Pierre Ciric, Esq., a New York attorney, filed a lawsuit in French court against the Paris Mayor, accusing the prestigious Carnavalet Museum, a municipal museum, to illegally hold an art collection stolen during the Vichy Regime.
Ciric is the heir of a Jewish family who fled Paris during the Holocaust and whose members discovered in 1993 that an art collection, held by a family member, Adolphe Fraenkel, which disappeared during World War II, was gifted in 1961 to the Carnavalet Museum.
The lawsuit alleges that the Fraenkel collection was looted during the Vichy Regime because the Fraenkel estate was held in escrow by the lawyer in charge of the systematic looting of real estate assets held by Jewish families in Paris during the 1940’s.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Carnavalet Museum failed to comply with very strict gift conditions following a large-scale renovation which concluded in 2021. Most notably, the Carnavalet Museum failed to maintain this collection, called the “Bouvier Collection,” one of the largest ensembles of 17th and 18th century decorative art objects in the world, according to the gift terms when it barred public physical access and only allowed online viewing of the collection. `
Main Image: Carnavalet Museum
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
ArtDependence Magazine is an international magazine covering all spheres of contemporary art, as well as modern and classical art.
ArtDependence features the latest art news, highlighting interviews with today’s most influential artists, galleries, curators, collectors, fair directors and individuals at the axis of the arts.
The magazine also covers series of articles and reviews on critical art events, new publications and other foremost happenings in the art world.
If you would like to submit events or editorial content to ArtDependence Magazine, please feel free to reach the magazine via the contact page.
