Recovered Nazi-Looted Artworks of Holocaust Victim’s Heirs Set for US Auction

Six artworks, previously stolen by the Nazis and recently returned to the heirs of an Austrian Jewish owner, are scheduled for auction in New York next month, announced Christie’s on Thursday. These artworks are part of the restitution efforts following the return of seven works by Austrian Expressionist artist Egon Schiele to the family of Fritz Grunbaum. Grunbaum, a cabaret performer and art collector, tragically perished in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

Among the recovered artworks, three watercolors on paper, estimated to be worth up to $2.5 million each, will go under the hammer on November 9th, while the remaining three will be auctioned two days later as part of Christie’s fall auctions. The seventh artwork, returned by the Museum of Modern Art, has found a new home with a prominent collector known for supporting Holocaust survivors, according to Raymond Dowd, the Grunbaum heirs’ New York attorney.

Fighting for years to reclaim their family’s heritage, the Grunbaum heirs sought the return of these artworks. Fritz Grunbaum owned a vast art collection, including over 80 pieces by Schiele, which were considered “degenerate” by the Nazis and were subsequently auctioned or sold abroad to fund the Nazi Party, as revealed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Grunbaum’s harrowing story involves being arrested by the Nazis in 1938, forced to sign over his power of attorney to his spouse while at Dachau, and subsequently, the family’s entire collection was confiscated before his spouse was deported to another concentration camp in present-day Belarus.

The seven artworks, whose return was announced last month, resurfaced on the art market after World War II, first in Switzerland and later making their way to New York. The Grunbaum heirs continue to pursue the return of other artworks, with recent seizures of three Schiele drawings from institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Re-reported from the article originally published in The Hindustan Times