The collection of August and Serena Lederer was considered the most important private collection of the work of Gustav Klimt. Lederer's business empire and art collection was looted by Nazis
Notablework
restitution claims for Beethoven Frieze and other important artworks
With a business empire built on distilleries, the Lederer family became the second wealthiest in Vienna, using their fortune to support artists and acquire art, notable of the Vienna Secession. To complete the artistic claim, the furnishings of the residence had been entrusted to Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill und produced by the Wiener Werkstätte founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Erich Lederer, 1912, oil and gouache on canvas, 139 × 55 cm, Kunstmuseum (Basel).
In 1912, the Lederers met Egon Schiele, who spent that year's Christmas with them in Györ, becoming friends with their son Erich, whom he painted and drew several times.
Art collection
The Lederer's art collection was the largest and most important private collection of Gustav Klimt.
Lederer acquired the Beethoven Frieze from Carl Reininghaus in 1915.
Their relationship with Klimt was very friendly, intimate to the point that Elisabeth Franziska Lederer, born in 1894, was able to affirm during the Nazi period to be the adulterous daughter of the painter and to receive in 1940 a certificate of filiation establishing that she was only "Half-Jewish", while her two brothers, Erich and Fritz, were considered full Jews.
The Lederers' art collection was one of the first stolen by the Nazis in Austria.
The Gestapo seized most of the Lederer's art collection. The "Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz" or so-called "Monument protection" and Vugesta were involved.
The Lederer collection, confiscated in 1938, was stored mainly at Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria, where it would have largely burned in early 1945 under poorly clarified circumstances - which seems to contradict the fact that certain paintings resurfaced after the war, which were returned to the heirs.
Claims for restitution
In 1999, the Lederer heirs received the return of six works by Egon Schiele and a painting by Gentile Bellini.
In 2013, the Lederer heirs initiated a lawsuit to claim restitution of the Beethoven Frieze which had been looted by the Nazis. Austria refused the claim.
In 2018, a Swiss court in Geneva ordered that the Galerie Kornfeld respond to questions asked by the Lederer heirs concerning artworks by Klimt and Schiele.
Austria restituted a Klimt painting that was looted from the Lederers to the wrong family.
Bibliography
Christian M. Nebehay, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele und die Familie Lederer (Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele et la famille Lederer), Vienne, 1979.
Tobias G. Natter et Gerbert Frodl, Klimt und die Frauen (Klimt et les femmes), Cologne-Vienne, 2000.
↑"Recommendation made to the Austrian Federal Minister for Art and Culture, Constitution and Media (unofficial translation)"(PDF). A memo from the Central Office for Monument Protection (Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz) of February 1939 indicates that because of unpaid debts that were "not large compared to the artworks" the Foreign Exchange Office (Devisenstelle) would seize Serena Lederer's assets only by agreement with the Central Office. A private claim against Serena Lederer of RM 36,000 was also noted. Attached to the memo is a list dated 14 February 1939 itemising twenty-eight works of art from the Lederer collection that "should in particular remain impounded". Item 21 on this list was the Beethoven Frieze with the addition "stored with Bäuml"
↑"La Frise Beethoven – Héritiers Lederer c. Autriche". En 1938, une grande partie de la collection d'art d'August Lederer, y compris la Frise, est saisie par les nazis. ‐ A la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l'œuvre est restituée à Enrich Lederer. Cependant, cette restitution est assortie d'une interdiction d'exportation.2 ‐ En 1972, l'œuvre est achetée à Erich Lederer par la République d'Autriche pour 15 millions de schillings (soit l'équivalent de 750.000 dollars de l'époque).3 ‐ Depuis 1986, la Frise est exposée au musée viennois Palais de la Sécession.4 ‐ Le 15 octobre 2013, les héritiers du collectionneur Erich Lederer contestent les circonstances dans lesquelles l'œuvre lui a été achetée par la République d'Autriche en 1972 et saisissent la Commission des biens spoliés en Autriche.5 C
↑"La justice genevoise condamne une maison de vente aux enchères". Tribune de Genève (in French). ISSN1010-2248. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2021-04-11. Le propriétaire de la célèbre galerie bernoise Kornfeld a été condamné par la Cour de justice genevoise à répondre à une liste de questions dans le cadre d'une succession. Cette demande de renseignements émane d'héritiers de la collection Lederer, composée avant-guerre de 600 à 700 dessins du célèbre peintre symboliste autrichien Gustav Klimt et de 380 dessins de son disciple Egon Schiele. Ils cherchaient à déterminer qui a mis aux enchères, vendu et acheté certaines œuvres, quels contrôles ont été effectués, et qui possède encore des œuvres de la succession. Une procédure similaire en cours à Genève les oppose à la maison de vente aux enchères viennoise Kinsky.
↑"Un Klimt peut en cacher un autre - Le Temps" (in French). 2021-05-03. ISSN1423-3967. Retrieved 2024-11-20. On sait aujourd'hui que celui qu'elle détenait était bien Rosiers sous les arbres: les deux peintures ont tout simplement été confondues! Pommiers II appartenait vraisemblablement à une autre famille juive, les Lederer. L'erreur est officiellement reconnue en 2017 et, naturellement, les héritiers de la famille Lederer espéraient récupérer ce fameux Pommiers II. Problème: les ayants droit de Nora Stiasny ont entre-temps vendu cette œuvre qui se trouve aujourd'hui dans la collection de la Fondation Louis Vuitton, comme celle-ci l'a confirmé au Temps.
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