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 Years later, he discovered that one of the works was smuggled
abroad and then sold at auction in New York in 1995 to an
unknown buyer. That was the only real trace of the Marmols'
collection, just some of the artwork confiscated in the early
years of the revolution that will prove difficult to recover
even as the island normalizes relations with the United States.
Cuban Americans like Marmol could be fighting for decades more
to win back paintings and other artwork lost in Cuba due to
protracted legal struggles and because many of the items have
disappeared.
"I encourage people to seek their property ... but finding
movable items like paintings or jewelry is particularly
difficult," said Tania Mastrapa, a consultant on property rights
in former Communist countries.
For example, descendants of White Russians who lost property in
the Russian Revolution a century ago are still trying to recover
paintings to this day, she said.
In the early 1960s, specialized Cuban government teams sealed
the homes of wealthy exiles and took away paintings, antiques
and jewelry. Some of the goods, such as one of the world's
largest collections of Napoleonic memorabilia that was amassed
by sugar baron Julio Lobo, were housed in Cuban museums where
they remain. The Cuban government says it now owns works like
that because they were abandoned.
Other confiscated pieces were auctioned off to the public or
smuggled overseas, mostly to Europe, either by corrupt Cuban
officials or by the government itself when it needed hard
currency, art experts say.
While political change in Cuba will take years despite improved
relations with the United States, Cuban Americans hope that
Havana will eventually return confiscated homes, businesses and
artwork or compensate them.
The art seized ranges from family portraits of little financial
value to Cuban and European paintings from the 19th and early
20th centuries, Mastrapa said. One wealthy family, the Fanjuls,
lost an art collection valued at up to $60 million. It included
more than a dozen works by Spanish impressionist Joaquin Sorolla
and a Michelangelo pencil drawing.
HUNDREDS OF CLAIMS
There could be hundreds of claims for works of art as Cuba and
the United States restore relations, said Mari-Claudia Jimenez,
a New York lawyer who specializes in trying to recover
confiscated art from Cuba.
But the government and courts in the United States are limited
in what they can do to win reimbursement for artwork, businesses
and property owned by individual Cuban Americans as most of them
were not U.S. citizens when they fled Cuba.
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Cuban exiles might have to wait until Cuba opens up and then go to
court there to seek restitution.
"We get calls once every few months from someone who is looking to
recover their artwork and certainly I think there has been an
increase in those calls lately," said Jimenez, of law firm Herrick,
Feinstein LLP. "People are starting to ready themselves to try to
think of ‘How am I going to deal with going back to Cuba? Am I going
to get anything back?’”
She says she tells potential clients that it is too early to know
how Cuban politics will play out but that now is a good time to
start assembling documents proving ownership.
In a few cases over the years, auctioneers have mediated between the
original owners of valuable items seized in Cuba and later buyers of
the confiscated works to resolve claims.
No one has a definitive dollar figure for the artwork, antiques and
other valuable assets seized in Cuba.
FRUITLESS SEARCH
Before making any claims, Cuban Americans first have to find their
art.
Exile Marmol, 61, tried to track down his family's paintings after
his father died in 2009 but it was a frustrating search.
The Dallas-based businessman located only one piece: the painting
"Hombre Cargando Alcatraces" by Rivera. He discovered through
searching the Internet and speaking to a friend in the auction world
that the painting had been sold by Sotheby's in New York for
$145,500 in 1995.
He said Sotheby's refused to tell him who bought the painting
because of client confidentiality but they wrote to the buyer to
point out his claim of ownership.
"The purchaser responded that he did not recognize the painting,
that he had no record of purchasing it and he maintained this
position," said Marmol.
Sotheby's in New York confirmed Marmol's version of events but
declined to comment further.
(Editing by Ross Colvin)
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