Art panel recommends return of old painting to heirs of Holocaust victim
The decision to return the painting, worth between €15m-€30m, will be made by the Dusseldorf city assembly next month.
By GADI ZAIGThe administrative court of Düsseldorf(photo credit: FLICKR)
Germany's advisory panel on art that was looted by Nazis urged the city of Dusseldorf to return Franz Marc's painting Foxes (1913) to heirs of a Jewish banker, according to a report by The Art Newspaper.Extensive research estimated that banker Kurt Grawi purchased Foxes in 1928. Years later, in 1939, a letter by Grawi stated that he transported Foxes to Paris to ship it to New York. Grawi later sold the painting in order to finance his escape to South America after spending time in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He managed to escape to South America via Belgium and settled in Santiago, Chile. A year later, in New York, the painting was sold for an unknown price to the German-American film director Willam Dieterle. The painting was only then donated to Dusseldorf in 1961. The painting, which has been bought and sold throughout the years, is very valuable, pricing at around €15 million-€30 million. It is now currently hanging in the Museum Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf.A cultural official from the city said that the painting's future ownership will be discussed next month. The heirs of Grawi said he sold the painting due to his need to finance his family’s escape.
