The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has canceled an event with Christie’s focusing on art looted by the Nazis during World War II after outcry over the auction house’s recent sale of jewelry that belonged to the wife of a German businessman who profited from Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art told an Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom this week he canceled a conference with Christie’s scheduled for December 2023 after a backlash, saying the institution was “attentive to criticism and committed to public sensitivity”.
Christie’s has come under fire in recent months after the auction house announced the sale of the late Heidi Horten art collection‘s jewelry collection, which was estimated to fetch a nine-figure sum and eclipse that of actress Elizabeth Taylor $116 million record for the most expensive jewelry collection ever sold at auction. Horten inherited nearly $1 billion after the death of her first husband, Helmut Horten, who made his fortune in retail in part by taking over Jewish department stores at sometimes below-market prices during the “Aryanization” of Germany, when Jewish property was seized. and handed over to non-Jews. Christie’s continued sales despite outcry from Jewish groups, and Horten’s collection brought in a record $202 million more than two sales earlier this year. Horten died last year, aged 81.
The planned event at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art was part of a one year initiative by Christie’s to mark the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles, a set of international guidelines that help determine the return of artwork looted by the Nazis during World War II. The conference had been planned before the announcement of the Horten sale and the ensuing uproar, according to the museum.
Last week, the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA sent a letter to the American fundraising organization Tel Aviv Museum of Art American Friends calling for the cancellation of the Christie’s event because it would serve as a platform for “profiteering of the Holocaust to justify their plunder and marginalize Holocaust survivors around the world,” according to the Jerusalem Post. Critics also raised concerns about conflicts of interest over Christie’s president for the Americas, Marc Porter, who is also a board member of the Tel Aviv Museum’s American Friends group.
Christie’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The auction house previously said it would make “a significant contribution” from sales of the Horten collection to organizations focused on Holocaust research and education. Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, is said to have refused a donation of Christie’s because of the source of the funds, according to the Jerusalem Post.
