(Q42899432)
Statements
2002
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After the deadline for filing claims had expired at the end of 1947, several mostly unsuccessful restitution claims were made. A good example is the attempt made by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1957 to get back from Switzerland one of its paintings, «Nature morte au bouquet de fleurs» or «La Vénus de Cyrène» by Pierre Bonnard. Seized during the German occupation the painting has been on view in the Kunstmuseum Basel since 1956.135 In 1998, agreement was reached between the Bernheim-Jeune heirs and the Museum on where the painting should stay – it can still be seen in Basel today. (English)
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In June 1957, the French Embassy informed the Federal Political Department that it had tried in vain to recover Bonnard’s painting «La Vénus de Cyrène» from the Kunstmuseum Basel. The French Education Ministry therefore filed an official claim for restitution. (English)
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The French Education Ministry therefore filed an official claim for restitution.137 At the request of the Federal Political Department, Museum Director Georg Schmidt made the following statement:«As the Bonnard still life in question was not purchased by the Art Museum, but was a bequest made to us, I have made enquiries to the donor and am authorised to make the following announcement. The donor, Mr. Robert Hess, Hotel Jura, Basel, in his capacity as executor of the estate of the Basel artist Esther Mengold purchased the painting in 1955 from the Galerie Ernst Beyeler, Bäumleingasse 9, Basel, and transferred it to the Museum as a bequest of the Esther Mengold Foundation. I am not autho- rised to make any further statements.»13 (English)
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Among these emigrant art dealers, Fritz Nathan was probably the most important supplier of art to the major private collections, such as those estab- lished by Oskar Reinhart and Emil G. Bührle. (English)
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The second case, Ferdinand Hodler’s «Stockhornkette am Thunersee» also comes from the Silberberg collection, was auctioned by Graupe in Berlin in 1935, and was presumably brought to Switzerland via Fritz Nathan. Around 1945, Bern Professor of Medicine Berhard Walthard bought the painting, thinking it came from the A. Sutter collection in Oberhofen. In 1985, it showed up in an auction at Bern’s Galerie Kornfeld and was bought in good faith by Simon Frick, (former) cantonal government member in St. Gallen. (British English)