Bolshevik-looted art

By now everyone must know about the wholesale theft of artworks by the Nazis. Only a few specialists, however, are familar with the massive art confiscations of the Bolsheviks. And where there is now a strong international consensus about the return of Nazi-looted art, the rightful owners of artworks confiscated in the wake of the Russian Revolution are still being given the cold shoulder.

The Washington Post now reports that the US government has granted immunity from judicial seizure for no less than 23 paintings from the Shchukin collection for a loan exhibition from Moscow's Pushkin Museum, soon to open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. As noted in the article:

Sergei Shchukin assembled an extraordinary assortment of primarily French art, patronizing artists who were reviled by the conservatives of their era. His collection, which now has an estimated market value of $3 billion, included 50 Picassos, 37 Matisses, 16 Gauguins, 16 Derains, 13 Monets, as well as works by Cezanne, Degas, Marquet and van Gogh. Shchukin's fellow merchant-patron, Ivan Abramovich Morozov, had an equally impressive collection of more than 130 paintings, many by the same artists.

Not surprisingly, the heirs want compensation. Though the Russians have been unbending so far, it would seem that it is only a matter of time before some form of compensation will have to be paid.

Posted by David on December 15, 2002 11:24 AM