Stephen Chung
October 7, 2022
A masterpiece by the French artist Marc Chagall that was returned to the family of a Jewish violin-maker 82 years after it was looted but the Nazis is expected to be sold for up to £7 million (Ali Mitib writes).
The portrait of Chagall’s father, Le Pere, belonged to David Cender before he was sent to Auschwitz with his wife and daughter in 1940. The painting was stolen from their home in Poland by the Gestapo.
When it resurfaced in 1966, Chagall bought the painting and after his death in 1985, Le Pere was donated to the Paris Museum of Modern Art.
It was returned to the Cender family earlier this year, as one of 15 artworks plundered by the Nazis that the French government is trying to return to their rightful owners. It has been put up for auction at Phiilips in New York next month.
Jeremiah Evarts, deputy chairman at Phillips, described Le Pere as a “treasured and rare example from the artist’s early oeuvre:.
He added “its inclusion in this landmark restitution signifies a historic moment in cultural history.
