On 18 June, in Warsaw, Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and Krzysztof Kaczmar, the President of the Management Board of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, signed a letter of intent, specifying the terms of cooperation on the "Art Recovery" program. This is the first long-term cooperation of such type between the Ministry and a nongovernmental institution. Until present, the joint initiatives of both these institutions allowed to recover, after almost 70 years, the outstanding paintings stolen during WW2: "Negress" by Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowiczowa and the "Rest in the Tatra Mountains Lodge" by Wojciech Gerson. The "Art Recovery" program is aimed at bringing more masterpieces back to Poland.
As part of the "Art Recovery" program, the Ministry of Culture and the National Heritage will once a year provide The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation with a recommended list of monuments that they have been able to find and which stand a chance of being returned to Poland. The Program Board will decide whether to include a given work of art in the program and then the Ministry will take actions aiming at its recovery. In line with the rules of the program the restored art must be only offered to state owned institutions, to be included in the collections of selected Polish museums and galleries.
During WW2, Poland lost many priceless works of art which were an integral component of our cultural heritage. A substantial part of them most probably got destroyed and lost without a trace. Until present it is not known what was the fate of the masterpieces by Rafael Santi, Anton van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens or Rembrandt, which before 1939 were property of Polish museums or private individuals. A search is also conducted for the paintings of the most renowned Polish painters - Kossak, Malczewski, Wyspiański, Matejko or Fałat. Some of the lost goods have already been identified in the museum collections or private collections across the world, while other ones may one day resurface at auctions. The "Art Recovery" program will also include the pieces which cannot be recovered by way of litigation or negotiation - those masterpieces will be then purchased by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
- Our projects conducted to date with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage show that it is an effective form of recovering the works of art lost during the war. We have established a regular relationship hoping that it will aid recovery of more masterpieces - declares Krzysztof Kaczmar, the President of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
Establishment of the regular cooperation between The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has resulted in a success of the joint activities performed as until present. In March 2012, after almost 70 years, the "Negress" painting by Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowiczowa returned to the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. The painting was lost at the beginning of WW2 and in 2011 it was introduced at the Villa Grisebach auction house in Berlin. Its recovery was possible owing to the immediate action taken by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the support of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
The works of art offered by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation to public institutions:
"Negress" by Anna Bilińska-Bogdanowiczowa - offered to the National Museum in March 2012
Until 1933 the painting was in the collection of the distinguished Warsaw art collector, Dominik Witke-Jeżewski. In August 1933, the painting was deposited with the National Museum in Warsaw, and the museum purchased the painting in 1939. During WW2 the painting was stolen. In 2011, it resurfaced at the Villa Grisebach auction house in Berlin. Recovery of the long lost masterpiece was possible thanks to immediate efforts of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the support of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy. The negotiations conducted via the German law firm ended in a settlement, based on which the Polish state paid compensation to the existing owner of the piece in December 2011. The amount of compensation was covered by the Kronenberg Foundation.
"Rest in the Tatra Mountains Lodge" by Wojciech Gerson - offered to the Royal Castle in Warsaw in June 2010
The "Rest in the Tatra Mountains Lodge" painting by Wojciech Gerson is recognized as one of the best pieces of the artist. Before WW2 it belonged to the Kronenberg family collection. Similarly to a significant part of the collection of Polish paintings held by the Kronenberg family, it was lost during the war and was entered to the list of lost Polish monuments. After many years it made a surprising appearance in the Sotheby catalogue at the London auction of "British and Continental Picture". Joint efforts of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Polish diplomatic offices paved the way for The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation to initiate negotiations with the owners of the painting from the Republic of South Africa and its eventual recovery.
Silver Cabinet - offered to the National Museum in Warsaw in 1997
In 1997, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation purchased a collection of silver including 172 pieces and deposited it with the National Museum in Warsaw. On 19 November 1999, the Silver Cabinet was opened at the permanent Leopold Kronenberg's Polish Decorative Art Gallery. In 2002, at the 140th anniversary of the National Museum in Warsaw, the collection was offered into ownership of the Museum. The collection includes mainly the pieces made by the goldsmiths of the 19th century Warsaw. Majority of it is made up by tableware - coffee pots, tea pots, milk pots, salt dispensers, made at renowned Warsaw companies of Jan Maciej Schwartz, Karol Lilpop, Karol Malcz, Tomasz and Kazimierz Klimaszewscy, Ludwik Nast, Jan Pogorzelski, and also the work of other smaller goldsmith workshops. The collection comprises, among others, the beautiful rococo dishes by Jan George Bandau, the best Warsaw goldsmith of the 18th century and another Warsaw goldsmith, Salomon Hardwald. The presented pieces are well complemented by a very interesting group of silver from, among others, Vilnius and Krakow.
