1921 Matisse will be returned to Anne Sinclair, the head of the French edition of the HuffingtonPost and the ex-wife of the former scandalous IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The painting called “Seated Woman” from Henry Matisse, which was stolen by the Nazis, will be returned to the heirs of a Jewish art dealer.
1921 Matisse is to be returned to its rightful owners. A German court has ruled that the 1921 painting “Seated Woman” by Henry Matisse must be handed to Anne Sinclair, the heiress of Paul Rosenberg.
The 1921 Matisse, also known as “Woman with a Fan,” was among the 400 paintings stolen from Paul Rosenberg, a major French art dealer, whose clients included Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Henri Matisse. In 1940, Mr. Rosenberg fled Paris to New York with his family.
Mr. Rosenberg and his family fled from Nazi persecution of Jews after the 1940 Nazi invasion of France and became a major dealer of Modern art in New York.
In 2012, over 1,000 paintings and sculptures were discovered by German authorities in the home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, a dealer, who collected artworks declared as “degenerate” by the Nazi regime.
Degenerate art was a term adopted by the Nazis to define all modern art because they were deemed too Jewish, or Communist in nature.
Christopher Marinello, CEO and founder of London-based Art Recovery Group, was able to collect the work from a Munich storage facility after a court earlier this week approved its release to Rosenberg’s heirs.
The Paul Rosenberg estate provided “extensive documentation” to Christopher A. Marinello in order to obtain the painting. The Matisse has been turned over to Marinello, who said it was in excellent condition.
“The family is elated that this case finally has come to a conclusion.It has not been touched since the hands of Matisse — so that’s very good news,” he said. “First, I feel deeply moved, of course, by the idea that this painting is back in the family 74 years after being looted and deeply melancholic, thinking that my grandfather is not able to see that,” Ms Sinclair added. The famous journalist is happy to have her maternal grandfather painting back.
The 1921 Matisse is estimated to be worth $100 million. Sinclair went on to add that there are 60 pieces from the Rosenberg collection still not returned.
What are your thoughts on the “Seated Woman?”
