Comments on: MARIA ALTMANN

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:01:39 +0000

I cannot believe that anyone thinks they have the right to pass judgment on the heirs of the Klimt paintings and what they did with the paintings after they were returned to them. The paintings belonged to them and they have the right to do anything they want with them. They were robbed by the Nazis and lost almost everything, including many of their relatives. If anyone should pass judgment, it is them.

By: Tony Stallone

Tony Stallone — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:06:34 +0000

It was necessary for the paintings to be sold in order for their protection and preservation. The priceless art pieces are now ina place where they can be cared for and admired for posterity. Maria deserves every cent and much, much more. The sums she netted amount to a fraction of her inheritance had her family never been robbed by cowardly thugs that the nazis were. Maria has my utmost respect not only for the way she conducted herself in her 80s, but also in all those years prior. Admiration for both Maria and for Randol Schoenberg. My best wishes for them both.

By: Maria S.

Maria S. — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:59:31 +0000

I saw the documentary on this whole legal battle, what she chose to do with her art was her business. Whether it be to sell it or keep it or donate it. What was done to her was outrageous! I cant imagine being a newlywed and having my wedding ring stripped off my finger, my wedding jewels stripped from me and then years later some government wanting to keep what was mine! So what she sold it all, she is in her 90s, thank God she lived to be vindicated and live the rest of her life in a luxurious enough manner to alleviate what she had endured during a time that was supposed to be happy memories of honeymoon, building a life with her new husband, having heirlooms in the family. How dare anyone refer to her as greedy when she is only having a mere fraction of her own things that were STOLEN from her-now returned!

By: Bruno Kreisky

Bruno Kreisky — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:39:26 +0000

Just months after the Austrian government finally returned Ms. Altmann’s family’s heirlooms to her, she consigned the Klimts to the auction house Christie’s, to be sold on her behalf. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I sold for $135 million, and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II for $88 million, with the five paintings fetching a total of over $327 million.

Some factions of the art world rightfully called her greedy, even going so far as to accuse her of embodying negative stereotypes. New York Times chief art critic Michael Kimmelman accused her of “cashing in,” and thus transforming a “story about justice and redemption after the Holocaust” into “yet another tale of the crazy, intoxicating art market.” Kimmelman argued that the family should give the works away, perhaps giving them to public institutions:

“How refreshing this story would have been had the Bloch-Bauers conceived a way to ensure that that birch landscape, say, ended up in public hands,” he wrote. “In so doing they would have earned not just public sympathy for their family’s struggle but also an enduring share of public gratitude. They would have underscored the righteousness of their battle for restitution and in the process made clear that art, even in these money-mad days, isn’t only about money.”

By: Anthony Immerglueck

Anthony Immerglueck — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:15:42 +0000

My maternal Grandfather was a Jewish gentleman named Kurt Walter Bachstitz who was a gallery owner (KWB Galleries/ Bachstitz Galleries)resident in The Hague during the war. A number of artworks which he was forced to sell to the Germans (Geobels and Hitler) at the time were recovered and I am trying to recover these from the Dutch. My sister and I are his sole heirs.

There were, however, galleries in other centres, including Vienna, London, New York etc and I have been unable to find out anything about the contents or liquidation of these galleries. Is there an address you can give to me that I could write to to initiate enquiries?

Any assistance you could offer would be most welcome.

Thanks in anticipation,

Tony Immerglueck (Immergluck)