ナチスから逃れる際に売却されたピカソ、返還求め米美術館を提訴

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツ系ユダヤ人夫婦の子孫がこのほど、米ニューヨークのグッゲンハイム美術館に対し、１９３８年にナチス・ドイツから逃れるために夫婦が売却した絵画の返還を求め提訴した。（写真はグッゲンハイム美術館）
　問題の絵は１９０４年にピカソが描いた油彩画「アイロンをかける女」。７８年から同美術館に展示されている。所有権を主張している夫婦のひ孫、トーマス・ベニグソン氏らによると推定１億～２億ドル（１３０億～２６０億円）の価値がある。
　マンハッタンの裁判所に提出された訴状によると、絵は１９１６年に皮革製造会社を経営していたカール・アドラー氏が、独ミュンヘンのユダヤ人画廊経営者ハインリッヒ・タンハウザー氏から購入した。当時アドラー夫婦は独南西部バーデンバーデンで「裕福な」暮らしをしていた。
　だが、１９３３年のナチスの政権掌握とともにユダヤ人は迫害され、アドラー夫婦も事業と資産を失った。夫婦は３８年６月にドイツを脱出するとオランダやフランス、スイスで暮らしながら、アルゼンチンから永住ビザ（査証）が発給されるのを待った。
　アドラー夫婦は１９３８年１０月、欧州諸国への短期ビザを取得するため、ドイツから仏パリへ渡っていたタンハウザー氏の息子ユスティン氏に「アイロンをかける女」を１５５２ドル（現在の価値で約４００万円）で売った。６年前の査定額のわずか９分の１だった。
　今回訴え出ているベニグソン氏らはこれを不当な売買だったとし、「タンハウザー氏はアドラー家の窮状をよく知っていた。ナチスの迫害がなければ、このような値段で絵が売られることはなかったはずだ」と主張している。
　ユスティン・タンハウザー氏は１９７６年に死去。故人の遺志で「アイロンをかける女」を含む美術品コレクションはグッゲンハイム美術館に寄贈された。
　ベニグソン氏は遠い親戚や複数のユダヤ人組織などと共に、２０１６年に米国で制定されたホロコースト収用美術品回収法に基づき訴えを起こした。
　グッゲンハイム美術館側は、返還要求を「極めて真剣に」受け止めているが、アドラー家からタンハウザー氏への売却は「ナチス・ドイツ外」で行われた「公正な取引」だと主張。同美術館が現在の「正当な所有者」だと述べている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/02/01-13:08）

When Karl and Rosi Adler fled the Nazis in 1938 they sold a Pablo Picasso painting to fund their escape. Now, their descendants are suing to get it back.
Heirs of the Adlers, who were German Jews, have filed a lawsuit against New York's Guggenheim Museum, where the artwork has hung since 1978.
The plaintiffs say they are the rightful owners of Picasso's 1904 oil on canvas Woman Ironing, and estimate it to be worth between $100 million and $200 million.
The Guggenheim is fighting the claim, describing it as without merit, with the case appearing to be heading for a civil trial.
The suit, filed in a Manhattan court on January 20, says Karl Adler bought the painting in 1916 from Heinrich Thannhauser, a Jewish gallery owner in Munich.
At the time, Karl, who ran a leading leather manufacturing company, and Rosi were living a prosperous life in Baden-Baden, in southwest Germany.
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they were persecuted and lost their business and financial assets.
They fled Germany in June 1938, and lived in the Netherlands, France and Switzerland while awaiting permanent visas for Argentina.
To obtain short-term visas for the European countries, the Adlers in October 1938 sold Woman Ironing to Thannhauser's son, Justin, who had left Germany for Paris.
They received $1,552 (worth $32,000 today) for the oil on canvas, nine times less than the $14,000 that Adler had it valued at six years earlier.
The plaintiffs argue this is evidence the painting was sold under duress.
Thannhauser was well aware of the plight of Adler and his family, and that, absent Nazi persecution, Adler would never have sold the painting when he did at such a price, reads the complaint.
Thannhauser gifted his art collection, including Woman Ironing, to the Guggenheim following his death in 1976.
The Guggenheim said the complaint strikingly fails to acknowledge that the museum contacted the Adlers' son before taking ownership.
(He) did not raise any concerns about the painting or its sale to Justin Thannhauser, the statement added.
In 2014, Thomas Bennigson, the grandson of another Adler child learned that his grandmother may have once owned the painting.
His lawyers corresponded with the Guggenheim for several years before demanding the work's return in June 2021, according to the lawsuit.
Bennigson's complaint -- which lists other distant relatives, several Jewish organizations and non-profits as co-plaintiffs, was made under America's Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act.
The 2016 law provides victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs the opportunity to recover works of art seized by the Nazis.
The Guggenheim said it takes restitution claims extremely seriously but insists it is the rightful owner.
The museum said Adler's sale to Thannhauser was a fair transaction between parties with a longstanding and continuing relationship and occurred while both men were outside of Nazi Germany.