow the return of a Paul Klee painting, seized during Nazi rule from a German museum, to the relatives of the art historian who lent it to the museum.
Sumpflegende (Swamp Legend) was one of 15 works on loan to the Provinzialmuseum in Hanover in 1926 by Sophie Lissitzky-Kueppers. Shortly after, she left Germany to join the Russian artist El Lissitzky near Moscow, and married him.
Now her heirs are, once again, demanding the return of the Klee painting, estimated to be worth more than $6.2 million Cdn.
Stefan Hauf, a spokesman for Munich Mayor Christian Ude, told Bloomberg News on Friday that the city is standing by a 1993 court decision that rejected the heirs' claim. Hauf also noted a law that bans local authorities from giving away property.
Munich officials say the painting was part of a Nazi exhibition of "Degenerate Art," exhibited in the city in 1937. Those works are not included in the international guidelines for the restitution of looted art.
Nazis upheld Swamp Legend as the work of a mentally ill person.
The regime sold the painting in 1941 and it changed hands several times before it was purchased by the City of Munich and the Gabriele Muenter Foundation in 1982. The work of art hangs in the city's Lenbachhaus museum.
Relatives to continue battle in the U.S. courts
Lawyer Christoph von Berg, who represents some of the relatives of Lissitzky-Kueppers, says his clients will pursue the claim with the assistance of the New York-based Holocaust Claims Processing Office and through the civil courts in the U.S.
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Sumpflegende (Swamp Legend) was one of 15 works on loan to the Provinzialmuseum in Hanover in 1926 by Sophie Lissitzky-Kueppers. Shortly after, she left Germany to join the Russian artist El Lissitzky near Moscow, and married him.
Now her heirs are, once again, demanding the return of the Klee painting, estimated to be worth more than $6.2 million Cdn.
Stefan Hauf, a spokesman for Munich Mayor Christian Ude, told Bloomberg News on Friday that the city is standing by a 1993 court decision that rejected the heirs' claim. Hauf also noted a law that bans local authorities from giving away property.
Munich officials say the painting was part of a Nazi exhibition of "Degenerate Art," exhibited in the city in 1937. Those works are not included in the international guidelines for the restitution of looted art.
Nazis upheld Swamp Legend as the work of a mentally ill person.
The regime sold the painting in 1941 and it changed hands several times before it was purchased by the City of Munich and the Gabriele Muenter Foundation in 1982. The work of art hangs in the city's Lenbachhaus museum.
Relatives to continue battle in the U.S. courts
Lawyer Christoph von Berg, who represents some of the relatives of Lissitzky-Kueppers, says his clients will pursue the claim with the assistance of the New York-based Holocaust Claims Processing Office and through the civil courts in the U.S.