Over eighty-three years ago, property belonging to Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi was confiscated by the Nazis in Vienna, Austria. That property included an early Monet pastel, “Bord du Mer,” which was returned to the Parlagi family descendants by the FBI earlier this month, through the assistance of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe. Other artwork, including a watercolor by French Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac, is still missing.

A Little History About Where the Theft Happened

Adalbert “Bela” Parlagi, born in Budapest, was a successful businessman and art collector who had moved to Vienna as a young man. He and his wife Hilda, who was from Prague, lived with their two children, Hedwig and Franz, in Vienna. The Parlagis were of Jewish descent, but raised their family in the Protestant faith. Under Nazi race laws, however, they were still considered Jewish.

In March 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, the family fled Vienna, using British license plates to drive across the Austrian border. As a result of that flight to save themselves, the family had to leave behind almost all of their property, including valuable carpets, porcelain and a considerable art collection.

They left their property with Zdenko Dworak, a Vienna storage and transport company, with the plan that those valuables would be shipped once they were safely in the United Kingdom or retrieved when they returned to Vienna. The family arrived in London in December 1938. None of their possessions that they had left stored in Vienna ever arrived in London or were returned to them.

How the Theft Happened

The property of the Parlagi family was confiscated from the transport company warehouse by the Nazis in August 1940, and then sold in 1941 and 1942 at the Dorotheum, a Viennese auction house, with the proceeds going to the government. Records show that the Monet pastel, “Bord de Mer,”  was sold by the Gestapo at auction in June 1941.

As reported by WBRZ-TV, a Louisiana television station, Adalbert Parlagi wrote to the storage company after the war, in March 1946, to inquire about the family’s stored possessions. He received the following response from Zdenko Dworak:

“In reply to your letter of the 20th March, I would like to inform you politely that your household property was seized and confiscated by the Secret State Police (Gestapo) on 8.IV.1941, taken to the Dorotheum and sold there,”

with the added statement that the company did not know who had purchased the Parlagi family property or for what price the property had sold. This last statement was made, despite the fact that it apparently was widely known that a Viennese auctioneer, Adolf Weinmuller, had purchased the Monet pastel. It is also believed that Weinmuller purchased the Signac watercolor as well.

How to Identify This Missing Piece of History

The missing piece of art, created in 1903 and known as “Seine in Paris (Pont de Grenelle)” or “Seine in Paris (Pont Alexandre)” is a watercolor, 40.5 centimeters high and 24 centimeters wide, and is signed by Signac at the bottom right.

Why This Missing Piece of History is Important

Paul Victor Jules Signac, born in Paris in November 1863, was a self-taught French Neo-Impressionist painter. With Georges Seurat, Signac helped to develop the artistic technique of Pointillism, also known as Divisionism. Indeed Signac, more outgoing than Seurat, was known as the main spokesperson for Pointillism. Throughout his career, Signac organized exhibitions and built an international network of artists, critics, and dealers. In 1889, he began hosting a weekly gathering at his home where artists, critics, musicians, and writers could meet and share ideas, with Seurat as a regular attendee.

The technique of Pointillism, influenced by the study of color theory and optical color effects, involves placing small, distinct dots of color next to one another on a canvas, rather than mixing the colors on a palette. The result gives a luminous and vibrant effect to the work. The specific techniques of Signac and Seurat differed, however. While Seurat preferred a more rigorous, formulaic technique, Signac’s painting was less formal and used a variety of dots and dashes. The missing watercolor typifies Signac’s work, using unmixed colors side by side to create luminous scenes, often of the River Seine.

What to Do if You Know Where This Missing Piece of History Is

If you recognize the Paul Signac watercolor “Seine in Paris,” have any information about it, or know its whereabouts, please call us at 1-202-240-2355 or send us an email at contact@arguscpc.com.