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Heir of Prominent Art Dealer Who Had Works Looted by Nazis to Open Gallery

 Marianne Rosenberg, the heir of famed art dealer Paul Rosenberg, recently aigned a lease at 19. E. 66th St.
Marianne Rosenberg, the heir of famed art dealer Paul Rosenberg, recently aigned a lease at 19. E. 66th St.
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DNAinfo/Lindsay Armstrong

UPPER EAST SIDE — The granddaughter of a famed art dealer whose collection was looted by the Nazis plans to open her own gallery on the Upper East Side.

Marianne Rosenberg, a New York City-based lawyer, recently signed the lease on a 1,500-square-foot ground floor of a townhouse located at 19 E. 66th St., said Jill Lovatt, the leasing agent who represented the space. The townhouse, which is located between Fifth and Madison avenues, was formerly home to David Tunick, Inc., a gallery that specializes in fine drawings from the 15th to mid-20th centuries.

Marianne Rosenberg’s grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, was one of the world’s leading Modern art dealers prior to World War II. Based in Paris, he was renowned for representing Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, and for sharing a close friendship with Picasso, according to archives at the Museum of Modern Art.

In the early 1940s, the Nazi’s confiscated hundreds of works from Paul Rosenberg’s collection. He had shipped some of his pieces abroad before the German occupation of Paris and was able to re-establish himself with a gallery on East 57th Street, according to the archive. The gallery closed in 1987 when Alexandre Rosenberg, Paul’s son who had taken over the business, died.

Paul Rosenberg devoted tremendous amounts of time and effort to relocating the almost 400 works confiscated from him by the Nazis. His family has continued to pursue them since his death in 1959, and to date the Rosenbergs have recovered more than 300 of the works that were lost during the war.  

There is no word on what kind of pieces Marianne Rosenberg plans to show in her gallery or whether she will make use of her family’s extensive collection. The landmarked townhouse is currently undergoing renovations, including the removal of interior partitions, according to Department of Buildings records.