“A Signature at Gunpoint Cannot Lead to a Valid Conveyance”
Monday, April 9, 2018 at 8:00AM 
Egon Schiele - Woman Hiding Her Face (click photo for larger image)“The Art Newspaper” reported on April 6th that London art dealer Richard Nagy has to return two Egon Schiele works worth $5 million dollars to heirs of Holocaust victims. Although Nagy argued that his purchase of the works was entirely legal, Justice Charles E. Ramos posited that the manner of the initial seizure of such works undermines this argument. “A signature at gunpoint cannot lead to a valid conveyance.”
The battles and debates over who legally holds title to works alleged to have been confiscated by the Nazis during WWII continue—as do the lawsuits over such art. In 2005, Massachusetts industrialist David Bakalar claimed ownership of yet another work by Schiele. That suit was won by Bakalar, on the grounds that the heirs of the original owners did not claim their right to title soon enough. According to the 2016 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act (HEAR)—claims can now be made on Nazi-looted work up to six years after they have been discovered.
In both cases noted here, the original owner of the art in question was Fritz Grünbaum.
Grünbaum was an Austrian Jewish cabaret artist, operetta and pop song writer, director, actor and master of ceremonies. He was also a well-known collector of Austrian modernist art. Of the more than 400 pieces he owned, 80 of them were works created by Egon Schiele (1890-1918). Grünbaum was killed in Dachau concentration camp in 1941.
In many such cases, proof of original ownership cannot be determined, nor can it be proven that such items were stolen by the Nazis. Richard Nagy intends to appeal the decision on the basis that evidence of seizure of the works by the Nazis does not exist.
Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was one of the leading figures of Austrian Expressionism, whose works embody an “unprecedented level of emotional and sexual directness and use of figural distortion in place of conventional notions of beauty”.
The work featured here is one of the two works awarded to Grünbaum’s heirs. You can read more about Schiele right here on What About Art?
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