Heirs demand the consensual return of twelve Schiele works by the Republic of Austria
At an auction held by the renowned auction house Christie’s in London yesterday, March 5, 2025, Egon Schiele’s watercolor “Boy in a Sailor Suit” (1914) fetched € 3,240 000,-. The work comes from the collection of the Viennese cabaret artist Fritz Grünbaum (1880-1941), who openly opposed the Nazi regime and was murdered in a concentration camp in 1941.
PResseaussendung_5.3._eChristie’s, which values the work at more than $1 million, said the proceeds from any sale would be shared with the heirs of an art collector killed in a concentration camp.
An Article by By Catherine Hickley, New York Times
20250220 - NYT - Boy in a Sailor Suit
The heirs of collector Fritz Grünbaum have won back other Schieles from American Museums
An article by Brian Boucher, Artnet
An Egon Schiele drawing that was stolen by the Nazis from Austrian Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grünbaum will soon come to auction at Christie’s London, after the owner’s heirs successfully lobbied for the work’s return.
20250221 - ArtnetThis video was done by James Payne, a curator, gallerist, and a passionate art lover. Check out his Youtube-channel
He writes about this film:
“This film looks at how stolen art “disappears” in a complicated practise designed to obscure facts and create wealth for the art market. How the true owners of these artworks, the descendants of Holocaust victims, are still fighting a system that stops at nothing to keep secrets and protect its wealthy clientele. There are works in private collections and established museums right now, which were stolen by the Nazis.
I think, it’s about time they were returned.”
CREDITS
Opening Animation and Title Sequence by Brian Adsit (instagram https://instagram.com/brian_vfx?utm_m… and Behance www.behance.com/badsit88)
Recording by Robert Lewis
Research Assistant: Jake Phillips
VIDEOS
All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel do not claim any right over them.
MUSIC
Fritz Grünbaum singing “Made in Germany”
FILMS
The Monuments Men – 2014 – ©20th Century Studios
Triumph of the Will – 1935 – ©UFA GmbH
BOOKS
Schiele by Reinhard Steiner
Egon Schiele: Landscapes by Rudolf Leopold
Hitler’s Art Thief by Susan Ronald
Der Standard, July, 29th 2024
See english translation below
20240729 - Der Standard re Seated Nude (1918)The Artnews Newspaper, July 26th 2024
20240726 - Atrt Newspaper another Schiele work returned to the heirs of Fritz GrünbaumGerman translation below / Deutsche Übersetzung unterhalb
's Chicago Business
Jewish cabaret performer and art collector Fritz Grünbaum died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. On Friday, his heirs were reunited with two drawings that prosecutors say the Nazis stole from him, then trafficked illegally through New York.
At a small ceremony at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, law enforcement officials returned two drawings by Austrian artist Egon Schiele to Grünbaum’s descendants: “Girl with Black Hair” and “Portrait of a Man.”
“These were on his walls. He looked at them. He loved them,” Timothy Reif, whose father was raised by Grünbaum, said in an interview after the ceremony.