$1M artwork allegedly stolen by Nazis and once housed at Carnegie Museum returned to heirs

A drawing that was housed in a Pittsburgh museum and believed to be stolen by the Nazis during the Holocaust was returned to its heirs Friday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced “Portrait of a Man” by Austrian artist Egon Schiele was returned to the family of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer whose art collection was stolen by the Nazi regime.

The drawing from 1917 is valued at about $1 million and was housed at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood since the 1960s, before the museum renounced its claim to the artwork last fall under the pressure of a criminal investigation by Bragg.

Another Schiele drawing, “Girl with Black Hair,” also was returned from the Allen Museum of Art at Oberlin College, Bragg said in a news release Friday.

Timothy Reif, Grünbaum’s great-grandnephew, said in the release that the return of the artworks is “a victory for justice.”

Schiele was one of Austria’s most illustrious artists, and Fritz Grünbaum possessed more than 80 of his works, Bragg said.

Grünbaum was captured by the Nazis in 1938 and was forced to execute a power of attorney to his wife, Elisabeth, while he was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp in Southern Germany during World War II.

Manhattan prosecutors said she later was compelled to hand over his entire art collection to Nazi officials. Both Grünbaums died in concentration camps.

Reif said the artwork’s return will help his family memorialize a brave artist, art collector and opponent of fascism.

“As the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, we are gratified that this man who fought for what was right in his own time continues to make the world fairer,” he said.

Bragg said his office has been able to return 10 pieces of Schiele’s art that were looted by the Nazis, and it has been in large part because of the advocacy of Grünbaum’s relatives.

“Let us use this moment as an opportunity to honor and preserve the extraordinary legacy of Mr. Grünbaum — a life that we should never forget,” Bragg said.

Legal battles surrounding Schiele’s art have been ongoing for years.

Grünbaum’s heirs sued the Carnegie Museum of Art in December 2022 after a long hiatus since issuing a subpoena to the museum in 2005 and then a demand letter the following year for “Portrait of a Man.” The heirs also have several pending lawsuits over Schiele artwork.

A request for comment from the Carnegie Museum of Art was not returned Sunday.

When the museum surrendered the drawing of a man’s disembodied head, arm and hand last fall, a conflict resolution firm issued a statement on behalf of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh that said the museum group did not believe the Schiele drawing was stolen by Nazis or it would have returned it to its owners much sooner.

“To date, we have relied on a finding confirmed and upheld in federal court that the collection to which this drawing belonged was not, in fact, stolen by the Nazis,” read an October statement from the firm.

In the surrender agreement, the Manhattan DA’s office said prosecutors found no evidence that the Carnegie Museum of Art or anyone associated with “Portrait of a Man” did anything criminal or wrong in connection with the drawing.