Minneapolis Institute of Arts to part with the Nazis confiscated the picture Leger
ARTinvestment.RU   01 ноября 2008

Cloth «Smoke over roofs» belonged to the famous dealer Alfonso Kannu, but it was stolen from him by fascists. In order to establish the history of existence of the painting, the Art Institute took 10 years

Recently, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) gave a famous picture of avant-gardist Fernand Leger (Fernand Léger) the heirs of French art dealer Kanna Alfons (Alphonse Kann), which it selected the Nazis. Cloth was in the museum for nearly 50 years.

Artwork «Smoke over roofs», which experts estimate at 2.8 million dollars, was written in 1911, in «kubistichesky» period of the artist. In 1961, it gave the Institute of Arts the businessman Patnem Dane McMillan (Putnam Dana McMillan), vice-president of General Mills. Macmillan bought the canvas in New York, Buchholz Gallery, not asked provenansom. More than thirty years it has quietly hung on the wall of the museum MIA, while in 1997 the Institute of Arts has received a letter from the heirs of Alphonse Kanna, who argued that «Smoke over roofs» was confiscated by the Nazis from their ancestors.

Of course, the experts MIA soon appeared clear that the picture - it is the «Smoke over roofs», which belonged Kannu. In fact, Fernand Leger wrote at least six paintings with such a plot. In addition, it was necessary to look into whether the work had been confiscated. It could be, and so that the art dealer is to sell it. To ascertain the existence of paintings by the Institute of History of Art took 10 years.

Alphonse Kann is considered one of the main collectors of works of art the first third of XX century. His rich collection of counted a huge number of works of Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso), Georges Marriage (Georges Braque) and the Impressionists. In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, Kann, a Jew by descent, fled to London, leaving a on the majority of his collection in France. In 1940, France was occupied by the Nazis, and immediately began the confiscation of works of art from Jews. Captured work moved to the museum Же de pom in the center of Paris. The majority of works from the collection of Kanna - they took a list of 60 printed sheets - suffered the same fate. However, «Smoke over roofs» Leger was moved in Geneva de pom, but stayed in the house Kanna. 5 Nov, 1942 the Nazis controlled the French Government has organized the sale of things from the house. So the picture was in Paris, Galerie Leiris, who sold it in 1949, the New York Buchholz Gallery, where two years later it acquired Macmillan.

And Galerie Leiris, and Buchholz Gallery very complicated history. During the war, Galerie Leiris served as a cover for the activities of a prominent dealer Daniel-Henry Kanvaylera (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler). Previously, she called the Galerie Simon. At the beginning of the occupation Kanvayler, also a Jew by origin, was forced to leave Paris and hiding. But his gallery in the capital of France has continued to operate, only now under the name of Galerie Leiris. Its director was the daughter Kanvaylera, blood Leris Frenchwoman, Louise (Louise Leiris), wife of famous writer and art critic Michel Lerisa (Michel Leiris). With regard to Buchholz Gallery, it was founded in the 1930's and Kurt Valentin (Curt Valentin), a protégé of the Berlin art dealer Karl Buhholtsa (Karl Buchholz). Buhholts was one of four dealers, who in the days of Nazi rule were allowed to sell products modernists. By Curt Valentin many refer ambiguously: he moved the huge number of modern works from Europe to the United States. However, in heinous cases Nazis, he was not involved, and Goering, unlike many German art dealer, the paintings did not sell.

In order to find out all the details of the movement Leger paintings from the collection of Kanna in America, experts of the Institute of Arts Minneapolis turned to specialists from Paris and London, they copied the German officials and studied archives in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC .

Collection of MIA is not the only collection in which the works were discovered, the Nazis confiscated from Jews. According to the New York Association of Art Museum Directors, between 1998 and July 2006, 22 exhibits from the American museums have been identified as a «stolen Nazi art». All museums are ordered by these works in different ways: some returned to the descendants of the masterpieces of their lawful owners, somebody paid the heirs that the works have remained in their collection. Not only the U.S. cultural institution to return the work of restitution: a few years ago, the Pompidou Center in Paris has given the descendants of the same picture Kanna Alphonse Georges Marriage.

Kann died in 1948. He managed to recover many works from his collections, but some of his works are still «walking around the world», waiting until the heirs of the dealer would come and pick them yourself. History Kanna inspired American cinematographers to create the film «Train» (1964), which tells of the Nazis who tried to carry the treasures of the French assembly in Germany. The film took Burt Lancaster (Burt Lancaster) and Jeanne Moreau (Jeanne Moreau).

do not know that now is the painting «Smoke over roofs». Of course, the MIA had hoped that the heirs or at least give odolzhat its museum, but this proved impossible. It is possible that the canvas will appear at some auction. When asked whether they were going to buy the picture, the director of the Institute of Arts Keyvin Feldman (Kaywin Feldman) and the curator of the department of painting Nun, Patrick (Patrick Noon) replied that it was not collected. «We are in the collection, there are two very good Leger paintings», - said Nun.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: startribune.com , artinvestment.ru

PS On this topic, you can also read the following materials:

How the Nazis looted Europe
heirs of victims of the Nazis against the Federal Republic of Germany
exhibition of works of art stolen Nazi
In Germany, an agency that is exploring provenans works in public collections
picture of Malevich's heirs sold received restitution