University of Oklahoma will return Nazi-looted Pissarro painting to owner’s family
Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, February 23, 2016
- A visitor to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma takes a photograph of a piece called 'Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep' by French impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. A settlement was recently agreed upon between the university and a relative of the painting's owner.
The University of Oklahoma is returning a painting a French woman said Nazis had stolen from her family, according to a settlement agreement.
The document states the parties, including Lèone Meyer, OU and the University of Oklahoma Foundation, reached a settlement agreement for the restitution of an oil on canvas painted by Camille Pissarro in 1886, called “La bergère entrant des moutons.”
Restitution of artwork looted by the Nazis during the Holocaust began following World War II and has continued ever since. In 1985 European countries began to release inventory lists of still-missing pieces. Since then thirty-nine countries have signed a joint pledge to identify art stolen from Holocaust victims and to compensate their heirs. Nearly every European country – in addition to the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Israel – signed the pledge.
The settlement recognized Meyer’s inheritance rights to the painting, and acknowledged Meyer’s family’s prior ownership and the looting of the piece.
“This summer, La Bergère will be transferred to an art institution located in France for public display for five years. Thereafter, La Bergère will rotate for public display between the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and an art institution location in France,” the document states.
The full title to the painting will be transferred to Meyer and will remain on public display in art institutions. The document states the restitution agreement “is significant because there was no money exchanged.”
Thousands of pieces looted during the war are still missing.
“The restitution of La Bergère from the University of Oklahoma Foundation concludes the personal quest of Lèone Meyer to seek the return of her father’s painting that had been seized by Nazis,” the document states.
