The city of Düsseldorf has reached a settlement with the heirs of Max Stern, a Jewish art dealer forced to flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s, ending a years-long battle over a painting with disputed provenance .
The artwork, Wilhelm von Schadow’s family portrait from 1830 The artist’s children, has belonged to the city of Düsseldorf for more than six decades. But in recent years, the late dealer’s foundation has tried to claim it, saying Stern was forced to sell the painting under duress.
Under the new agreement, Düsseldorf will return von Schadow’s work to the Dr. Max and Iris Stern Foundation on the condition that the city can repurchase it immediately. Terms of the settlement, including the amount the city paid to buy back the artwork, were not disclosed, according to The arts journalwho first reported the matter.
In a statement, Düsseldorf Mayor Stephan Keller said he was satisfied with the “just and fair solution” between the parties and that von Schadow’s work “will remain in Düsseldorf”. He added that the painting will be on display at the city’s Museum Kunstpalast from August this year.
Stern took over Galerie Stern, the Düsseldorf-based business founded by his father, in 1934. By order of the Nazi government, he was forced to close the gallery in 1937, by which time works of art from his holdings were been confiscated or sold at auction. .
With a single suitcase in hand, Stern fled to London and was first interned in a refugee camp. Eventually the country allowed him to immigrate to Montreal, where he settled and worked as a director at the Dominion Gallery of Fine Art. In 1947, Stern and his wife became sole owners of the gallery and quickly established a reputation for exhibiting the work of young Canadian artists.
After the war, the dealer attempted to find the works of art confiscated from him in Germany, but his efforts were largely unsuccessful. Stern died in 1987, when his holdings were transferred to Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal, as well as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The three schools later founded the Project for the restitution of works of art by Max Stern to recover the approximately 400 works of art lost in the 1930s. To date, the project has recovered 24 piecesincluding paintings by Otto Erdmann, Nicolas Neufchatel and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
The case of von Schadow The Artist’s Children proved to be particularly complicated due to provenance issues.
The city of Düsseldorf acquired the portrait in 1959, and it hung in the office of the city mayor. When the The Stern Foundation filed a claim for the artwork years later, it pointed out that in 1937 the Stern Gallery had authorized the reproduction of the artwork in a book on children’s paintings. But Düsseldorf city officials hit back, arguing that the book did not prove the gallery owned the work at that time. There was no evidence the painting was returned during Nazi persecution, the city argued.
The city’s stance has apparently softened in recent years.
“We could not prove that this was not a case of restitution, so we as the city government recommended to the assembly that it be returned,” Miriam said. Koch, responsible for the city of Düsseldorf in charge of culture. The arts journal. “The major parties in the city council supported restitution.”
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