Son of El Lissitzky files for return of another war loot Kandinsky

The New York attorneys of Jen Lissitzky, son of the Russian artist El Lissitzky, filed a complaint on 13 July against the Beyeler Foundation in Basel. Mr Lissitzky is seeking to recover Wassily Kandinsky’s “Improvisation No.10” that was looted by the Nazis in 1937. Mr Lissitzky has been trying to reach an out of court settlement with Ernst Beyeler, the Basel dealer and collector, since 1989. The Kandinsky was one of 13 works that made up Sophie-Küppers-Lissitzky collection; two other paintings from the collection have already been returned to Mr Lissitzky, including one from a Japanese museum (The Art Newspaper, No.112, March 2001, p.17).