7-18-12 steamy brain
Give
Me More, Art n’ Music
Geez, I missed out on the monsoon rain ‘n wind event at
Winestock ’12. I arrived at 4:30 after attending the wedding shower of Jeffery
n’ Alicia. Two University of Iowa Medical Doctors that are related to Drakesmart
buddies Megan n’ Jordan. Check out their
cool wedding site.
http://tiny.cc/skiihw”. That’s the reason for the delay in getting
out to Winestock.
By the time I got there, the major rain storm had passed. Other
than raining on Judy’s parade, the temperature dropped from 95 to 70 in 30
minutes.
By 6 pm, the sun was out and the last two bands were ready to jam, Matt Woods
n’ the Thunderbolts and then Roxi Copland. I’ve been wanting to see her for a
while. The Peace sisters had a lot of fun and this picture should have you
wondering. I’m going to buy me one of these next week.
Back to Art, the Art Center showed a movie on Sunday “Portrait of Wally”
pronounced “valley”. A very interesting documentary of a 1912 painting by Egon
Schiele’that was owned by Lea Bondi (Jewish). During WWII, the painting was
stolen and after the war, never returned to Lea Bondi. She spent years and years trying to get the
painting from Austria (Leopold Museum of Art). Then in 1998, the painting made
it to MoMA and the Bond’s family began their efforts to claim the paining. The
story is fascinating, taking 12 years to resolve. If the painting had not made
it to MoMA (NYC), there would of never been a resolution to this case.
The Case: The United States of America, the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray
and the Leopold Museum, Settle the
Long-Standing Case Involving “Portrait of Wally” by Egon Schiele
New York, NY (July 20, 2010) -- The Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray (the
“Estate”) announced today that the United States Government, the Estate and the
Leopold Museum Privat-Stiftung (the “Leopold Museum”) have agreed to settle the
long-pending case of United States of America v. Portrait of Wally, which was about
to go to trial before Chief Judge Loretta Preska in federal court in Manhattan
on July 26, 2010.
The case involves Portrait of Wally, a painting by Egon Schiele (the
“Painting”), stolen from a Jewish art dealer and collector by a Nazi agent in
the late 1930’s in Vienna. The major terms of the settlement agreement, which
has been approved by Judge Preska, are as follows:
(a) the Leopold Museum pays the Estate $19 Million;
(b) the Estate releases its claim to the Painting;
(c) the United States Government dismisses the civil forfeiture action it
brought against the Leopold Museum and releases the Painting to the Leopold
Museum;
(d) the Leopold Museum will permanently display signage next to the Painting at
the Leopold Museum, and at all future displays of the Painting of any kind that
the Leopold Museum authorizes or allows anywhere in the world, that sets forth
the true provenance of the Painting, including Lea Bondi Jaray’s prior
ownership of the Painting and its theft from her by a Nazi agent before she
fled to London in 1939; and
(e) before it is transported to the Leopold Museum in Vienna, the
Painting will be publicly exhibited at the Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A
Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York, beginning with a ceremony
commemorating the legacy of Lea Bondi Jaray and the successful resolution of
the lawsuit.
The Painting was the personal property of Lea Bondi Jaray, a Jewish art
dealer in Vienna, who fled in 1939 to London, where she died in 1969. The
Painting became the subject of court proceedings in New York City, after it was
loaned in late 1997 and early 1998 to the Museum of Modern Art in New York by
the Leopold Museum as part of an exhibition of Schieles from the Leopold
Museum’s collection. In 1998, Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan District Attorney,
subpeonaed the Painting in connection with his investigation into whether the
Painting was stolen property. After the State Court of Appeals ruled in 1999
that such “seizure” of an artwork loaned for exhibition was prohibited under New
York State law, the United States Government immediately commenced a civil
forfeiture action in New York, alleging that the Painting was stolen from Lea
Bondi Jaray during the Nazi era by a Nazi named Friedrich Welz, and was
imported into the United States in 1997 by the Leopold Museum in violation of
U.S. law. The Customs Service seized the Painting in connection with that
action. The Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray asserted a claim to the Painting in the
action, and the U.S. agreed that upon forfeiture of the Painting, it would
transfer to the Estate all right and title to the Painting.
Based on the evidence presented during the case, Judge Preska ruled
last fall that the Painting was the personal property of Lea Bondi Jaray and
that it was stolen from her in Vienna in the late 1930's by Friedrich Welz, who
was a member and collaborator of the Nazi party. The Court found that the
Painting had been seized from Welz by U.S. Forces in Austria after World War II
and delivered in 1947 to the Austrian Federal Office for the Preservation of
Historical Monuments (the “Bundesdenkmalamt”), along with paintings Welz had
acquired from Dr. Heinrich Rieger, a Jewish art collector who had perished
during the Holocaust. In 1950, the Bundesdenkmalamt delivered artworks to an agent
for the Rieger heirs and included the Painting in the delivery. Later that
year, the Rieger heirs sold their works to the Austrian National Gallery (the
“Belvedere”), and the Painting was included in the delivery of the artworks to
the Belvedere. In 1954, the Belvedere traded the )ainting to Dr. Rudolf
Leopold. In 1994, Dr. Leopold transferred the Painting to the Leopold Museum.
(from The Art Law Group of Herrick).
Here is a picture of Wally. Yes,
art n’ music, my summertime tagline. Gotta Run
Chat Later
That Girl, Ann Marie
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