2 artworks returned to heirs of Holocaust victim. Another is tied up in court

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors say they have returned two more pieces of art to the heirs of a Jewish Holocaust victim. They are fighting in court to recover a third from a Chicago Museum. The pieces are among around 80 watercolor and pencil works by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, collected in the early 1900s by a Jewish man in Vienna. New York prosecutors say the art was seized by the Nazis and transferred in a shady deal to Swiss gallerists. So far 10 artworks have been returned after seizures, mostly from museums. But the Art Institute of Chicago is contesting the seizure of a Schiele drawing called “Russian War Prisoner.” The Art Institute argues that it owns the piece legally.