Yale Sued by Former Van Gogh Owner

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Jun 4th 2009 at 9:01PM

Pierre Konowaloff believes that Van Gogh's painting, "The Night Café," was stolen from his great-grandfather during the Communist takeover of Russia. Now, it belongs to Yale University, and he wants it back.

According to this claim, Ivan Morozov acquired the painting in 1908 and owned it until the Russian government snatched it in the 1918 "change" to Communism. What was Morozov's, it seems, became Lenin's. Then, it passed through galleries in Europe and New York until it was eventually left to Yale by a collector in 1961.

The hook, for Konowaloff, is that Yale took the painting "with reason to know that it had been unlawfully confiscated or 'nationalized' without compensation," according to a report in Bloomberg.

This isn't the only claim that Yale is facing. The university also has to contend with a suit by the Republic of Peru, which wants to reclaim artifacts excavated from Machu Picchu.

Tags: art, artist, artwork, communism, communist, communist party, CommunistParty, communists, machu picchu, MachuPicchu, russia, scandal, scandals, van gogh, VanGogh, vincent van gogh, VincentVanGogh, yale, yale university, YaleUniversity

Filed under: Art

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Spectacular Bid Jun 5th 2009 3:45PM

Just another Russian shakedown (albeit a French citizen today) and I do hope that the court upholds Yale's suit and dismisses the counter suit by the great grandson of the one-time owner. There has to be an end to these claims including those of WWII with art museums and private collectors that works need to be returned without compensation - only to be immediately auctioned off by these heirs.

What's next - the heirs of Vermeeer filing claim that they lost their unsold paintings because of bankruptcy and were forced to give them up? Every action in history should not have to be "corrected". I suppose the native tribes of Manhattan would like to get back Central Park too.

I know the family very well who acquired the work and donated it and forty other works to Yale plus hundreds to other institutions. Stephen C. Clark Sr's actions with purchase, assumption of clean title, and ultimately the donation were totally above board and beyond reproach.

The work has been on display since 1960 so the statute of limitations of even a valid claim has long since expired. See a similar type of suit:

http://www.fineartregistry.com/articles/hill_cindy/georgia-okeeffe-paintings.php