Lot 18: Antonin Hudecek , Czech 1872-1941 The Bela Stream in Autumn oil on canvas

signed Ant. Hudecek lower right oil on canvas

100.5 by 120cm., 39½ by 47¼in.

Oskar Federer
Seized by the Nazis in 1939
Galerie Vytvarného Umenì, Ostrava (by November 1943)
Restituted to the heirs of Oskar Federer in 2007

PROPERTY RESTITUTED TO THE HEIRS OF OSKAR FEDERER
Property from the Oskar Federer Collection (lots 18-20) Oskar Federer (1884-1968) was acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent collectors of French Impressionism and nineteenth and twentieth century German, Austrian and Czech art in pre-war Czechoslovakia, and beyond. On 10υth January 1932 the Prager Tageblatt wrote: '[Federer] takes an active part in all contemporary issues, and has a reputation for being an ardent patron and supporter of domestic art. His collection of paintings is one of the finest modern art collections in Prague. He is a member of the Modern Gallery curatorial board.' Federer was the General Director of the largest steel manufacturer in Czechoslovakia, the Vitkovice Mining and Metallurgic Company in the 1930s and was forced to flee the country in 1939 with the help of the British Foreign Office. He finally settled with his family in Montreal, Canada, in August 1940. Federer succeeded in taking with him ten works from his collection, including oil-paintings by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, Monet and Renoir. The Nazi regime confiscated the remaining collection which comprised over 100 pieces including paintings, drawings, watercolours and sculptures from his company villa in Vitkovice, his villa in Prague and his home in Kropácova Vrutice. Some twenty-two works were deposited in the Municipal Museum of Ostrava (now in the Czech Republic) in 1943, where they remained throughout the Communist era. In 2007, after ten years of litigation, the works were restituted to Federer's heirs.