[CPProt.net] FW: Press Release sent on behalf of Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq. Breakthroughs on Major Holocaust Claim

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-----Original Message-----
From: Shackleford-Ulucan, Zeinab [mailto:zulucan at herrick.com] 
Sent: 16 March 2005 22:17
Subject: Press Release sent on behalf of Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq.


Breakthroughs on Major Holocaust Claim
Famed Dutch Art Dealer's Descendants Announce Significant Recoveries and
Major Ongoing Effort to Reclaim Legacy New York, NY (March 14, 2005) --
Descendants of the noted Jewish art dealer, Jacques Goudstikker (1897-1940),
announced today major developments in their ongoing efforts to recover his
legacy.  Goudstikker's collection, which contained more than 1300 works of
art, mostly Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings, was looted by the Nazis
following their invasion of The Netherlands in 1940.  Today's statement from
the family follows this morning's announcement by the Israel Museum,
Jerusalem, of the return to the family of an important drawing by Edgar
Degas.  The restitution is described in detail in the Museum's Press Release
(copy attached below).  Another major restitution was made last summer when
the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, one of Germany's largest museums, paid an
undisclosed sum to compensate the family for yet another looted work, a
still life by the renowned Belgian expressionist painter, James Ensor.  
The family is delighted that two of the world's major museums have now
amicably resolved claims asserted by Marei von Saher, Goudstikker's sole
living heir, and also noted that there have recently been other voluntary
restitutions by dealers, auction houses and private collectors in Austria,
England, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States.
These include the return of two important paintings by Anthony van Dyck and
Aert de Gelder from private collections in Germany. 
"The Degas is our tenth restitution and it has great meaning for us because
it demonstrates that the world's leading museums are honoring our claim.
There are more than 1000 stolen artworks spread all over the globe, and we
feel it is time to let the public know what we are doing," Charlene von
Saher, the granddaughter of Jacques Goudstikker, stated today in New York.
"We have the best researchers and the best lawyers on our side, and I look
forward to the day when my grandfather's legacy will be completely
restored."
The Goudstikker family is represented by international art lawyers Lawrence
M. Kaye and Howard N. Spiegler of Herrick, Feinstein LLP.  "We are presently
pursuing claims in more than ten countries and it is exciting for my firm's
Art Law Group to assist our client in this extraordinary international
endeavor," said Lawrence M. Kaye from his office in Manhattan today.  "We
know that other museums, including many in the U.S., are working on ways to
address the issue of Nazi-looted art.  We hope that they, like the Israel
Museum and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, will do their part to help correct
the terrible wrongs that the Goudstikker family suffered at the hands of the
Nazis."
A research project to identify and locate the hundreds of missing paintings
has been established by the German art recovery specialist Clemens
Toussaint:  "We are employing a growing number of art historians who work in
archives throughout Europe and the U.S.  This is perhaps the most
comprehensive research project ever to track down a single-owner art
collection stolen by the Nazis, and it is our goal to find every single
work," commented Mr. Toussaint from an undisclosed archive in Europe today.

#          #          #
For more information please contact:
Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq.			Howard N. Spiegler, Esq.
Herrick, Feinstein LLP				Herrick, Feinstein LLP
(212) 592.1410				(212) 592.1444
lkaye at herrick.com				hspiegler at herrick.com

Clemens Toussaint
Toussaint LLC
(212) 673.6630
toussaint at email.com

For selected digital photographs of recently restituted artworks from the
former Goudstikker collection, please contact:
Mary Fowler or Dawn Pelletteri
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
(212) 592.1617






Israel Museum Returns Degas' "Four Nude Female Dancers Resting" 
to Heir of Holocaust Victim 


JERUSALEM, March 2005 - The Israel Museum announced today the restitution of
"Four Nude Female Dancers Resting" (ca. 1898), a charcoal drawing by Edgar
Degas, to the daughter-in-law of Jacques Goudstikker, a noted Dutch art
dealer who died while fleeing the Nazi invasion of The Netherlands in May
1940. The work is being returned to Mrs. Marei von Saher, widow of Jacques'
son, Eduard G. von Saher, in her capacity as the owner of Amsterdamse
Negotiatie Compagnie N.V., the successor to Jacques Goudstikker's former
gallery, Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker N.V. In late 2003, Mrs. von Saher,
through her attorneys, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York, contacted the
Israel Museum, which conducted joint research with her representatives that
confirmed the provenance of the drawing. 

"Four Nude Female Dancers Resting," represents a subject treated frequently
by Degas throughout his career, and certainly in numerous studies and
complete works on paper during this period. It was confiscated by the Nazis
in 1940 from Goudstikker's inventory. Recently completed research shows that
it was included later that year in an auction at Frederick Muller & Co. in
Amsterdam. While there is no record of the purchaser at that time, the
drawing appeared in the collection of Myrtil Frank of The Hague in the
postwar years. It was included in the exhibition "A Loan Exhibition of Degas
for the Benefit of the New York Infirmary, April 7-May 14, 1949" at the
Wildenstein Gallery in New York; and it was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Jan
Mitchell from Marlborough Gallery in 1966. The Mitchells donated the drawing
through the America-Israel Cultural Foundation to the Israel Museum in 1970,
during the period when the Museum's collection of drawings experienced
remarkable growth through gift, now numbering more than 50,000 sheets.  

"The Israel Museum takes seriously the challenging subject of restitution of
works of art taken improperly during World War II," states James Snyder,
Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. "We also
believe that as the comprehensive art and archaeology museum for the State
of Israel, it is all the more important that we address this subject in an
appropriate and timely way.  We are therefore gratified to have been able to
respond effectively to this claim for the restitution of a work from the
collection of the late Jacques Goudstikker. We hope that we have done so in
a manner which will support the ongoing effort to set standards for the
field."

Mrs. von Saher said, "It is heartening to see one of the world's leading
museums do the right thing.  My family lost much during the war, and we are
delighted to see our continuing international effort to locate and recover
Jacques Goudstikker's legacy bearing fruit.  We believe that this is an
historic moment and are pleased by the exemplary manner in which the Israel
Museum responded to our claim.  We hope that the restitution of this
wonderful drawing by Degas will lead collectors and other institutions to
act just as responsibly upon discovering that they are in possession of
Nazi-looted art."

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel
and is ranked among the leading art and archaeology museums in the world.
Founded in 1965, the Museum houses encyclopedic collections ranging from
pre-history through contemporary art, including the most extensive holdings
of Biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world, among them the Dead Sea
Scrolls. In forty years, the Museum has built a far-ranging collection of
nearly 500,000 objects through an unparalleled legacy of gifts and support
from its circle of patrons worldwide. It has established itself both as an
internationally valued institution and as a singularly rich cultural
resource for Israel, the Middle East, and the world. 


The Israel Museum is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and holidays from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesdays from 4 to 9 p.m.; Thursdays from 10 am - 9 pm;
and Friday and holiday eves from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.  The Museum is closed on
Sundays. For further information, please call 972-2-670-8811 or visit the
museum's web site at www.imj.org.il.

For more information, please contact:

Shlomit Divinsky, Rachel Schechter
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
(02) 670.8935
shlomitdi at imj.org.il, rachelsh at imj.org.il


Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq.
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
(212) 592.1410
lkaye at herrick.com
Attorneys for Marei von Saher and Amsterdamse Negotiatie Compagnie, in
liquidation

Juliet Sorce
Resnicow Schroeder Associates, USA
(212) 671.5158
jsorce at resnicowschroeder.com

For a digital photograph of the drawing, please contact:
Mary Fowler or Dawn Pelletteri
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
(212) 592.1617