Concordia finds missing works owned by Max Stern

Researchers at Concordia University have located some of the missing paintings from the collection of prominent Montreal art dealer and collector Max Stern.

Stern, who fled Germany in 1937 and died in 1987, lost 250 European masterpieces confiscated or sold by force by the Nazis before the Second World War.

But now Concordia researchers, acting on behalf of the Stern estate and its beneficiaries Concordia and McGill universities in Montreal and Hebrew University in Jerusalem have found five of the paintings and have leads on several more.

"The internet and research and the availability of information has just allowed us to learn about places and individuals and depositaries around the world that are otherwise not so easily accessible," said art historian Clarence Epstein, a member of the research team.

Epstein says Concordia will try to negotiate the return of the paintings to Stern's estate. Any recovered paintings will be lent to museums for public display.

Concordia is working with the Art Loss Register in London, the Commission for Looted Art in Europe and the New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office.

Stern came to Canada in 1941. In 1947, he and his wife, Iris Stern, bought the Dominion Gallery in Montreal and made it a focal point for art collecting.

So far, Stern works have been located in the U.S., England, Holland and Germany.

Concordia said the executors and beneficiaries hope to avoid going to court "and instead use moral suasion to convince others to do what is right."