Court Awards Nazi-Looted Artworks to L.A. Woman

In a closely watched ruling over ownership of artworks looted by the Nazis, an Austrian arbitration court has ordered its government to turn over five multimillion-dollar paintings by Gustav Klimt to a Jewish woman whose family fled Vienna in 1939.

Maria Altmann, who now lives in Los Angeles, fought a seven-year legal battle for the paintings, which have an estimated value of $150 million. The most valuable is the renowned 1907 portrait of Altmann's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, which one Klimt expert called "the most important painting that has ever been restituted" in a Nazi art case.

There was no immediate response from the Austrian government, but Wilfried Seipel, director of Vienna's museum for fine arts, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, told the Austrian Press Assn. that although "a precious asset of the Austrian Gallery has been lost," the decision "should be accepted."

Under an agreement between the Austrian government and Altmann, the arbitration court's decision will be the last word.

"This is really David and Goliath," said Jane Kallir, co-director of the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which staged the first U.S. exhibition of Klimt's work in 1959. She hailed the court ruling against the Austrian government as a surprising but significant move. "Klimt's paintings are extraordinarily rare, and most of the major ones are in Austria."