An Austrian Holocaust victim’s grandson has sued cosmetics magnate Leonard Lauder to recover a painting.
Georges Jorisch, 79, of Canada, alleges in his $20 million lawsuit that Gustav Klimt’s “Blooming Meadow,” worth $10 million to $20 million, was looted by the Nazis from the home of his grandmother, Amalie Redlich, after she was deported to Poland. Redlich died at the hands of the Nazis.
Lauder bought the painting in 1983. His lawyer said that Redlich’s uncle Viktor Zuckerkandl, from whom the Klimt painting was inherited, was a friend of the artist and owned six of his paintings, but not the one in dispute, according to research of Zuckerkandl’s estate.
Jorisch has sued to recover the painting and its monetary value.
