The thing about restitution Portrait Valley "Egon Schiele, which lasts for 12 years, it seems, is close to completion.

beginning of this loud stories put a temporary exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, held from 8 October 1997 to January 4, 1998. Exhibition dedicated to the work of the famous Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele (Egon Schiele), consisted of 150 works of this artist, brought from Austria. Works for the exhibition kindly provided by Rudolf Leopold Foundation.

famous Austrian collector Rudolf Leopold was very fond of art of Egon Schiele. His collection is up to 250 works by this artist. In 1994, Rudolf Leopold handed over ownership of its huge collection of 5,400 works, including works by Schiele, State-subsidized private foundation Leopold. Austria then paid 160 million euros for his collection and has agreed to build a museum for it. Leopold Museum was opened in 2001 in Vienna's museum quarter.

on the New York exhibition at MOMA "Portrait of a Valley" (1912), a model depicting the beloved Schiele Valerie Noytsil (Walerie Neuzil), saw family Bondi. Family Henry Bondi stated that the painting belonged to his aunt - an Austrian art dealer Lee Bondi Yarai (Lea Bondi Jaray), forced to leave Austria in 1937 (according to other sources, in 1939) because of his Jewish origin. Gallery Lea Bondi Yarai confiscated by the Nazis. She returned in 1946 to Austria to try to return his collection, and discovered that the confiscated works, including "Portrait of Wally, are in the National Gallery Belvedere, and that their return is not yet possible. In the early 1950's Leia met in London with Rudolf Leopold and asked him for help: she asked the collector to facilitate her return to "The Portrait Valley" of the Belvedere, and in return she promised to conduct searches of other paintings by Schiele in London to supplement its collection. But in response to learn that "Portrait of Wally is owned by Leopold himself. Leah died in the late 1970's, has not received any pictures or any kind of compensation for it. This is the version of the Bondi family, which is confirmed by the letter itself Lei, written in 1966, gallery owner Otto Callirrhoe (Otto Kallir). When the New York show scandal around pictures, Rudolf Leopold denies any connection with the Nazis to insist that the time of purchase, he was not aware of previous seizure of the portrait.

Family Bondi demanded MoMA hold a picture in the U.S. to clarify its prewar provenance. When the museum refused, citing the obligations of the lease to have provided pictures of Leopold Foundation, in January 1998 intervened Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau (Robert Morgenthau). He seized on the "Portrait of Wally, and the painting" Dead City III »(1912), which also allegedly been stolen by the Nazis. Restitution "Dead City" demanded and the family of Rita Reif (Rita Reif). The heirs claimed that the painting was removed from their relatives, singer Fritz Grünbaum (Fritz Gruenbaum), who died in a concentration camp Dachau. The investigation was to determine whether the works stolen property illegally imported into the United States.

These developments have caused widespread controversy when on the problem of works stolen by the Nazis from victims of the Holocaust as such. Museums in the U.S. and Europe were outraged: in their view, the Morgenthau took into custody the picture, though the hostages. Was predicted overall decline in the number of temporary exhibitions that include works from other museum collections, because no museum would not now insured against such situations.

officials of museums in Austria called the arrest "an insult and reckless, while the Viennese journalists already in full trumpeted the fact that the national museums still hold a huge number of works looted by the Nazis from their owners before the war. As a result, in 1998, the same Austrian Parliament voted unanimously for a law on the accelerated restitution of works from the collections of national museums in the case of theft will be proved. Thus, the arrest of "Portrait of Wally and Dead City" became the impetus for the adoption of this law. But Leopold Foundation, is a private organization, was not obliged to obey him. It had to be solved in court.

criticism of Morgenthau, including representatives of the MoMA, accused him in the fact that he removed the paintings from public display, even though the lawyer in one of recent interview claims that he allowed the MoMA exhibit the portrait during the investigation.

In 1999, the court of New York took a picture of Morgenthau's arrest "dead city", and she returned to the museum Leopold. But the "Portrait of Wally was stopped by U.S. Customs state. The fate of the painting became the subject of a trial that lasted for 11 years. The U.S. government is trying to find out if he knew Rudolf Leopold in 1954, when swapped "Portrait of a Valley" of the Austrian National Gallery, which acquires a stolen painting.

And finally, recently publishing The Art Newspaper, citing sources in the legal community, reported that the case was nearing its denouement. It appears that the parties have identified the main terms of the transaction. It is noted that the issue was resolved during the life of Rudolf Leopold (collector, died June 29, 2010 85 th year of life ). Bondi's heirs will receive $ 20 million from the Fund Leopold as monetary compensation for "Portrait of Wally. Note that at the time of seizure patterns Attorney Morgenthau in 1998, now estimated at about $ 1 million.

amount of 20 million has not yet officially confirmed. Son of Rudolf Leopold Ditard (Diethard Leopold), is a board member of the Museum Leopold, declined to confirm this information, but noted that "the parties are close to resolving the dispute. Counsel for the family Bondi Howard Spiegel (Howard Spiegler) also remained silent. The only thing he said: The next court hearing on this case will be held July 26, 2010.

Named sum not far from the truth. In the art market Egon Schiele now price. The London dealer Richard Nagy (Richard Nagy), specializing in works by Schiele, last week praised "Portrait of Wally approximately 13-15 million dollars.

Portrait back in the museum of Leopold in Vienna which will take its place alongside the "Self-portrait" Egon Schiele (1912) - a business card of the museum. Two portraits were painted in a pair. It is still not known what information will be accompanied by exposure of the picture, but this matter is reported to all the same sources, in the agreement.

As soon as it became known about advancing the cause of "Portrait Wali "to resolve, Leopold Museum was faced with yet another lawsuit. The heirs of a Jewish collector Jenny Steiner (Jenny Steiner) demanded the return of Leopold Foundation for the restitution of Schiele's "House on the Sea" (1914), acquired by Rudolf Leopold in 1955 and is currently estimated at approximately $ 20 million. But it will be another story ...

Material prepared Onuchina Maria, AI

Source: theartnewspaper.com , nytimes.com , edition.cnn.com , artinvestment.ru