SHADY DEALS

“Martin Fabiani, a Paris dealer who was arrested and fined by the Allies after the Second World War for dealing in ‘enemy property’ and art plundered by the Nazis, supplied Canada’s National Gallery with several notable paintings, among them works by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas. Dealers, such as Mr. Fabiani, took advantage of cut-rate prices on art looted from Jews in Nazi-occupied countries. During the chaos that ensued when France was occupied by the Nazis, dealers like Mr. Fabiani were able to sidestep legal formalities in order to make quick sales.” – National Post (Canada)