A New York judge has ruled that the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) must surrender a disputed Egon Schiele drawing, looted by the Nazis from Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grünbaum. The decision marks a pivotal moment in a protracted legal battle between the museum and Manhattan prosecutors.
On 23 April, New York Supreme Court Judge Althea Drysdale delivered a 79-page ruling, declaring Schiele’s 1916 Russian War Prisoner “stolen property for the last 86 years”—ever since the Nazis seized it from Grünbaum, who was later murdered at Dachau in 1941. The AIC acquired the work in 1966 and displayed it for decades until it was impounded in 2023 under a warrant signed by Drysdale. Valued at $1.25 million, the drawing has since been at the centre of fierce restitution efforts.
The museum has long maintained that Grünbaum’s sister-in-law, Mathilde Lukacs, legally sold the piece in the 1950s. But Drysdale dismissed this claim, noting that the storage facility holding Grünbaum’s collection was Nazi-controlled, casting doubt on any lawful transfer. She also criticised the AIC for relying on the testimony of Eberhard Kornfeld, a dealer whose invoices were later exposed as forgeries—some even misspelling Lukacs’ name.
The AIC has contested the Manhattan DA’s jurisdiction, but Drysdale ruled that New York’s connection, through Galerie St. Etienne’s prior ownership, was sufficient. While institutions like MoMA and the Carnegie Museum of Art have willingly returned Schiele works to Grünbaum’s heirs, the AIC remains defiant.
“We are disappointed with the ruling,” a museum spokesperson said, signalling a potential appeal. The case underscores the ongoing struggle to rectify the injustices of Nazi-era art looting—one that, for now, has delivered a measure of justice to Grünbaum’s case.