The painting "Winter" by the American artist Gari Melcher was confiscated by a Jewish family in 1933 and has now appeared in a museum in the state of New York. The FBI hid the work at the Arkell Museum in the town of Canajoharie, not far from Albany. There it was, as court documents occupy, until 10 September part of a collection. Tracing the painting is part of an international collaboration to track down Nazi looted art.
How did the picture get to the museum in the North of the USA? The German publisher and philanthropist Rudolf Mosse acquired the painting in 1900 at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung. The National Socialists confiscated the art collection of the Jewish family after some family members had fled Germany. The family also had connections to the "Berliner Tageblatt", a NSDAP-critical newspaper. The painting was brought into his own collection in 1934 by the entrepreneur Bartlett Arkell from a New York gallery and later became part of the museum collection.
The museum's managing director and curator, Suzan D. Friedländer, stated in an e-mail that the museum was "of course very upset" about the history of the painting. The museum waives all rights to the painting. Until it can be returned to the Mosse family, "Winter" stays at the FBI's premises in Albany.
Last year, Germany and the United States again committed to a wholehearted explanation of Nazi art theft. At an international conference in Berlin, both sides signed a statement. According to this, artworks stolen by the Nazis should be returned "wherever possible" to the heirs of the former owners. If this is not possible in individual cases, another "fair and equitable solution" should be found.