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Seated Man with a Cane
1918 painting by Amedeo Modigliani From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Seated Man with a Cane is a 1918 oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. The painting has been the subject of a complex ownership dispute since 1946.
Ownership history
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Early sales
The painting was purchased by the International Art Center (IAC) at a 1996 Christie's auction in London for £2 million.[1] In 2008, the painting was put up for auction by Sotheby's in New York, but no bids were made.[1]
Stettiner claim
Philippe Maestracci claims ownership of the painting through inheritance through his grandfather.[2] According to Maestracci, the painting was taken from his grandfather, Jewish Parisian art dealer Oscar Stettiner, by the Nazis during the German occupation of France.[2] In 1939, Oscar Stettiner left the painting behind in France ahead of the German occupation.[3] The Nazis took administration over the painting in 1941 and auctioned it off in 1944.[3] In 1946, Oscar Stettiner filed a claim to recover the painting, but the French authorities were ultimately unable to find it.[3] However, the French court recognized Oscar Stettiner as the owner of this painting, which still bears his name on label on the back of the painting.
In 2011, Maestracci filed a claim against Helly Nahmad and David Nahmad in the US federal court in New York to recover the painting.[1] The Nahmads initially denied that they were the owners of the painting, claiming that they were merely exhibiting it on the behalf of the IAC, a Panamanian corporation listed as its titular owner.[1] However the Panama Papers investigation launched by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealed that Nahmad was in fact the owner of IAC.[4][5][6] Since then, Maestracci has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to recover the painting.[1] According to the Panama Papers released in 2016, "David Nahmad, the family leader, has been the company’s sole owner since January 2014”.[2] In April, 2016, Swiss authorities seized the painting from the Geneva Freeport as part of an ongoing investigation.[2]
Following a court decision in 2017, Maestracci has standing to continue with his 2014 lawsuit to reclaim the work.[7] In the January 2020 edition of the Art Newspaper new evidence is referred to with respect to a 1950 document, which contains a photograph of the painting on one side and the words "stolen" and "Stettiner family" on the reverse. This new evidence is further proof that the Seated Man With a Cane is the very same painting as the one stolen from Oscar Stettiner.[8]
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References
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