The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Guggenheim Museum upheld their right to possession of two works of great artists who want to take away from them the offspring of former owner

In March 2007, Sheps Julius (Julius Schoeps), great-nephew of a German Jewish banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy), demanded two major New York cultural institutions - the Museum of Contemporary Art ( MOMA) and the Guggenheim Museum - give him two valuable paintings of Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso), which, as argued Sheps, were lost by his family during the years of Nazism.

von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who died in 1935, shortly before his death asked the art dealer Paul Rosenberg (Paul Rosenberg) to sell the five paintings by the great Spanish artist. Two of them, «Boy Leading a horse» (1906) and the «Moulin de la Galette» (1900), after the war were in the collections of American museums - MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum, respectively. It is their wish and pick up a Sheps.

At first glance, these claims are totally unfounded, as his grandfather once removed himself sold the paintings, none of this is not forced. But not everything is as easy as it seems. In 1934, when von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy transmitted picture Rosenberg, it was not legal owner of the paintings - they belonged to his second wife Elsa, he gave them seven years earlier. Researchers at the American Museum argued that Picasso's paintings were Elzy wedding gift, but, according to Shepsa, von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's wife gave them only because he feared the Nazis. Banker suspected that on arrival to power of Hitler and his henchman will select Jewish property, and understand that the «true Aryan» Elzy pictures will be safe. That is to say the Nazis did away von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy canvases, not «right», like other Jewish collectors and art dealers, and indirectly.

Paintings Picasso stayed at the Paul Rosenberg quite short: after the exhibition in Buenos Aires they bought another art dealer, Tannhauzer Justin (Justin Thannhauser), the owner of galleries in Berlin and Lucerne. In 1936 he sold «boy leading a horse» American teleradioseti CBS founder William Peyli (William Paley), who in 1964 presented the work of MOMA. Shortly Tannhauzeru had to emigrate to the States (he was a Jew, and remain in Europe, it was dangerous). Cloth «Moulin de la Galette» he took with him. In 1963, he gave his Guggenheim Museum.

Works by Picasso are among the most important masterpieces of the New York museums. Their total cost is estimated at 400 million dollars. Of course, MOMA and the Guggenheim Museum is not just going to part with a cloth, and so in December 2007 they had a claim in federal court. Director of MOMA Glenn D. Lauri (Glenn D. Lowry) said that the museum's research staff have done tremendous research efforts have established the exact provenans cloths and did not find a single fact indicating that von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy had sold them not on their own. Sheps, however, is not going to give up: last year he even joined with the two heirs of a German banker's wife, Elsa. On Monday February 2, should have held a hearing in federal court, but all of a sudden it was announced that the parties have agreed amicably. The final decision is as follows: paintings remain in museums. Will the Sheps and other compensation to the heirs, unknown.

In 2007, Julius Sheps tried to win back the fund from Andrew Lloyd Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber) another work by Picasso - «Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto». Then, the court rejected his claim, arguing that the fact that Sheps is not a legitimate heir von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Source: bloomberg.com , artinfo.com , artinvestment.ru

P.S. About restitution can also be read:
As Nazis plundered Europe
The heirs of victims of the Nazis against the Federal Republic of Germany
Minneapolis Institute of Arts to part with the Nazis confiscated the picture Leger
exhibition of works of art Stolen Nazi
In Germany, an agency that is exploring provenans works are the public collections
«Pink Wall» Matisse: confiscation - restitution - inheritance - for sale
Klimt: regular restitution