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Looted WWII masterpiece goes back on display after being found in shopping centre car park

Unveiled on Tuesday in the Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in the Kraków’s Cloth Hall, Maksymilian Gierymski's 1872 landscape Winter in a Small Town is considered one of the most important pieces of Polish art.
Kalbar/TFN

One of Poland’s most valuable works of art stolen during WWII has gone back on display after an impressive restoration by conservators – and one of the weirdest recoveries in Polish history.

Unveiled on Tuesday in the Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in the Kraków’s Cloth Hall, Maksymilian Gierymski’s 1872 landscape Winter in a Small Town is considered a masterpiece of Polish art.

The painting, which is analogous to another painting by the artist called Spring in a Small Town, shows daily life on Czerniakowska Street in Warsaw.Kalbar/TFN

One of the best-known Polish artists of the 19th century, and a pioneer in landscape painting, Gierymski painted the piece just two years before his death and in 1938, the National Museum in Kraków bought it from a German art dealer.

Marzenna Sieklucka, who restored the painting, told TFN: “In the first days of World War Two, the work was ‘secured ‘ by Kajetan Muehlmann, who hung it in his office in what is now the main building of the AGH University of Science and Technology. During the war it was the headquarters of the General Government.”

Photographic Workshop of the National Museum in Kraków

Photographic Workshop of the National Museum in Kraków

Kalbar/TFN

Before going on display, the painting underwent two years careful restoration.Kalbar/TFN

Muehlmann was an Austrian art historian who was an officer in the SS. After the invasion of Poland, Göring appointed him Special Delegate for the Securing of Artistic Treasures in the Former Polish Territories.

In the General Government he emptied state and private collections, universities, churches and monasteries of all their valuable art for the Fuhrer.

Following Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939, Austrian art historian and SS officer Kajetan Muehlmann (pictured centre) stole the artwork after being told to empty state and private collections, universities, churches and monasteries of all their valuable art.Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2006-1106-506 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

He stole Gierymski’s painting in the first wave of thefts in 1939 soon after receiving his orders.

When museum staff entered the building in February 1945 to recover the painting, the room had been destroyed by a fire set by the retreating Germans.

Muehlmann hung the painting in his office in what is now the main building of the AGH University of Science and Technology. During the war it was the headquarters of the General Government.AGH

Winter in a Small Town was not found inside. The painting was considered to have been destroyed and was categorised as a war loss.

Then, 72 years later in 2017, police found it wrapped up inside a tube in a shopping centre car park in Kraków, following a tip off.

One of the best-known Polish artists of the 19th century, and a pioneer in landscape painting, Gierymski painted the piece just two years before his death and in 1938, the National Museum in Kraków bought it from a German art dealer.Public domain

The painting had been in the possession of a woman in the city after she had discovered it in her deceased grandmother’s apartment in 2007 with a note saying, “Return to the National Museum in Kraków.”

The woman, identified only as Joanna W-M, decided to keep it and, telling only her husband, kept it hidden away.

After the war the painting disappeared and was listed as a war loss.gov.pl

The painting’s existence only came to light when she and her husband had marital problems.

The National Museum in Krakow received a call from an unidentified man saying that he had a friend who was in the process of divorcing and that his wife probably owned a painting that belonged to the museum.

The painting remerged 72 years later when, in 2017, it was found in this shopping centre car park in Kraków.Jacek Bednarczyk/PAP

The museum informed the Ministry of Culture and the police.

Joanna W-M got wind that her husband had contacted the museum and moved the painting.

She asked her new partner to keep the painting valued at around PLN 800,000  and some other belongings safe for her. He kept them in his BMW for a few days.

When museum staff examined the painting they found that the canvas which was signed, dated and labelled with the museum’s inventory numbers from 1938, had been cut out of its frame.Jacek Bednarczyk/PAP

A few days later, Joanna W-M wrote a message to her new partner saying that the police were at her flat and that the man should bring her things.

He drove to a shopping centre in the Bonarka district of Kraków where he waited for the woman. However, he did not wait long. He left the belongings, including a painting, on the ground in the car park. They were collected by police officers sometime later.

The couple were charged with misappropriation and destruction of the painting. The woman argued to the court that since she had not stolen the work, she thought that she had done nothing wrong.

Restorer Marzena Sieklucka said: “It was most likely stored for over 70 years rolled up in a rather tight roll with a diameter of about 10 cm, this caused cracks and losses in the paint layer.”Kalbar/TFN

She and her husband were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for 12 months. The woman also received a fine of PLN 500.

When museum staff examined the painting, they found that the canvas had been cut out of its frame. The canvas is signed, dated and labelled with the museum’s inventory numbers from 1938.

Restorer Marzena Sieklucka said: “It was most likely stored for over 70 years rolled up in a rather tight roll with a diameter of about 10 cm, this caused cracks and losses in the paint layer.”

Museum director Prof. Andrzej Szczerski told TFN: “This is the proverbial hidden treasure found in your basement or in your attic.Kalbar/TFN

The museum’s director Prof. Andrzej Szczerski told TFN: “This is the proverbial hidden treasure found in your basement or in your attic.

“The story tells us that some war losses are still in Poland. It is exceedingly rare but it does happen.

“It reminds us that there are tens of thousands of artworks still missing. So in this sense the Second World War has not ended.”

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