The United States defended a decision to seize two Viennese Expressionist paintings claimed by victims of the Nazi regime yesterday, and said the current owners were willing to discuss the dispute amicably.
US authorities confiscated the works, by the early 20th-century painter Egon Schiele, in New York on Wednesday as they were about to leave the country. They had been in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
The Manhattan district attorney launched an investigation yesterday to determine if the paintings were stolen and who are the rightful owners. A grand jury will investigate the matter, which could take up to a year.
Bildnis Wally and Tote Stadt belong to the Leopold Foundation, named after Viennese art collector Rudolf Leopold, who sold the paintings to the Austrian state in 1994.
The US State Department said: "The United States strongly supports the idea that we have to continue to address the remaining questions about World War Two era assets, including looted art, that are still unaccounted for, and that looted art works should be returned to their respective owners.
"We have been in the forefront of recent efforts to conduct research, investigate claims and develop creative means for making restitution where justified."
Officials were able to seize the paintings after the museum failed to register them with the US Information Agency.
Museum spokeswoman Ms Elizabeth Addison said it was not "normal or standard practice" to register with the USIA for federal protection because "loaned works of art were protected by other federal and state statues.
"Unless we thought the art work was stolen, and there was no suspicion that it was, it was not necessary to take the additional step of registering with the USIA," she added. The paintings remain at the museum. "We have arranged a meeting with the District Attorney's staff for a full discussion of the issue on Monday."
One of the two claimants, and the Holocaust Art Restitution Project of Washington's National Jewish Museum, contacted the State Department about the paintings this week, department spokesman Mr James Rubin said at his daily briefing.
"We are encouraged that the Austrians in the [Leopold] foundation have indicated their willingness to work with the claimants to resolve the issue of ownership amicably . . . That's what we're encouraging and hopefully that's what will happen."
But the Austrian Culture Minister, Ms Elisabeth Gehrer, said: "This deals a heavy blow to the international exchange of art . . . and shakes the foundation of trust that one should also be given back pictures one has lent out."
Mr Leopold said there was no legal basis for the confiscation. "I have never bought nor exchanged pictures where it could be proved that they were taken from Jewish owners," he told the Vienna daily Kurier.
The paintings were to have been exhibited in Barcelona next month. They have been on loan to the Museum of Modern Art since October 12th.