Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Estee Lauder Chairman Has Nazi-Looted Klimt, Man Says

MANHATTAN (CN) - Leonard Lauder, chairman of the board of Estee Lauder Cos., has a Gustav Klimt painting, "Blooming Meadow," that was looted from George Jorisch's grandmother by the Nazis, and Jorisch wants it back, he says in Federal Court. Jorisch says the Nazis stole the painting from Amalie Redlich in Vienna in October 1941 and deported her to the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, then to perish in the Holocaust.

He claims Lauder bought the painting in 1983 and has kept it in his New York home since then. He claims he and Lauder both conducted research to determine the provenance of the painting, and that Dr. Alfred Weidinger, deputy director and chief curator of the Austrian Gallery in Vienna, and a Klimt expert, determined the painting is a Klimt an was owned by Redlich. Jorisch says he learned Lauder had it after the cosmetics magnate loaned it to the Canadian National Gallery in 2001. Jorisch lives in Quebec. He says Lauder has blown off his requests for alternative dispute resolution. He wants the painting, and $10 million to $20 million in damages. He is represented by Daniel Edelman.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...