La justice new-yorkaise ordonne la restitution d’un Modigliani à la succession d’Oscar Stettiner
A New York judge has ordered the restitution of Amedeo Modigliani’s 1918 painting, "Seated Man With a Cane," to the heirs of Oscar Stettiner. The artwork, which was seized during the Nazi occupation of Paris and sold at a forced auction in 1944, had been in the possession of the powerful Nahmad art-dealing family since 1996. Judge Joel M. Cohen ruled that the evidence of Stettiner’s prior ownership was "unusually strong" and dismissed the defense's claims that the work was a different version or that the claim was filed too late.
This ruling marks a significant victory in a decade-long legal battle that gained international notoriety following the Panama Papers leak, which linked the offshore entity holding the painting directly to the Nahmads. The case underscores the ongoing challenges of recovering Nazi-looted art hidden within complex corporate structures and reinforces the legal precedent that forced sales during the Holocaust do not convey valid title, even decades later.