Artwork stolen from its owners by the Nazis – and the fight to have it returned to the families which owned it – is the subject of a special movie presentation and discussion by the Gold Coast International Film Festival next Thursday, May 30, at The Great Neck Arts Center.
An attorney-historian who has spent 20 years identifying art looted by the Nazis and seeing to its return to the original owners will be a special speaker following the film.
The movie, “Portrait of Wally,” traces the history of Egon Schiele’s tender picture of his mistress, Walburga (“Wally”) Neuzil. It was the pride of the Leopold Museum in Vienna.
For 13 years the painting was locked up in New York, caught in a legal battle between the Austrian museum and the Jewish family from whom the Nazis seized the painting in 1939.
“Portrait of Wally” traces the history of this iconic image, from Schiele’s gesture of affection toward his young lover, to the theft of the painting from Lea Bondi, a Jewish art dealer fleeing Vienna for his life, to the post-war confusion and subterfuge, to the surprise resurfacing of “Wally” on loan to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan in 1997.
The “Wally” case brought the story of Nazi art loot into the open, eventually forcing museums in Europe and the United States to search their own collections for suspect objects. Many museums ended up returning art to Jewish families, who had abandoned hope until “Wally” showed that institutions could be held accountable for holding property stolen during the Holocaust. The case was resolved in dramatic fashion in the summer of 2010, but only after the history of Schiele’s extraordinary painting was unearthed.
Willi Korte, who will discuss the film and art stolen by the Nazis with the audience, is a German born jurist, historian, researcher, and author who has studied history, law and politics at the Free University of Berlin, Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has spent the past 20 years on matters related to the identification and restitution of works and objects of art looted by the Nazis and their collaborators.
As one of the foremost historical investigators and researchers in the field of cultural assets misappropriated and looted between 1933 and 1945, Dr. Korte relies heavily on his special knowledge of private and public archives in North American and Europe. He provided the historical research and background in regard to Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally and has been responsible for the restitution of many old masters.
A reception with the speaker begins as 6:30 p.m., followed by the film presentation at 7:30 p.m. at The Great Neck Arts Center, 113 Middle Neck Road, above the Clearview Squire Cinemas, with a main entrance facing the Maple Drive municipal parking lot. Admission to the reception, film, and audience discussion is only $20 per person.
For reservations and further information about the film series, call The Arts Center at 829-2570.
