Looted pieces at centre of Liebermann dispute

Descendants of painter accuse museums of foot- dragging in return of drawings

The great- granddaughters of the GermanJewish painter Max Liebermann are growing impatient with Berlin museum authorities about two drawings from his collection they say were lost as a result of Nazi persecution.

The drawings by Adolph Menzel in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin are among thousands of works that Liebermann’s heirs are trying to recover. Liebermann was not only one of the most famous German Impressionists; he was also a great collector. Works by Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir adorned his imposing home next to the Brandenburg Gate.

Forced to resign as honorary president of the Prussian Academy of Arts after the Nazis took power, Liebermann died isolated and embittered in 1935, leaving his estate to his widow. She sold some artworks to pay the rent and buy food and medicine before committing suicide in 1943.

“For the heirs, it’s difficult to understand why public institutions are so hesitant,” said Georg Castell of Heinichen Laudien von Nottbeck Rechtsanwaelte in Berlin, the lawyer representing the great- granddaughters. “Without co- operation from the museums, we can’t get very far.”

Impoverished by the Nazis’ punitive financial demands, Martha Liebermann took poison at the age of 85 to escape deportation to a concentration camp. The art that remained in her apartment after her death was seized by the Gestapo.

The Liebermanns’ daughter, Kaethe Riezler, escaped to the U. S.

Riezler’s granddaughters do not wish to be identified by name, Castell said.

Under postwar laws crafted by the Western Allies and later West German laws, any art sales by Jews after 1935 are presumed to have been under duress and therefore invalid.

The 1998 Washington principles, endorsed by 44 nations, require public museums to find “just and fair solutions” with the original owners of art stolen by the Nazis.

The two Menzel drawings are known to have been in Martha’s possession until 1938, which makes it likely she swapped them for food or medicine at a time when Jews were frequently denied access to doctors and basic provisions, said Monika Tatzkow, who is researching Liebermann’s collection on behalf of the artist’s greatgranddaughters.