Oscar Stettiner (1878 – 1948) was a British art dealer, based in Paris, and whose art collection was "seized and auctioned during the
Nazi occupation of France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
."
Biography
Oscar Stettiner was born in 1878, the son of Henri Jules Stettiner and his wife Gertrude Davis. He had an older brother Alphonse, born in 1876, and a sister, Adele Stettiner, born in 1880. Oscar and Alphonse had British nationality; Adele French, and they were of Jewish ancestry.
After Stettiner's father Henri retired, he gave his business to his children, and Stettiner became a partner at Stettiner et Cie. with his siblings. The business operated internationally. Initially the company was headed by Alphonse, and then by Oscar Stettiner in 1935 on. Shortly after World War II started on 3 September 1939, on 20 November 1939 the Stettiner family closed their
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
gallery in Avenue Matignon. Stettiner subsequently moved to his home in the
Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...
. His personal possessions were seized by the Nazis, and the gallery's trading stock seized as well, and auctioned off over several days between February and May 1943. In 1943, Stettiner was arrested, and afterwards imprisoned in La Grande Caserne Denis. He survived the war along with his siblings Alphonse and Adele, with Stettiner dying in 1948.
''Seated Man with a Cane''
Stettiner's collection included
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...
's 1918 portrait, '' Seated Man with a Cane'', which has been the recent subject of a series of lawsuits involving billionaire art dealer
David Nahmad
David Nahmad (born 1947) is a Monegasque billionaire and former fine art dealer. A descendant of a and other Nahmad family members, being brought by Mondex Corporation on behalf of Stettiner's grandson Philippe Maestracci.