Richard Neumann (born December 17, 1879, in Vienna, died 1961 in New York) was an Austrian industrialist and art collector persecuted by Nazis because he was Jewish.

Early life

Richard Neumann was born into a Jewish family who had made their fortune with textiles. His grandfather Max Bernhard Neumann founded the M. B. Neumann company in Königinhof and was one of the leading textile producers in the

Danube Monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. Richard Neumann studied in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and received his doctorate there. phil. In 1901 he joined the family business. In 1923 he became president of the M. B. Neumanns Sons Union and vice-president of the Neumanns Sons Austrian weaving and printing company A.G. (Neumanns Söhne Österreichische Weberei und Druckerei A.G). He also became director of the Guntramsdorfer Stoffedruckfabrik and was on the board of several other textile companies.

Art Collection

In 1921, Neumann's art collection was honored with landmark status in Austria; 28 of the over 200 works were acknowledged as particularly important. Neumann and his wife Alice agreed in a notarial act that the collection could be viewed twelve days of the year - either as part of state organized exhibitions, or by legitimate visitors monument office. In return, the couple received deductions on his property tax.

Nazi persecution

After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

with Nazi Germany in 1938, the Neumanns were persecuted because of their Jewish origins. Neumann's villa at 30 Hasenauerstraße in Vienna was "Aryanized", i.e. transferred to a non-Jewish person. It became the property of Daisy Princess Fürstenberg. Neumann's art collection was inventoried by the Nazis and seized through forced sales and refused export licenses. He was forced to pay special taxes imposed on Jews. Neumann fled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and then to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

with his wife Alice. Neumann found work in a textile factory in Cuba, gave evening lectures on art history and became an honorary professor at the University of Havana. He was one of the initiators of the founding of the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...

in Havana. He later moved to the United States.

Restitution of artworks from the Neumann Collection

From 1949 at the latest, Neumann tried, through his lawyer Felix Friedländer, to recover some of the artworks. In 1952 he traveled to Vienna to discuss the issue with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna which held pieces from his collection. In 2007 the descendants of Neumann received back two paintings by "Kremser Schmidt"

Martin Johann Schmidt Martin Johann Schmidt, called ''Kremser Schmidt'' or ''Kremserschmidt'', (25 September 1718 – 28 June 1801), was one of the outstanding Austrian painters of the late Baroque/Rococo along with Franz Anton Maulbertsch. He was born at Grafenw� ...

, which had come into the possession of the city of

Krems an der Donau Krems an der Donau (, ) is a city in Lower Austria, Austria. With a population of 24,821, it is the 20th-largest city of Austria and fifth-largest of Lower Austria. It is approximately west of Vienna. Krems is a city with its own statute (or '' ...

illegally through the "

Aryanization Aryanization () was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis powers, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. It enta ...

". The family's lawyer and provenance researcher Sophie Lillie had been trying to get it returned since 2002. In 2012 at least one of the two paintings, ''St. Florian saves the burning Stockern Castle'', was offered at auction but failed to meet the reserve. The two very large altarpieces were ultimately sold to a museum in Lower Austria. In 2010, Neumann's heirs received back ''Two altar wings with pictures of the donors'' by

Martin van Heemskerck Maarten van Heemskerck (born Maerten Jacobsz van Veen; 1 June 1498 – 1 October 1574), also known as Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen, was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan ...

, a sacrificial scene, ''Hannibal's oath'' by

Giovanni Battista Pittoni Giambattista Pittoni or Giovanni Battista Pittoni (6 June 1687 – 6 November 1767) was a Venetian painter of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He was among the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, of which in 1758 he became the s ...

, the painting ''Laundresses'' by

Alessandro Magnasco Alessandro Magnasco (February 4, 1667 – March 12, 1749), also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa. He is best known for stylized, fantastic, often phantasmagoric genre or landscape sce ...

and two statuettes by

Alessandro Algardi Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian high-Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome. In the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the major rivals ...

depicting Pope Innocent X and St. Pius. When the Allies seized objects looted by Nazis from the former Neumann Collection after the end of the Second World War, they returned them not to the Neumann family but to France. The looted art ended up in various French museums. The " Musées Nationaux Récupération" (MNR) placed three paintings - ''The Miracle of Saint Eligius'' by

Gaetano Gandolfi Gaetano Gandolfi (31 August 1734 – 20 June 1802) was an Italian painter, draughtsman and sculptor of the late Baroque period, mainly active in and around Bologna. He is known for his biblical, mythological and allegorical subjects, as well as hi ...

, ''Abraham and the three angels'' by

Sebastiano Ricci Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 165915 May 1734) was an Italian Baroque painter of the late Baroque period in Venetian painting. About the same age as Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Tie ...

and a ''portrait of Saint Francis of Paola standing in a niche'' by Salvador Francesco Fontebasso - in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and three other items were given to museums in Agen, Saint-Étienne and Tours. These six pieces from the Neumann collection were identified by the art historian and provenance researcher Sophie Lillie after the MNR holdings were published online. The restitution of these six works of art was the most extensive restitution to date since the founding of the Commission pour l'indemnisation des victimes de spoliations (CIVS). In 2021, the

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. The museum opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Its holdings include Roman mosaics, Europe ...

organized an exhibition from April 10, 2021, to January 16, 2022, about the looting of the Neumann collection entitled ''What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back).'' "The exhibition includes 12 Old Master paintings and two sculptures and will trace his and his family's efforts to reclaim these works over the last 70 years."

References

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