|
 A complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court by the
great-grandniece of Paul Leffmann, a Jewish industrialist from
Germany who once owned "The Actor," a rare work from Picasso's
Rose Period in 1904 and 1905.
Laurel Zuckerman, who handles estate matters for Leffmann's
widow Alice, is alternatively seeking more than $100 million of
damages.
She joins others seeking to reclaim art taken or sold after
Nazis took power in Germany, and as Europe plunged toward war.
The Met in a statement said it has "indisputable title" to "The
Actor" and will defend its rights.
Zuckerman said Paul Leffmann sold "The Actor" to two art dealers
in June 1938 for $12,000 to fund an escape to Switzerland from
Benito Mussolini's regime in Italy, where he and his wife had
fled from Germany the prior year.
This occurred soon after a state visit by German chancellor
Adolf Hitler made clear that Jews in Italy were endangered, and
"there was no time left" to act, the complaint said.
The Met acquired "The Actor" in a 1952 donation, but failed to
properly investigate its provenance, and only after decades of
incorrect cataloguing finally in 2011 acknowledged Leffmann's
ownership and sale, the complaint said.
Zuckerman had learned about the painting in 2010 and demanded
its return. An agreement putting the case on hold expired on
Friday.
Lawrence Kaye, a lawyer for Zuckerman, said many European
tribunals have ordered the return of artwork sold under duress
in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, though such cases have
been less common in the United States.
[to top of second column] |
"We believe the painting is tainted by the history of the Holocaust,
and the Leffmanns, given the circumstances under which they sold it,
never lost title," he said.
But the Met said its research "makes clear" that Nazi persecution
did not result in the sale, in part because Leffmann sold "The
Actor" at a fair price in Paris and kept the proceeds.
"While the Met understands and sympathizes deeply with the losses
that Paul and Alice Leffmann endured during the Nazi era, it firmly
believes that this painting was not among them," it said.
The Leffmanns settled in Zurich after the war, and died there, the
complaint said.
The Met website calls "The Actor," which depicts a tall and gaunt
male figure, "simple yet haunting," and "the work with which Picasso
ended his obsession with the wretched in favor of the theatrical
world of acrobats and saltimbanques."
It attracted attention in January 2010 when an art student
accidentally lost her balance and fell into the canvas, causing a
six-inch tear. The painting was repaired.
The case is Zuckerman v Metropolitan Museum of Art, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-07665.
(Editing by Alistair Bell)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
