The Chain of Ownership
Jean Metzinger's 1913 painting, Woman with a Fan, has finally been returned to its rightful owners. Jean Metzinger was one of Cubism's leading practitioners and theorists. Around 1919 art dealer Paul Citroen acquired a large group of works from a Berlin gallery and brought them to the Netherlands. In 1928 Emanuel Lewenstein bought the painting from Citroen, who was his cousin and a major influence on his collection. Between 1930–40, Lewenstein's widow is believed to have deposited the canvas and other works at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam for safekeeping. In October 1940, an unknown buyer acquired it at forced sale at auction in Amsterdam (most likely via Frederik Muller & Co., then notorious for handling looted art), months after the German invasion; by then the widow had died and the children had emigrated. In the 1950s, the painting resurfaced after a decade-long gap in the record. Held by the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, between 1953-59, it was sold by Janis to the Kunstadters. The Kunstadters then gave it away. It than entered the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was displayed in the European painting galleries with the title, "Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Kunstadter" from 1959–2026.
The Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago had researched the picture since 1959, but never closed the wartime gap. The breakthrough came after Dr. Jacques Schuhmacher took over provenance research in 2024 and the museum began exchanging findings with the Mondex Corporation (Toronto), which represents the heirs. Infrared imaging of the reverse revealed a faint pencil inscription — Citroen's name — invisible to the naked eye, linking the canvas to the Lewenstein circle for the first time. Dutch archives supplied Citroen's records of the 1928 sale, plus the 1940 auction catalogue and a contemporary newspaper item whose dimensions matched the Chicago picture exactly
On 22 September 2026 the Art Institute announced restitution, concluding that "in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it's appropriate to view the sale as a result of Nazi persecution… either confiscated or sold under pressure." Who consigned the work, and who pocketed the proceeds, remains unknown. Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, architect of the 1998 Washington Principles, called the museum's cooperation "a model for how a museum should apply research, provenance and restitution practices." Physically, it has already been taken down from Gallery 391B, and the museum is working with art handlers on the logistics of shipping it to the living heirs.
No decision has been announced about the painting's future exhibition — and none could be, because restitution deliberately transfers discretion to the family. Schuhmacher put it plainly: "it's not just about transferring ownership back to a family… it's also about restoring the agency to do with this painting what they think is appropriate." So the realistic options are all theirs: keep it privately, lend or give it to a museum (the Stedelijk, or back to Chicago, as many restitutioned works have gone), or consign it at auction, where an early documented Cubist work would attract serious interest. It is an optimistic ending, but of just one episode. Mondex's founder James Palmer says the family is still chasing roughly 100 missing Lewenstein holdings, so look for further claims likely to follow.
Primary source:
artic.edu/press/press-releases/425/art-institute-of-chicago-returns-jean-metzingers-1913-woman-with-a-fan