Oklahoma House Committee Pissarro Hearing: Mike Reynolds Opening Statement

The Oklahoma House Conference Committee on Government Modernization and Accountability met today to discuss the painting "La Bergere" by Camille Pissarro, which currently resides in the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman, OK, where it was bequeathed to the University of Oklahoma Foundation by Clara Weitzenhoffer's estate in 2000. The coversation was spirited and informative.

Rep. Mike Reynolds kicked off the proceedings with the following opening statement:

Mike Reynolds Opening Statement

Good morning.

I think it’s fair to say that this is no ordinary committee hearing, ladies and gentlemen.

We’re here this morning to understand how a stolen artwork ended up in the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Museum, all the way from Paris under German occupation in 1941.

What we hear about today has implications not just for our state and our financial duty, but also on the world stage.

The recent news story of the 1200 paintings discovered in Germany, many of which are Nazi-era plundered artworks, has made headlines everywhere. The scale of the looting by Nazi Germany hasn’t been seen since Ancient Rome. We’re still living with the consequences of those crimes, seven decades later, here in our home state, which frankly I consider an embarrassment to the State of Oklahoma.

The case we’re about to hear about is that important.

The story of this painting has echoes all over the world right now. At issue is whether or not people who own a piece of property can trust that title to that property will be honored anywhere, under the rule of law.

We take as our guidance the Constitution and the law, which guarantees that you can trust the value of the title of the property you own.

Moreover, as elected representatives of the state of Oklahoma, we have a fiduciary responsibility to see that not only are state funds honorably spent but that property held within our jurisdiction isn’t stolen, however acquired.

That means that today is, underneath it all, about trust.

Trust that the people of Oklahoma know their museums aren’t safe havens for stolen art.

Trust that the governance of our universities and museums hasn’t been shortchanged: that those empowered to do their duty are in fact doing their duty before the law.

Trust that people of Oklahoma have invested in us as their representatives, to see our tax dollars spent wisely and that the standard of due process has been met—in every respect.

So why the difference of opinion over what’s stolen and what isn’t?

Some people believe a piece of stolen art isn’t like a stolen car ---an open and shut case.

If the pickup in your driveway comes up stolen, you’re facing criminal charges if you don’t return it. It doesn’t belong to you and due process demands the right owner get the property back.

Here’s my bottom line: why is a piece of art that everybody agrees was stolen in 1941 any less stolen today?

I think we all want to know why—and what the role of the lawmakers, administrators and museum staff in our state has been In this case.

So let’s find out. To assist us today, we have 3 speakers:

Pierre Ciric is a French-born New York attorney representing the plaintiff, Léone Meyer, we also have Raphael Meyer, who is the son of Léone Meyer and representing Léone here today, and we have Marc Masurovsky, a historian, researcher, and advocate, co-founder of the Holocaust Art Restitution project, an advocacy group specialized in the research of looted artworks during World War II and the Holocaust.

Mr. Ciric?

Raphaël Meyer and a remarkable Mother's Day moment

It’s not every Mother’s Day a son stands before a painting he and his mother want returned to their family, a painting stolen by the Nazis from their family in 1941, its location unknown for 60 years.

But that’s what Raphaël Meyer did yesterday. The French native, now living in New York State, stood next to Camille Pissarro’s ‘La Bergère,’ (The Shepherdess) and spoke about what the painting means not just to his family and its history—his mother’s family all perished at Auschwitz—but to the greater issue of restitution of artwork looted in time of war.

Léone Meyer, adopted by Raoul Meyer and his wife following the murder of her family at Auschwitz, was unable to travel because of ill health, but she could not have asked for a more moving Mother’s Day gift.

The painting was previously the focus of litigation in Switzerland after Raoul Meyer discovered the painting was in possession of a Swiss art dealer.

The Swiss court held that Raoul Meyer could not prove the art dealer had bought the painting “in bad faith” so the painting was not returned. After the Swiss ruling, the painting’s whereabouts remained unknown to the Meyer family until a member of the family discovered a reference to the painting in a blog post discussing records of the Nazi special task force, the ERR, which was dedicated to systematically looting the art of Europe.

Mr. Meyer, family attorney Pierre Ciric of New York City, and Marc Masurovsky, a looted art specialist and audit team leader on President Clinton’s commission on Holocaust-era assets in the US, are all testifying before an Oklahoma legislature committee today. This is the second haring the committee has held while investigating the Fred Jones Museum’s possession of La Bergère.

The Pissarro Painting in the News (Daily Mail and ARIS)

There was an updated article on the Pissarro painting in today's Daily Mail. It offers a fairly detailed description of the painting's story, and explains how it arrived at the Fred Jones Museum, where it remains on display today. Here's a snippet of the article, followed by commentary by ARIS, a New York-based art title insurance company and experts in the field of art provenance:

January 19, 2014 - Daughter of former owner of a painting stolen by Nazis is suing the University of Oklahoma in hopes of getting it back

DAILY MAIL - The sole heir of Raoul Meyer, a Jewish businessman who lost his art collection including a Camille Pissarro painting during WWII, has sued the University of Oklahoma (OU) in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to recover the painting and damages. In 1953, Mr. Meyer was unsuccessful in a lawsuit against a Swiss art dealer to recover the painting because his claim was deemed untimely under Swiss law after the five-year statute of limitations had passed. The painting has been exhibited at OU’s museum since 2000 when it was donated as part of a larger donation of important French Impressionist paintings by Mr. and Mrs. Weitzenhoffer, good faith buyers who bought the painting from a New York gallery and were unaware of the prior Nazi theft.
[Read the rest of the article here]

ARIS Commentary: 
The Meyer-OU dispute highlights common financial, moral and legal issues surrounding allegedly Nazi-looted artworks in public museum or university collections including in particular the conflict and outcome determinative differences between the ownership laws of the United States and civil code jurisdictions such as Switzerland. OU and its trustees face a difficult quandary of either paying for litigation defense costs and relying upon the 1953 Swiss judicial ruling with uncertain legal outcome or restituting the painting and losing a significant, valuable artwork in the collection, possibly in breach of the 2000 donation. The art market legal title risk and unique public trust, fiduciary predicament facing the U.S. nonprofit museum community, its leadership and trustees is discussed in greater depth in an ARIS technical paper (see ARIS News, April 23, 2013).
[Source]

Oklahoma House Committee to Discuss Painting

A hearing has been scheduled at the Oklahoma Capitol on Monday to discuss the issue of the painting “Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep” (“Bergère rentrant des moutons,” 1886) by Camille Pissarro, currently held by the University of Oklahoma at their Fred Jones Museum. The hearing is set from 9 am to 11 am, Monday, May 12, in Room 108 at the Oklahoma Capitol.

This is the first time a State legislature has ever intervened in an art restitution case.

More details about the hearing can be found at the McCarville Report.

Learn more about the ownership issues surrounding the painting "Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep."