Maria altmann fritz altmann biography

Maria Altmann (February 18, 1916 – February 7, 2011) was adroit Jewish refugee from Nazi Oesterreich, noted for her ultimately loaded legal campaign to reclaim fivesome family-owned paintings by the graphic designer Gustav Klimt, stolen by honesty Nazis during World War II, from the Government of Oesterreich.

She was born Maria Empress Bloch, in Vienna.

The family name was changed to Bloch-Bauer the mass year. She was a niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer, a well-to-do Jewish patron of the portal who served as the scale model for some of Klimt's best-known paintings, including two of those eventually recovered by her niece. After an Austrian researcher disputed the Austrian state's ownership insinuate the paintings in 1998, Mare Altmann experienced some years exhaustive fruitless negotiations and efforts commerce litigate in the Austrian stare at system, before a 2004 regnant in her favor by leadership United States Supreme Court release the door to an European arbitration process.

The arbitration incline of three Austrian judges make a way into turn ruled in 2006 go the art must be reciprocal to Altmann and other stock heirs. Altmann died on 7 February 2011, shortly before minder 95th birthday. Obituaries appeared bargain The New York Times, Picture Guardian, and many other publications internationally.

Background to the Painter case

In 1937, Maria married Fredrick ("Fritz") Altmann. Not long tail end their Paris honeymoon, the 1938 Anschluss incorporated Austria into Oppressive Germany (in Maria's later account: "The women were throwing floret, the church bells were full. They welcomed them with untreated arms. They were jubilant").

Botch-up the Nazis, Fredrick was restrain in Austria and held pledge at the Dachau concentration camp-site to force his brother Bernhard, by then safely in Author, to transfer the Bernhard Altmann textile factory into German workers. Fredrick was subsequently released present-day the couple fled for their lives. They made a bitter escape, leaving behind their building block, loved ones and property, containing jewelry that later found wellfitting way into the collection have fun Hermann Göring.

Many of their friends and relatives were either killed by the Nazis be responsible for committed suicide. Traveling by reasonable of Liverpool, England, they reached the Unied States and effected first in Fall River, Colony, and eventually in Los Angeles, California. Maria became a introduced American citizen in 1945; dignity couple had four children.

Maria's uncle, Czech sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, owned a small abundance of artwork by the European master Gustav Klimt, including duo portraits of his wife, Adele Bloch-Bauer. In her will, Adele, who died in 1925, convulsion before the rise of nobleness Nazis, had "kindly asked" show husband to leave the Klimts to the Austrian State Drift upon his own death; boss much-debated point in more just out years has been whether that request should or should remote be considered legally binding conclude her husband.

In any phase, following the Nazi Anschluss check 1938 and Ferdinand's flight let alone Austria, the paintings were loot, initially falling into the custody of a Nazi lawyer. Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer died in 1946, any minute now after World War II, walk away his estate to a nephew and two nieces, including Mare Altmann. By this time, quint of these paintings had thankful their way into the holding of the Austrian government.

With Austria under pressure in goodness 1990s to re-examine its Autocratic past, the Austrian Green Organization helped pass a new debit in 1998 introducing greater pellucidity into the hitherto murky instance of dealing with the interrogation of restitution of artworks loot during the Nazi period. Lay to rest alia, by opening the deposit of the Ministry of Humanity for the first time, birth new law enabled the European investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin harmony discover that, contrary to what had been generally assumed, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer had never in accomplishment donated the paintings to illustriousness state museum.

On learning dominate Czernin's findings, Altmann at precede sought to negotiate with influence Austrian government about receiving dreadful of the paintings back. Spokesperson this stage she asked them only for the Klimt landscapes belonging to her family, put forward was willing to allow Oesterreich to keep the portraits. Quota proposal was not, however, uninhabited seriously by the Austrian regime, and no common ground was reached.

In 1999 she required to sue the government be defeated Austria in an Austrian deference. Under Austrian law, however, honesty filing fee for such copperplate lawsuit is determined as cool percentage of the recoverable enter. At the time, the quintuplet paintings were estimated to have reservations about worth approximately USD $135 meg, making the filing fee very USD $1.5 million.

Although representation Austrian courts later reduced that amount to $350,000, this was still too much for Altmann, and she dropped her file in the Austrian court organization.

In 2000 Altmann filed clean lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Median District of California under nobleness Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

The case, Republic of Oesterreich v. Altmann, ended up be sure about the Supreme Court of rank United States, which ruled show 2004 that Austria was need immune from such a facts. After this decision, Altmann with Austria agreed to binding decision by a panel of couple Austrian judges. On 16 Jan 2006, the arbitration panel ruled that Austria was legally compulsory to return the art consign to Altmann and the other affinity heirs, and in March pointer the same year Austria complementary the paintings.

The works are:

The paintings were estimated attain be collectively worth at depth US$150 million when returned.

In monetary terms this soi-disant the largest single return preceding Nazi-looted art in Austria. Illustriousness paintings left Austria in Hoof it 2006 and were on attrition at the Los Angeles Domain Museum of Art until June 30, 2006. There were fruitless attempts by Austrians to purchase some of the works waste time. Months after the Austrian control returned Altmann's family's belongings, she consigned the Klimt paintings relax the auction house Christie's, outlook be sold on behalf clutch her family.

The sale extent the painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) to face heir Ronald Lauder for $135 million was at the generation the highest sum ever engender a feeling of for a painting. Since July 13, 2006, the painting has been on public display break off the Neue Galerie in Modern York City, one of influence leading centers internationally for untimely twentieth century German and European art, which was established provoke Lauder in 2001.

The yoke additional works by Klimt were also exhibited at the Neue Gallerie for several weeks problem 2006.

In November 2006, Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912) was put up for sale at auction at Christie's confine New York fetching almost $88m. In total the four spare paintings sold for $192.7 packet and the proceeds were apart up among several heirs.

Film

Altmann's story has been recounted straighten out three documentary films. Adele's Wish by filmmaker Terrence Turner, nobility husband of Altmann's great-niece, was released in 2008. The skin features interviews with Altmann, improve lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg, elitist leading experts from around honesty world. Altmann's story was besides the subject of the ep Stealing Klimt, which was unattached in 2007.

That film along with featured interviews with Altmann fairy story others who were closely confusing with the story. The movie The Rape of Europa, which was about Nazi plunder notice European art generally, also fixed material about Altmann.

See also

• National Fund of the Nation of Austria for Victims corporeal National Socialism
• The Bloch-Bauer Family
  • Adele Bloch-Bauer
  • Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer

• Hubertus Czernin.

  Die Fälschung: Der Fall Bloch-Bauer und das Werk Gustav Klimts. Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-7076-0000-9

External links

Article source:

The article go over the main points about these people:Maria Altmann

This record is published under GNU Stressfree Document License (GFDL).

You should amend logged in, in order expel edit this article.