Klimt's Portrait of Fräulein Lieser Stalled by New York Lawsuit and Family Feud
In April 2023, Patricia Leahy, the granddaughter of Hans Lieser, initiated a lawsuit against Im Kinsky and Eva Ropper, the holder of Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917), making the artwork unsellable. Leahy is pursuing a ruling to establish her as the legitimate heir and owner, insisting on the painting's return. An unnamed buyer from Hong Kong backed out after unsuccessful negotiations with Leahy, while other claimants accepted compensation to drop their claims. As of mid-October, Ropper had yet to be served with the complaint, as noted by her attorney, Robert Bachner. The conflict centers around Hans Lieser's will from 1968, which designates his second wife, Margareta, as the sole heir. The painting remained unfinished at Klimt's passing in 1918, and Rönsberg indicated that a sale cannot occur while the legal matter is unresolved.
Key facts
- Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917) failed to sell at Im Kinsky in Vienna in April 2024 despite a €30m bid, the highest ever bid at an Austrian auction
- Patricia Leahy filed a complaint in April in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Im Kinsky and Eva Ropper
- The proposed settlement would have split revenue 60% to claimants and 40% to Ropper
- By mid-October the complaint had not been served on Ropper, according to her lawyer Robert Bachner
- Hans Lieser's 1968 will names his second wife Margareta Lieser as sole heir, leaving Nickolas Kraft only the compulsory share
- Hannes Staal, represented by Louis Rönsberg, claims to be the only rightful heir to Hans Lieser's 15% share
- Leahy's Austrian lawyer cited a 37.5% compulsory share; Rönsberg argues it has expired under statutes of limitation
- The catalogue raisonné attributes the commission to Adolf Lieser for his daughter Margarethe, while Im Kinsky suggested Henriette Lieser-Landau
Entities
Artists
- Gustav Klimt
- Eva Ropper
- Patricia Leahy
- Hans Lieser
- Hannes Staal
- Hannes Viktor Staal
- Nickolas Johann Kraft
- Nickolas Kraft
- Edith Böhm
- Edith Lieser
- Tibor Collas
- James Kraft
- Margareta Lieser
- Margarethe Lieser
- Adolf Lieser
- Henriette Lieser-Landau
- Justus Lieser
- Nikolaus Lieser
- Robert Bachner
- Louis Rönsberg
- Oren Warshavsky
- Patti Wong
Institutions
- Im Kinsky
- Patti Wong & Associates
- Supreme Court of the State of New York
- Der Standard
- The Art Newspaper
- Kraft Estate
- Gestapo
- SS
- im Kinsky
- New York State Supreme Court
- Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act
- Federal Monuments Office of Austria
- Austrian National Library
Locations
- Vienna
- Austria
- Hong Kong
- New York
- United States
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Slovakia
- Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Auschwitz