Owners Loan Munch Artwork to Smith College Museum of Art
January 25, 2007
New York, NY - March 23, 2006 - - Beneficiaries of the estate of Maria Ash, have obtained back an oil, chalk, and charcoal rendering of Curt Glaser and his first wife Else Glaser, Owners Loan Munch Artwork to Smith College Museum of Art "Double Portrait of Curt and Else Glaser" Edvard Munch, circa 1913

New York, NY - March 23, 2006 - - Beneficiaries of the estate of Maria Ash, have obtained back an oil, chalk, and charcoal rendering of Curt Glaser and his first wife Else Glaser, created by Edvard Munch, circa 1913, and have now agreed to loan the artwork to Smith College Museum of Art. Prof. Curt Glaser was a prominent art historian and supporter of his friend Edvard Munch. His work "Edvard Munch" by Curt Glaser, published in 1922 by Bruno Cassirer, is still one of the best reviews of Edvard Munch's artworks. At one time, Prof. Glaser had one of the largest collections of Edvard Munch artworks including the following paintings: "Music in the Street", 1889, "Albert Kollmann", 1901, "Land Street in Aasgaardstrand", 1902, "Street in Kragero", 1911, "Port in Lübeck", 1907, "Portrait of Else Glaser", 1913, and several others including a large collection of Munch lithographs and drawings. Prof. Glaser and his wife Else, who died in 1932, were prominent supporters of the arts in Berlin. They had a Salon in the Prinz Albrecht Strasse in Berlin, where they hosted prominent artists and literary figures. Their apartment was part of the compensation Prof. Glaser obtained as Director of the Berlin State Art Library. However, all of this changed when Hitler came to power in 1933. Prof. Glaser, as a Jew, was forced by a new Nazi law against Jews working in German civil servant positions, to leave his post as Director of the Berlin Art Library. His quarters in the Prinz Albrecht Str. were taken over by the Gestapo (secret police) and Curt Glaser sold many of his possessions and left Germany for good. His fabulous art collection which included artworks by Kirchner, Corinth, Renoir, Menzel, Grossmann, Pechstein, Manet, Picasso, and many others, was lost in the process, due mainly to forced or duress sales caused by Nazi persecution. One of his paintings "Street in Kragero" which was lost in Germany during Prof. Glaser's exile in Switzerland, wound up in a U.S. collection, and was sold by Sotheby's in 2002. The heirs of Maria Ash have since filed suit in New York to recover the painting. The "Double Portrait of Curt and Else Glaser" was discovered in 2004 by attorneys working for the Maria Ash estate. It had been deposited by Maria Glaser Ash, Curt Glaser's second wife, with the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1947, and was returned to beneficiaries of Maria Ash's estate in 2005. The owners hope that visitors to the Smith College Museum of Art will enjoy the artwork and will appreciate its history.

For further information contact:
David J. Rowland, Esq.
Rowland & Associates
Two Park Ave., 19th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10016

Tel. 212-685-5509
Fax. 212-685-8862

Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Website: www.rowlandlaw.com


Or in Europe contact:
RA Peter Schink
Schink & Studzinsky
Ostseestr. 109
10409 Berlin
Germany

Tel. 011-49-30-42851177
Fax. 011-49-30-42851178

Website: www.schink-studzinksi.de


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About the Press Release
New York, NY - March 23, 2006 - - Beneficiaries of the estate of Maria Ash, have obtained back an oil, chalk, and charcoal rendering of Curt Glaser and his first wife Else Glaser,

 
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