Cultural heritage and tradition
The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation
Recovery of Polish Art

Recovery of Polish Art is a new program delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Goal
The aim of the program is to recover art pieces from Polish collections looted in WW II whose recovery could not be otherwise achieved through negotiation or court proceedings, while other options have been exhausted. A recovered item is passed to its original owner of the owner's legal successor.

Summary
The Ministry provides The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation with a list of selected art items potentially available for recovery. The list is then passed to the Program Committee for reviewing and recommending objects particularly worthy of recovering under the Program. Finally, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation and the Ministry join forces to recover the selected item. Objects acquired under Program are donated only to public institutions (museums, galleries, etc.) preferably, to its original location.

So far, working with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation has recovered:

  • Resting in Tatra Shed by Wojciech Gerson, a painting from Leopold Kronenberg's collection. The painting was donated to Warsaw Royal Castle on 1 June, 2010. On behalf of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, it was handed to Prof. Andrzej Rottermund, Director of Warsaw Royal Castle, by Sławomir S. Sikora, President of Citi Handlowy.
  • Negress by Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowiczowa, originally owned by the National Museum in Warsaw. The painting was passed to Agnieszka Morawińska, Director of National Museum in Warsaw at the celebration of the 15th anniversary of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, an event held on 20 March 2012.

To recover Polish art, The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation also collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The result of this partnership was the recovery of 42 prints by outstanding Polish artists, Juliusz Kossak, Leon Wyczółkowski, Juliusz Chełmoński and Aleksander Orłowski.