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Heirs sell art once looted by Nazis to casino mogul
Saturday, September 4, 1999
By REGINA HACKETT
When the Seattle Art Museum returned Henri Matisse's "Odalisque" to the family who lost it to the Nazis, one heir of collector Paul Rosenberg said she was happy "his children are finally coming home."
Not for long.
Just two months later, that particular child found itself up for adoption.
Alan Feldman, spokesman for the Bellagio, confirmed the painting is on view in the hotel's gallery. Asked how much Wynn paid for the painting, he said, "We don't discuss from whom we buy paintings, to whom we sell them or any of the prices paid in any transaction." The painting is valued at more than $2 million.
Confiscated by the Nazis from Rosenberg in 1941, the painting turned up at New York's Knoedler Gallery in 1954. The gallery sold it to Seattle collectors Virginia and Prentice Bloedel without telling them about the Rosenberg connection, says museum spokeswoman Linda Williams. The Bloedels hung it in their living room until donating it to the Seattle Art Museum in 1991.
The location of the painting came to light after it was listed as "whereabouts unknown" in Hector Feliciano's 1995 book, "The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art."
Rosenberg heirs sued the museum in 1998 to get the painting back. The museum agreed to return the painting after receiving a report on the painting's provenance by the Holocaust Art Restitution Project of B'nai B'rith, which investigates Jewish cultural losses during World War II.
The lawsuit was the first against an American museum concerning ownership of art looted by Nazis during World War II. When the museum agreed to return the painting, Elaine Rosenberg told The New York Times she was happy for her deceased father-in-law. "His children are finally coming home," she said.
Wynn's Bellagio is home to a notable collection of impressionist and post-impressionist painting, from Monet to Matisse, as well as contemporary work from Robert Rauschenberg, Dale Chihuly and Roy Lichtenstein. The collection is valued at $300 million.
Mimi Gates, director of the Seattle Art Museum, said the Rosenbergs weren't interested in working out a deal letting the museum retain the painting. "It belongs to them; they can do with it as they choose," she said.
The museum is suing the Knoedler Gallery, contending it sold the painting to the Bloedels under false pretenses. Knoedler Gallery attorneys deny the gallery is liable.
P-I art critic Regina Hackett can be reached at 206-448-8332 or reginahackett@seattle-pi.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ART CRITIC
The heirs of French gallery owner and collector Rosenberg have sold Matisse's 1928 oil painting to casino mogul Steve Wynn, owner of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
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