Seventy-three years ago, in 1944, several outstanding works of art belonging to Jewish collector Simon Bauer were confiscated and sold by an art dealer designated by officials from France’s wartime Vichy regime. One of the works, a lovely scene by impressionist master Camille Pissarro, recently turned up.
A stolen painting titled “Pea Harvest” by impressionist master Camille Pissarro recently turned up in an exhibition in Paris, France. Now, relatives of Simon Bauer — the Jewish man who owned the painting, along with 92 other artworks — are seeking its return from the U.S. couple who had loaned it.
Bauer’s collection was seized in 1944 by French authorities and promptly sold by a designated art dealer. Bauer, who was interned but avoided the Nazi death camps and was released in September 1944, spent the last three years of his life trying to reclaim his looted works. When he died in 1947, he had recovered only a small portion of his collection.
Jean-Jacques Bauer — Simon’s grandson (now 87 himself) — recently learned that one of his grandfather’s paintings, “Pea Harvest,” was on display in Paris at the Marmottan as part of a Pissarro retrospective exhibition. He has since asked a top Parisian court to order that the painting not be allowed to move pending further action to determine its ownership. The court said a ruling is scheduled for May 30.
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