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| Director Jamie Kastner and Executive Director of the Max Stern Foundation Clarence Epstein presenting their insightful documentary. TRAILER |
FRANÇAIS app de traduction à gauche. Le film est diffusé avec sous tritre en français
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| Portrait of the Artist's Children (1830) by Wilhelm von Schadow |
Uncovering the Legacy of Max Stern: Art, Exile, and the Battle for Restitution
The story of Max Stern is a deeply moving chapter in the history of art, tragedy, and resilience. A Jewish art dealer from Düsseldorf, Stern’s life was irrevocably altered by the horrors of Nazi Germany and the destruction it wrought on the Jewish people and their cultural heritage. In the early years of World War II, Stern was forced to flee his home country, leaving behind his family’s esteemed art gallery, Galerie Stern, and a significant collection of artworks. This tragic exile set in motion a journey that would span decades, leading to the eventual recovery of some of the stolen treasures and the creation of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project.
A new film chronicles Stern’s story, focusing particularly on the attempts to recover the artworks looted by the Nazis from his gallery. One of the most poignant moments in the film is the 2018 exhibition in honor of Max Stern at the Düsseldorf City Museum. Initially scheduled to open in 2018, the exhibition faced a three-year delay due to ongoing discussions over the restitution of looted works. This delay highlights the contentious nature of these restitutions, which have sparked fierce debates. In the film, there are moments that reveal a shocking contempt for the Canadian experts involved in the restitution project, raising questions about the cultural and political sensitivities surrounding the return of stolen art. The deep reluctance displayed by some German experts to fully acknowledge the extent of the Nazi thefts further complicates the situation.
One of the central pieces in the film is the painting Portrait of the Artist's Children (1830) by Wilhelm von Schadow. The painting, owned by the Düsseldorf Museum, was part of Stern’s original collection, which was seized by the Nazis in 1937. Through archival film clips, viewers get a glimpse into the nightmare of the period, showing the trauma inflicted not just on Jewish families but also on the cultural legacy of Europe. The painting’s recovery is a testament to the painstaking efforts made by the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, which has been working tirelessly since 2002 to locate and return stolen artworks to their rightful owners or their descendants.
Max Stern's efforts to reclaim his lost collection began in earnest after the war. He was in contact with notable figures, including Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, in a bid to retrieve 22 of his paintings. However, Stern's larger collection, which had been forcibly auctioned off by the Nazis, seemed almost impossible to recover. Despite international interest in the restitution of looted artworks, the legal and bureaucratic hurdles often made the process feel insurmountable. Stern, who had kept the Dominion Gallery in Montreal open after his death in 1987, had hoped to recover at least part of his collection, but his death preceded any significant progress.
It wasn’t until 1999, however, that investigators began to piece together Stern's full story. They discovered his connection to Düsseldorf's Galerie Stern and his efforts to regain control of his collection, which had been stolen by the Nazis. Since then, the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, supported by institutions like Concordia University, McGill University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has worked to identify and return works of art stolen from Stern’s gallery. So far, over 200 paintings have been identified as missing, and more than 30 have been recovered.
The work of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project continues to this day, with the goal of not only returning stolen art but also reinvesting the proceeds of recovered works to support further restitution efforts.
• The screening of the film on April 6th, followed by a discussion with Director Jamie Kastner, Clarence Epstein of the Max Stern Foundation, and Stéphane Aquin of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, offers a powerful reminder of the importance of confronting history. The journey to recover Stern’s legacy is a long and difficult one, but it stands as a testament to the enduring power of art and the necessity of justice in the face of historical wrongs. TICKETS
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| Max Stern in Germany, c. 1925 • BIOGRAPHY |
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