Reynolds, Panel Question University Over Painting
Lawmaker questions background of several paintings in University of Oklahoma’s collection
By Silas Allen
State Rep. Mike Reynolds said Wednesday he’s concerned a pending lawsuit against the University of Oklahoma over a piece of Nazi-looted art could lead to more claims over other OU paintings with questionable backgrounds.
Speaking at a House Government and Modernization committee meeting Wednesday, Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, said there are eight or nine other paintings in the OU collection at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art that have also been identified as possibly stolen or taken in Nazi looting.
The university is facing a lawsuit from Leone Meyer, a woman in Paris who is seeking to recover the painting “Shepherdess Bringing In Sheep.” The 1886 work is by French impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. Meyer alleges the painting was stolen from her father, a Jewish businessman in Paris, during the Nazi occupation of France.