61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

Restitution claims after 1947
After the deadline for filing claims had expired at the end of 1947, several
mostly unsuccessful restitution claims were made. A good example is the
attempt made by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in 1957 to get back from
Switzerland one of its paintings, «Nature morte au bouquet de fleurs» or «La
Vénus de Cyrène» by Pierre Bonnard. Seized during the German occupation the
painting has been on view in the Kunstmuseum Basel since 1956. 135 In 1998,
agreement was reached between the Bernheim-Jeune heirs and the Museum on
where the painting should stay – it can still be seen in Basel today. 136
In June 1957, the French Embassy informed the Federal Political Department
that it had tried in vain to recover Bonnard’s painting «La Vénus de Cyrène»
from the Kunstmuseum Basel. The French Education Ministry therefore filed
an official claim for restitution. 137 At the request of the Federal Political
Department, Museum Director Georg Schmidt made the following
statement:
«As the Bonnard still life in question was not purchased by the Art
Museum, but was a bequest made to us, I have made enquiries to the donor
and am authorised to make the following announcement. The donor,
Mr. Robert Hess, Hotel Jura, Basel, in his capacity as executor of the estate
of the Basel artist Esther Mengold purchased the painting in 1955 from
the Galerie Ernst Beyeler, Bäumleingasse 9, Basel, and transferred it to the
Museum as a bequest of the Esther Mengold Foundation. I am not authorised
to make any further statements.» 138
The Federal Political Department now tried to directly contact Robert Hess,
the President of the Esther Mengold Foundation, but he was also unable to
provide any further information:
476
«As President of the ‹Esther Mengold Foundation› I bought the painting
on 25 November 1955 at the public exhibition of the Galerie Beyeler in
Basel and then donated it to the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel as a
bequest of the Foundation. I personally know the Galerie Beyeler very well.
It has an excellent reputation in Switzerland and internationally. I therefore
did not have the slightest reason to question the Galerie Beyeler about the
provenance of the Bonnard painting. As always, I am thus convinced that
the purchase of this painting was completely in order. As to the manner in
which this Bonnard painting came to be in the Galerie Beyeler, I am sure
the gallery itself is best placed to provide any information.» 139