Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

German Bank in Voluntary Restitution

March 24, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Bloomberg’s Catherine Hickey examines the voluntary restitution of a Franz Marc painting–Cat Behind a Tree–by a German company:

The Hess family, who lived in Erfurt, had one of the most comprehensive collections of German expressionist art at that time, with about 4,000 works by artists including Max Pechstein, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde and Paul Klee. In 2006, the city of Berlin restituted Kirchner’s “Berlin Street Scene” to the sole surviving heir, who lives in London.

Marc’s 1910 “Cat Behind a Tree” was one of several paintings that Tekla Hess sent to Switzerland for protection from the Nazis in 1933. It was sold to Pelikan AG, a maker of ink and stationery, in 1936. Though it isn’t known whether Hess received any money in the transaction, under German restitution law, art sales by Jewish collectors made after 1933 are assumed to be forced. NordLB bought the painting in 1983. [ . . . ] NordLB has a collection of about 3,000 artworks, with the emphasis on postwar art. It owns works by Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons, Jannis Kounellis and Joerg Immendorff, among others.

NordLB Returns Franz Marc’s Cat Painting to Jewish Family Heir (Bloomberg)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Art Auction Guarantee: Bringing Guarantees to the Primary Market.Art Auction Guarantee: Bringing Guarantees to the Primary Market.
  • Pia Catton Questions Cohen's JudgmentPia Catton Questions Cohen's Judgment
  • Met Book Hype Machine BurpsMet Book Hype Machine Burps
  • Madoff Inventory Floods MarketMadoff Inventory Floods Market
  • Elle Macpherson Has the Right PrioritiesElle Macpherson Has the Right Priorities
  • Vernissage TV: Akram ZaatariVernissage TV: Akram Zaatari

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Collectors/Collecting

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor