4 minute read
What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back
April 10, 2021 – January 16, 2022
What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back) presents the story of Viennese industrialist Dr. Richard Neumann (1879 – 1959) and the decades-long effort to recover his art collection—taken from him after Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938. He escaped first to France and later to Cuba, and as early as 1950, began filing law suits against the Austrian government to reassemble the collection that was rightfully his. However, progress in this effort did not happen until a half century later when his grandson, Tom Selldorff, began working with the Vienna-based art historian, Sophie Lillie. Lillie was an advisor for this exhibition of the 14 restituted works to date—a small percentage of Richard Neumann’s original collection. Claire Whitner, James A. Welu Curator of European Art, interviewed Lillie about her work.
Thomas Selldorff and Sophie Lillie, who helped him identify the paintings, pose for the media during a ceremony at the Ministry of Culture in Paris in 2013 to return paintings taken from their Jewish owners during World War II. © Michel Euler/AP
CW: How did you first begin researching Nazi-era provenance? SL: In 1995, just after finishing my master’s degree in art history at Columbia University, Vienna’s Jewish Community needed a oneweek intern for their Mauerbach Benefit Sale. It was the first time I witnessed an appraisals process and saw the markings and inscriptions on the physical objects themselves, chronicling ownership and dispossession. I resolved to decipher them. The 1996 Mauerbach Benefit Sale sparked public interest in the subject of Nazi art looting, coinciding with the discovery of dormant bank accounts and unpaid Holocaust-era insurance policies in Switzerland. A subpoena was issued in 1997 for two paintings by Egon Schiele then on loan to the Museum of Modern Art in New York from Vienna’s Leopold Museum. The media outcry prompted the introduction of Austria’s 1998 Art Restitution Act to govern the return of Nazi-era art from federal museums and public collections. That law—together with the declassification of archival records—marked the onset of provenance research as we now know it. The 1998 Washington Conference on the Holocaust-era was critically important in bringing about this change.
CW: How did you come to help the Selldorff family? SL: Tom and I met about twenty years ago, when I was conducting research for my first book, Was einmal war (What Once Was). The book features 150 Viennese art collections looted by the Nazis—including that of Tom’s grandparents, Dr. Richard Neumann and Alice Neumann. Through Tom I learned more about Dr. Neumann, who built an important collection of Italian Baroque art, reflecting the taste and aspirations of Vienna’s pre-war haute bourgeoisie.
CW: How did you approach this undertaking? SL: My starting point was a Neumann collection inventory, compiled by the Nazis in the summer of 1938 and submitted in an export license application for works Richard Neumann hoped to take with him on his flight from Vienna. It also documents the ruthless expropriation to come; the Nazis confiscated many of the best works and allocated them to local museums. The works cleared for export were later seized during the Nazi occupation of France. Some paintings were destined for the Führermuseum Hitler planned to build in Linz, Austria. Over many years, I built upon that first inventory, adding information I found in other sources, such as exhibition and sale catalogues, newspaper articles, art historical literature, and Tom’s family papers. My goal was to catalogue each work as fully as possible—adding measurements, medium, a date or other identifying mark, ideally a photograph—in order to establish its current whereabouts.
CW: What has been most challenging? SL: Provenance research relies on identifying source materials, interpreting those records, understanding how public offices work, and dissecting the mechanisms of Nazi dispossession. Records are typically kept where private and public life intersects. A marriage record may include provisions relating to property. A probate file may give a detailed appraisal of property. The Nazis’ notorious recordkeeping—much of which has been preserved—plus Naziera tax records, customs, and export records are key to retracing the misappropriation of art. Ultimately, restitution relies on paralegal work, on compiling key documents to build a persuasive argument—and a great deal of attention to detail, perseverance, and patience.
CW: What has been most rewarding? SL: Over many years, we recovered a number of Neumann objects from public collections—two from the Weinstadtmuseum in Krems, an Austrian town, six from Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, and six from French museums, including the Louvre in Paris. Two paintings, which resurfaced on the art market in recent years, were recovered from private collectors. My greatest joy has been working with Tom, who has pursued the quest for his family’s art with enthusiasm, dedication, and great courage. Tom speaks of these artworks as a way of passing on his grandfather’s love for art to his children and grandchildren, which is a lovely metaphor to describe what art restitution is all about. It is a great privilege for me to have been a part of his journey.
Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts and anonymous donors. Additional support is provided by The Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, PEACE Fund GWCF, Marlene and David Persky, Carol and Michael Sleeper, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Dean, Dr. Shirley S. Siff, Johanna D. Drooz Yoffie and Alan S. Yoffie, and Carol Seager.
Sponsored by
