Stolen Painting by Paul Klee RecoveredPaul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940). Bildnis in der Laube (Portrait in the Garden) (1930). Goache on paper and board. Art Loss Register. Photograph provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. By STAN PARCHINMarch 24, 2010 Bildnis in der Laube (Portrait in the Garden) (1930), a gouche on paper and board work by Swiss painter, draftsman and architect Paul Klee (1879-1940), was returned today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Art Loss Register (ALS). It was stolen from Manhattan's Marlborough Art Gallery in 1989. In December 2009, Robert Landau, owner of Landau Fine Art Inc. in Montreal, Canada, was exhibiting works at Art Basel in Miami Beach. He was approached by an alleged Florida art dealer. The man tried to sell the Klee painting to Landau, who declined the offer because of his doubts about the object's authenticity and provenance. The supposed art dealer then sent the Klee composition to Laudau in Canada with the understanding that he would purchase the work when it passed his scrutiny. Landau discovered that the painting had been stolen and he surrendered it to ICE agents from the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Unit at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. U.S. authorities presented Bildnis in der Laube to London's Art Loss Register, whose database includes some 350,000 stolen artworks. The ALR is the registered owner of the Klee painting with Lloyd's of London, the insurance company that paid the claim when the work was stolen. The painting, estimated at $100,000, will be auctioned at Christie's in New York.
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