Maria Altmann: The Real Story Behind 'Woman in Gold' Learn about the Jewish refugee whose painting of her aunt was stolen by Nazis and inspired the … She is noted for her ultimately successful legal campaign to reclaim from the Government of Austria five family-owned paintings by the artist Gustav Klimt which were stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Early life. Documents of Maria Altmann (born Haas) Mary Altmann 1884 Mary Altmann in 1920 United States Federal Census. "Lauder Pays $135 Million, a Record, for a Klimt Portrait", "Maria Altmann, Pursuer of Family's Stolen Paintings, Dies at 94", "Six Klimt paintings â Maria Altmann and Austria â Centre du droit de l'art", Neue Galerie's announcement of the exhibition of all five of the works, "Maria Altmann Obituary â Maria Altmann Funeral â Legacy.com", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maria_Altmann&oldid=994467664, Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss, Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The recovery of five family-owned paintings by, This page was last edited on 15 December 2020, at 21:33. [5][8] On 16 January 2006, the arbitration panel ruled that Austria was legally required to return the art to Altmann and the other family heirs, and in March of the same year Austria returned the paintings. A year earlier, Adele Bloch-Bauer’s niece Maria had married Fritz Altmann, a handsome Polish-Jewish opera singer who was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp after … “SUFFERING” was the first word that came to Maria Altmann when she was asked about Aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer. Bloch-Bauer’s niece, Maria Altmann, filed a lawsuit in 2000 to recover the paintings from the Austrian government; the suit came before the Supreme Court in 2004 and was ultimately successful. Her husband died in 1994. The proceeds were divided up among several heirs. It fetched £73m in 2006, a world record at the time. Spouse(s) Stephan Dullinger 1779 - 1841. In total, the four remaining paintings sold at auction for $192.7 million; coupled with the Lauder-bought painting the sum total was approximately $325 million. After this decision, Altmann and Austria agreed to binding arbitration by a panel of three Austrian judges. Maria Altmann's cousin, Ruth Rogers-Altmann, made it out of Vienna around the same time and settled in New York. Maria Catharina Altmann married Valentin Schutze and had 6 children. Share. Altmann is survived by her sons, Charles, James and Peter, a daughter, Margie, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. We found 3 entries for Maria Altmann in the United States. The family name was changed to Bloch-Bauer the following year. Maria launched her efforts to reclaim some of her family's paintings in 1998 at the age of 82, as indicated in the Woman in Gold movie. Altmann's quiet life ended abruptly in 1998, when Czernin announced his discovery. Altmann had begun her fight at the age of 82, when she learned from the tenacious Austrian investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin that he believed the title to the paintings to be hers. Photograph: Ann Johansson/Corbis. If there was an affair, it was probably short-lived. Remembering Maria Altmann, Holocaust Hero Who Won Back Klimt Paintings. Her life story and battle to reclaim the family Klimt collection is recounted in the book The Lady in Gold, the Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, by Anne-Marie O'Connor. On learning of Czernin's findings, Altmann at first sought to negotiate with the Austrian government about retrieving some of the paintings. They made a harrowing escape, leaving behind their home, loved ones, and property, including jewelry that later found its way into the collection of Hermann Göring. ⢠Maria Viktoria Altmann, shop owner and litigant, born 18 February 1916; died 7 February 2011, She wrested back from Austria five Klimt masterpieces looted by the Nazis, Maria Altmann in 2005 with the recovered Klimt painting of her aunt Adele. In 1937 she married Fritz Altmann, an opera singer, and the couple lived in Berlin. 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