Memorial Page for Maria Altmann (née Hiess)

Maria Altmann, born Maria Viktoria Bloch-Bauer (18 February 1916 in Vienna; died 7 February 2011 in Los Angeles), was an Austrian-American art collector and heir of the Bloch-Bauer family. She became known through the restitution case concerning five Gustav Klimt paintings, including the portrait of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Vienna

Maria Bloch-Bauer grew up in a Jewish family in Vienna. Her parents were Gustav Bloch-Bauer and Therese Bauer; her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer was a patron of the arts and the model for two portraits by Gustav Klimt. Before 1938, the family owned several works by Klimt. After Austria's annexation by National Socialist Germany, the family's property and art collection were taken from them.

Escape and California

Maria married the opera singer Fritz Altmann. After National Socialist rule came to Austria, the couple fled Vienna. Through several stops, Maria Altmann reached the United States. In California she built a new life, became an American citizen and ran a clothing business in Los Angeles.

Restitution

In the 1990s, new records on the provenance of artworks became accessible in Austria. Maria Altmann and her lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg then pursued the return of Klimt paintings from the former Bloch-Bauer collection. The case concerned art ownership and the way museums and states deal with property taken from Jewish families under National Socialist persecution.

Republic of Austria v. Altmann

On 7 June 2004, the Supreme Court of the United States decided in Republic of Austria v. Altmann that the American case against Austria and the Austrian Gallery could proceed. The decision clarified a question under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and allowed the claim to be examined on its merits.

The Klimt paintings

After the Supreme Court proceedings, the parties agreed to arbitration in Austria. On 15 January 2006, three Austrian jurists decided that five Klimt paintings belonged to Maria Altmann and other heirs. They included Adele Bloch-Bauer I, Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Apple Tree I, Beechwood and Houses at Unterach on Lake Atter. Maria Altmann died on 7 February 2011 in Los Angeles.