누가 「클림트의 그림」을 소유하는가?

초록

The Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria, is famous for exhibiting Klimt’s art collection, including the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, known as the “Woman in Gold”. In 2006, Klimt five paintings, including the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, were transferred from Belvedere to Maria Altman, who lived in the United States. This paper analyzes the legal dispute between Maria Altman, who is known as heir of the Klimt paintings, and the Austrian government that possessed the paintings. In the title of this paper, “Klimt paintings” is an expression of five works by Gustav Klimt, the object of a lawsuit filed against the Austrian government by a heir of pre-owner Maria Altman, who fled to the United States to avoid the persecution of Nazi. In terms of this research topic, “Klimt paintings” symbolizes the Holocaust cultural properties of the Jews which were looted by the Nazis during World War II. The Altman case were taken by two-step processes: a trial procedure in the US court and a subsequent arbitration procedure in Austria. The issue in US courts was whether a private person in the United States can file a civil lawsuit in US courts against other country(here Austria). The issues at the Austrian Arbitration Court were whether the testament of Adele Bloch-Bauer had binding effect to her heirs, and “Klimt paintings” could be subject to the 1998 Austrian Restitution Act which aims restitution of properties confiscated by the Nazi. This paper seeks some implications from the result of this case for the solution of legal disputes that involved Korea in relation to restitution of cultural properties which were illegally exported during the colonial period.

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