The New York court ordered the restitution to the estate of Oscar Stettiner of Seated Man With a Cane (Man sitting with a cane), a painting painted by Amedeo Modigliani in 1918 and owned since 1996 by the dealer David Nahmad through International Art Center, a Panamanian company. In his April 3 decision, Judge Joel M. Cohen found that the plaintiff had presented an “unusually strong” case, demonstrating that Oscar Stettiner had a superior possessory right to the work before its seizure during World War II.
Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Man sitting leaning on a cane1918, oil on canvas, private collection.
The dispute concerned a painting that disappeared after the sale, in July 1944 at the Hôtel Drouot, of goods from the stock of Stettiner, a Jewish art dealer based in Paris, who had fled the capital in 1939. The court retained a continuous chain of provenance, going from Stettiner to the seizure under Nazi control, then to a forced sale to the dealer John Van der Klip, before the resale, fifty-two years later, to the Nahmads during an organized auction by Christie’s in London. The painting was then purchased for $3.2 million.
The defense had argued for years that the disputed work was not that of Stettiner and that David Nahmad was not the direct owner. But the decision notes that the defendants’ challenges were based on speculation rather than evidence, while the Panama Papers revelations had already shed light on the links between the Nahmad family and the offshore company officially holding the painting.
The judge also rejected the argument of the late nature of the procedure. According to him, Stettiner had taken steps since the post-war period, but trace of the painting had been lost. The court emphasizes that there is no proof of a public presentation of the work between 1944 and 1996, nor of any knowledge, by the heirs, of the London sale.
