14 December 2009
WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND -- A Canadian lawyer, Andrew Orkin, has filed a suit in New York against the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland. Mr. Orkin argues that the Van Gogh drawing View of Saintes-Maries with Church and Ramparts, which once belonged to his grandmother, Margarethe Mauthner, was improperly acquired by Oskar Reinhart, a Swiss art collector. The suit alleges that Margarethe Mauthner, who sold the drawing in the 1930s, only did so because of mounting pressures on Jewish families during the early years of the Nazi party's rule in Germany.
Representatives of the Oskar Reinhart Collection have declined comment.
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