The objects are a drawing by Heinrich Reinhold (1788–1825), bought in 1941 by the former Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, and two prints from the first half of the nineteenth century, acquired by the Goethe National Museum in 1942.

Dr Heinrich Schwarz (1894–1974) initially was curator at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna. As a result of Austria’s “Anschluss” to the German Reich in March 1938, he lost his employment due to his Jewish descent. He was forced to emigrate into safety abroad, losing his private collection as a consequence. Schwarz first moved to Sweden in 1939, then ultimately to the US in 1940. There, he acted i. a. as curator of the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design and at the Davison Art Center of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.

In accordance with the Washington Principles of 1998, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar has been seeking just and fair solutions together with the heirs of pre-war owners. Identifying the heirs in this case was a longsome and intricate process, since Heinrich Schwarz and his wife Elisabeth had no children together. Elisabeth Schwarz was her husband’s sole heir and lived in New York until 2003.

With the help of the Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) in New York, a state institution which mediates between current holders of Nazi-looted cultural assets and claimants, a niece of Schwarz could be identified. The two prints and the one drawing were now committed to her as the sole living heir. The handing over was carried out by the London-based Commission for Looted Art in Europe, acting on behalf of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.

Link to the blog “Tracing the Art Collector Heinrich Schwarz”.