A complaint filed on Sept. 7, in the Southern District of New York seeks the return of an allegedly stolen Matisse painting that was lost in the aftermath of World War II. The case presents some common issues found in World War II restitution cases, including the key issue of whether an exception applies to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) such that the National Gallery of Art, London, is not immune from lawsuit in the United States.
In this case, the controversy centers on the ownership of a Matisse painting, titled “Portrait of Greta Moll.” The following facts are provided in the plaintiff’s complaint. Greta Moll, the subject of the painting, was, along with her husband Oskar, a student of Henri Matisse in Paris. Shortly after Matisse completed the painting of Moll in 1908, Oskar purchased it directly from the artist. The Molls later moved to Germany during the rise of the Nazi party and brought the portrait with them. During the war, the Molls moved to Silesia, a region in Central Europe that is primarily located in Poland. Before they left, the Molls stored the painting with a friend in Thurngia, a state in east-central Germany. The Molls returned to Berlin after the war in 1946. Out of a concern that allied troops, in particular Russian troops, would loot the painting in the aftermath of the war, the Molls decided to send the painting to Switzerland with an art student of Oskar’s, Gertrud Djamarani. Djamarani took the painting to Switzerland but, the complaint alleges, she illegally converted the painting for her own benefit and kept the proceeds. From Switzerland, the painting was imported into the United States in 1949 by the Knoedler & Co. art gallery in New York City. Knoedler sold the painting to a collector in Texas, Leo Blaffer, who in turn sold it to a private collection in Switzerland. The next transfer was from the private collection to the Alex Reid & Lefevre gallery in London, which finally sold it to the National Gallery in 1979.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
