The three paintings in MoMA's collection are: The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse with Cognac, Self-Portrait with Model, and Republican Automatons. The paintings were created by Grosz in the 1920's and were consigned to Galerie Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin. Professor Petropoulos found that the artworks were lost or stolen when in 1933 George Grosz and his Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Two of the paintings, Self-Portrait with Model and Republican Automatons were sold after Flechtheim's death and without Grosz' consent at an Amsterdam auction in 1938.
One of the paintings, The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse with Cognac, remained in Germany and was misappropriated by Charlotte Weidler, an art critic who claimed she "inherited" it from Flechtheim. Grosz wrote in 1953 to a friend and a family member that this painting had been stolen from him. Petropoulos concludes that Weidler misappropriated this important work of German expressionism and sold it to MoMA through Curt Valentin.
Prof. Petropoulos' report reveals that Alfred Barr used Nazi agent Karl Buchholz and his partner Curt Valentin to purchase artworks looted by the Nazis from German museums.
Charlotte Weidler was recently accused by German author Stefan Koldehoff "Die Bilder sind unter uns"(The Paintings Are Among Us), of having stolen most of the Paul Westheim collection in a similar manner. When Paul Westheim, an important Jewish art collector, fled the Nazis for Paris, he left his art collection with Weidler for safe keeping in Berlin. After WWII Weidler told Westheim that his collection was destroyed in a bombing raid. After Westheim's death in 1963, Weidler began selling off the Westheim collection, piece by piece.
Prof. Petropoulos criticizes MoMA's Director Alfred Barr for failing to research the provenance of the Grosz artworks at the time of acquisition in the 1940s and 1950s. He notes that Barr knew of Flechtheim's persecution by the Nazis and used the occasion to obtain an artwork from him at a duress price. Regarding Herrmann-Neisse with Cognac, Barr undertook no provenance research at all, although the U.S. State Department had issued warnings to U.S. museums to be cautious when acquiring artworks displaced during the Nazi period of rule.
Petropoulos is highly critical of a 2006 MoMA report on the Grosz art claims penned by former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. Petropoulos rejected Katzenbach's findings and criticized Katzenbach for failing to follow the "Washington Principles" developed at the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Looted Assets which call for Nazi looted art claims to be decided on their merits.
For the full Petropoulos report see "Expert Report of Jonathan G. Petropoulos" posted on the www.rowlandlaw.com website under the Publications section (see also www.rowlandlaw.com/petropoulosexpertreport.pdf).
Rowland & Petroff
New York, New York, USA
For further information contact:
David J. Rowland, Esq.
Rowland & Petroff
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New York, N.Y. 10016
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Tel. 212-685-5509
Fax 212-685-8862
Email: davidjohnrowland@cs.com
Website: www.rowlandlaw.com
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