Nazi Painting from Forced Sale Returned

The New York times is reporting that an old master painting, sold under a forced sale by the Nazi party in Germany in 1937 was returned to the owners estate. German dealer Max Stern was forced to sell his painting inventory by the Nazi's, which included “Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe,” painted in 1632. In total, Stern was forced to sell more than 200 paintings through the Lempertz Auction. Lempertz also sold the painting in 2007, not realizing it was one of the Stern paintings as many auction house records had been destroyed.

The painting eventually turned up in NY dealer Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts gallery and was recovered by officials. It appears Steigrad had recently been informed of the status of the painting, and it should be noted that it had fallen through the cracks of the art loss register. Lempertz Auction claims to have checked on the painting with the Art Loss Register, and title appeared clear.

The NY Times reports from a US attorneys statement In November 2007, Lempertz Auction House — the same auction house that sold the Bagpipe Player in 1937 — sold the painting to London gallery Philip Mould Ltd. In December 2008, Lawrence Steigard, an art dealer in Manhattan, purchased the Bagpipe Player from Philip Mould, Ltd., with no knowledge of its stolen provenance, and offered it for sale on the Web site of his gallery, Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts, Inc. Information from the New York State Banking Department’s Holocaust Claims Processing Office led ICE agents to a Manhattan art gallery owned by Steigard. On April 2, 2009, Steigard confirmed the painting was in his possession and the ICE agents informed him that the painting was stolen and registered in several stolen art databases. Steigard eventually consented to seizure of the painting and entered into a voluntary stipulation to facilitate its return to the Stern Estate through this Office and ICE without the need for any judicial proceedings.

This situation shows how difficult it can be in tracking Nazi art. The article is informative and interesting to read. Click HERE to read the full NY Times article.