The Moravian Gallery returned a valuable sculpture to the Tugendhat family

Brno - The Moravian Gallery has issued the sculpture Female Torso to the heirs of the Tugendhat family, which used to adorn the Tugendhat villa in Brno, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The sculpture by Wilhelm Lehmbruck had been in the gallery's collection since 1960 and is being returned to the descendants of the original owners based on the law on remedying certain injustices caused by the Holocaust. This was stated today by representatives of the Moravian Gallery.
    "On one hand, we are very sorry that the gallery and also the city of Brno are parting with Lehmbruck's sculpture; on the other hand, we are aware that the rectification of past injustices is still ongoing," said Marek Pokorný, director of the Moravian Gallery.
    He noted that the heirs had a strong bond with the sculpture and wanted to have it at home as a family heirloom, which is also confirmed by the head of the exhibition at the villa, Iveta Černá. "Especially Greta Tugendhat (wife of the original owner Fritz Tugendhat) had a strong emotional connection to the sculpture; she remembered it in exile until her death in 1971," she told ČTK.
    The Tugendhat family fled from Nazism to Venezuela. Today, its members live all over the world - in South America, the United States, Switzerland, and Austria. According to Černá, the sculpture will probably now be located in Vienna with their daughter Daniela.
    The Moravian Gallery still retains other items from the villa's furnishings. "We currently have a right of first refusal on them thanks to good relations with the Tugendhat family. I strongly believe that we will manage to purchase the furniture for our collections and that someday in the future, the original Lehmbruck torso will also return to Brno and the Tugendhat villa," Pokorný stated.
    The villa in Brno's Černá Pole neighborhood was designed in 1928 by the world-renowned German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the Tugendhat couple, who came from wealthy textile families in Brno. According to experts, the building is unique in its spatial concept, choice of materials, and interior furnishings. In the coming years, it is set to undergo a thorough renovation, during which it will be returned to its original state.