New York Times: Klimt's 'Portrait of Gertrud Loew' to Be Auctioned

    NEW YORK, NY, June 08, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- New York Times writes on 4 June 2015: "A painting by Gustav Klimt that has been in private hands for over a century will be auctioned at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on June 24. The work, "Portrait of Gertrud Loew," painted in 1902, has an estimated sale price of 12 million to 18 million pounds (about $18 million to $28 million), and is for sale as a result of a settlement between the Felsovanyi family, the heirs of the painting's subject, and the Klimt Foundation".

"This is one of the few remaining opportunities to buy a full-worked oil portrait by Klimt, and the story of the restitution is part of its commercial value, because it hasn't changed hands and comes to auction completely fresh," Helena Newman, a co-head of worldwide Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby's, said. Ms. Newman said that the price estimate was in line with an unfinished oil portrait of Ria Munk that sold for about $29 million in 2010.

In 2006, international philanthropist, investor, art collector, media mogul, former public servant and heir of Estee Lauder cosmetic giant, Ronald S. Lauder Ronald S. Lauder paid $135 million for Klimt's 1907 "Adele Bloch-Bauer I," an example of that period, for the Neue Galerie in New York. Since the mid-1990s, Lauder has been a committed supporter of returning the art works to their lawful owners. However, his collection also includes items for which provenance is ambiguous at best and undetermined at worst. According to some critics, Lauder has always spent a great deal of time researching the provenance of his paintings, even taking into account the historical complications of such research, and has been in no hurry to share information in his possession with concerned persons. When he was the ambassador to Austria in 1986 and 1987, the parliament and press accused him of abusing his post to acquire and export valuable paintings and furniture. Three times over the last thirty years, Lauder was sued in cases concerning artworks: two medieval shields were returned to Italy and France, and one Russian painting stolen by the Nazis from a Russian museum was also returned.

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