AJC Lauds Seattle Art Museum For Setting Courageous Precedent On Odalisque

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 15 June 1999

The American Jewish Committee of Greater Seattle, upon learning that the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has agreed to immediately return the Henri Matisse painting Odalisque to the family of noted French art dealer Paul Rosenberg, lauded the museum's decision as a "precedent-setting act of moral courage."

Since the Fall of 1998, AJC has been in regular contact with museum leadership regarding the Odalisque case and has worked in the general community to raise public awareness of the issue of art looted by the Nazis during World War II.

"We are tremendously pleased that Seattle has taken a leadership role in worldwide efforts to resolve the 'unfinished business' of the Holocaust, " said AJC chapter president Fredric C. Tausend. "The action on the part of the Seattle Art Museum will no doubt go a long way in helping to resolve other pending and future cases throughout the United States involving artwork stolen by the Nazis during WWII."

Nancy Vineberg, executive director of AJC's Seattle Chapter, noted that since the issue arose over the Matisse painting, SAM has sought to thoroughly research the provenance of Odalisque, heavily weighing the report by the Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP). "By returning the painting to the Rosenberg family now, while pursuing its claim against the Knoedler Gallery separately, the museum is worthy of the highest praise," she said. "While remaining true to their obligations as a quasi-public institution, they've taken a step no other U.S. museum has to date - clearly stating that, despite some uncertainties in this painting's provenance, the moral impediment to right the wrongs committed by the Nazi regime is paramount."

Ms. Vineberg added that the museum's decision strengthens the principles developed at the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets (held in December 1998), as well as those by the American Association of Art Museum Directors. SAM's move is also in line with museums in Germany that have recently returned artworks to the heirs of Holocaust victims.

"We are hopeful," said Ms. Vineberg, "that piece by piece, case by case, these positive developments will continue, and some measure of justice will be achieved for those who lost everything in the Holocaust. It cannot erase the human tragedy, but it can, at the very least, return pieces of a lost heritage to some families."

AJC has contended throughout the Seattle Art Museum case that the issue of Nazi-confiscated artwork must be seen as one part of the constellation of asset issues including insurance, gold, pensions and communal property.

The AJC's Seattle Chapter, during its 1998 Annual Meeting, heard from experts on the subject of Nazi-confiscated art, including U.S. State Department representative J.D. Bindenagel, organizer of the Washington Conference; Lynn Nicholas, author of the ground-breaking work, The Rape of Europa; and Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of AJC's Office of European Affairs. SAM director Mimi Gardner Gates gave her first public address on the case of Odalique at the AJC forum.

At AJC's annual Jewish Film Festival in March, several hundred local filmgoers screened the documentary Making a Killing, which details the case of a Degas in the collection of industrialist Daniel Searle. The AJC also hosted filmmaker Anne Webber, now co-chair of the European Commission on Looted Art, and Willi Korte, the foremost art researcher working on the issue.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org