US authorities seize three artworks sought by the heirs of a Jewish art collector who died in the Holocaust, officials say.
They confirm a story in The New York Times that said New York investigators had taken these works by the 1900s Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele from three museums throughout the country.
In warrants issued Tuesday and seen by AFP, the New York State Supreme Court said “there is reasonable cause to believe” the works constitute stolen property.
The works were seized from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio.
The works in question are: “Russian War Prisoner” (1916), a watercolor and pencil on paper piece valued at $1.25 million, seized from the Art Institute; “Portrait of a Man” (1917), a pencil on paper drawing valued at $1 million and seized from the Carnegie Museum of Art; and “Girl With Black Hair” (1911), a watercolor and pencil on paper work valued at $1.5 million and taken from Oberlin.
The works are being sought by the living heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, a prominent Jewish art collector and cabaret artist who died in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany in 1941.
‘Girl With Black Hair’ by Egon Schiele. (Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College)
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