Gurlitt collection

Final tally? Only 14 of 1500 “looted” artworks discovered and returned

Published by carolyn on Fri, 2020-05-29 16:17

"Two Riders on a Beach" by Jewish-German "impressionist" Max Liebermann is considered a "masterpiece" that brought his great nephew $1.9 million at auction at Southeby's, New York, after winning it because it was a treasured family heirloom. This is one of two of the same subject, and is the preliminary painting or sketch for the final, more finished product. In my opinion it's pretty average, even boring, with the one horse's backside awkwardly rendered.


By Carolyn Yeager

REMEMBER THE DISCOVERY OF THE GURLITT COLLECTION? Fifteen hundred artworks found in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt in 2012 in Munich, that were acclaimed with a lot of hulabaloo and world press attention as “Nazi-looted art”? Well, a special commission was set up to investigate, with the aim of returning the “stolen artworks” to their rightful (Jewish) owners. In 2016, the newly created German Lost Art Foundation (Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste) in Magdeburg took over the research, which has now ended.