What’s Still Left in the Gurlitt Mess? A Whole Lot

Nicholas O’Donnell outlines the mess that’s still unresolved in the Gurlitt case. The snippets below don’t contain O’Donnell’s links and it is well worth clicking through to read the whole of O’Donnell’s post:

For starters, ever week that goes by raises more questions about what, exactly the Gurlitt Task Force that was charged one year ago with reviewing the entire collection for Nazi-looting problems, has done.  The Task Force has identified a mere three objects publicly for restitution in that time: Two Riders on the Beach by Max Liebermann, Seated Woman by Henri Matisse, and a drawing by Carl Spitzweg.  […]

Last week, somewhat hopefully, it was reported that the German Minister of Culture Monika Grütters had signed off on the immediate restitution of the Matisse and the Liebermann.  Once certainly hopes this is the case.  but what is happening or has happened?  It could be that the Task Force intends to make its conclusions known in one fell swoop.  But they are not saying that, nor is the German government. […]  All of this is made even stranger by the recent prospect of the so-called “Conny Leaks”—a collection of Hildebrand Gurlitt’s sales records and papers apparently recovered from Cornelius’s home(s), now possibly in the possession of his attorneys.  The SZ piece contends that the Task Force has not even seen (or possibly even asked to see) these papers, begging the question of how thorough its investigation could be.

Gurlitt Bequest to Kunstmuseum Bern is Upheld, Little Else Resolved.