May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Henri Matisse and Georges Seurat paintings at Israel Museum's latest exhibitions have one thing in common: None of them have owners. At least not yet.

The twin shows ``Orphaned Art'' and ``Looking for Owners'' display about 100 artworks, many looted by the Nazis from Jews. Some are masterpieces, some are more mundane, most lack the clear ownership history required for restitution.

``If you take a look around here, it does make you think of a certain kind of life that was broken apart by the war,'' said James Snyder, the museum's director.

Plundering of artworks, especially those belonging to Jews, began in 1938 and reached a peak around 1942 as the Nazis systematically murdered Jews from across Europe. Adolf Hitler drafted a wish-list of artworks that was supposed to have left German possession since 1500, which he wanted for a new Third Reich art capital in his hometown of Linz, Austria.

After the war, stashes of looted art were found in depots, salt mines, castles and homes, according to the museum.

``Orphaned Art'' shows some 45 of the 1,200 stolen paintings, drawings, prints and books that were discovered by the Allies in Germany after the war. They were brought to Israel in the early 1950s by the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization and remain in the custody of Israel Museum because they lack documents to identify the owners.

Rothschild Family

Wedding portraits of Blackstone Group LP non-executive director Jacob Rothschild's great-grandfather and wife Charlotte feature at the exhibition. The paintings belonged to a Jewish institution in Frankfurt that didn't survive the war and there is no one to claim them, said Snyder.

``Over the years we have given back about 20 works, from time to time, to people who have come forward,'' he said.

Egon Schiele's ``Crescent of Houses,'' a village landscape in orange and brown, is one of the most valuable pieces, according to Snyder. It is displayed prominently at the entrance to the ``Orphaned Art'' exhibition. Also on show are pieces by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Marc Chagall and Alfred Sisley.

Last year, U.K.-based Hazel Stein discovered a painting and drawing from her family's collection at the museum. She took the drawing and left the 17th-century Dutch painting of a war scene with the museum on extended loan in memory of her grandfather, Snyder said.

Not everyone is so lucky.

Lost Treasures

Pnina Yakir, a Rehovot, Israel-based audiologist, took over the hunt for her grandfather's lost treasures after her father died 4 1/2 years ago.

Her grandfather, a Vienna-based art collector who owned an auction house, died in a German concentration camp in Poland, where he had been sent for refusing to help assess art plundered from other Jews, said Yakir. His collection was confiscated.

``My father tried all his life to find his father's private collection but he never succeeded,'' said Yakir, 56, in a phone interview. ``After I saw the advertisement about the Israel Museum exhibit I made an appointment to look there.''

Yakir found a silver case for holding the scroll that tells the tale of the Jewish holiday of Purim and a silver goblet that looked like they came from her grandfather's collection.

``But they said you have to have proof. There are three items like this, how can we know which one is yours?'' said Yakir. She has dozens of notebooks describing the items lost and has in her possession a few pieces her aunt smuggled out of Vienna when she fled. She doesn't have the catalog numbers that the museum says it needs as ownership proof.

Property Frustration

``It was wartime and my grandfather had no idea he was going to die and no time to catalog his things,'' she said. ``It's more than frustrating.''

To help those seeking lost family property, the museum has put a photo archive of the pieces on its Web site. Marilyn Henry, a New York-based author and expert on restitution, said museums depend heavily on donated art and might have acquired stolen property without knowing it.

``Many of these works entered the marketplace after the war, and the donor may not have been aware of the artwork's war-era fate,'' said Henry, whose book on the recovery of Nazi-looted art ``Twice Stolen'' will be published next year. Publicizing Nazi- era artworks acquired after 1945 could help people locate more lost art, she said.

Unclaimed Artworks

The sister exhibit to ``Orphaned Art'' is ``Looking for Owners,'' which displays 53 of the 2,000 pieces of unclaimed artworks confiscated in France during the war that are now in the custody of the country's museums. The works include Matisse's ``Landscape, the Pink Wall,'' found among the possessions of SS officer Kurt Gerstein, responsible for the delivery of Zyklon B gas to the death camps.

``In this piece of art, art history and political history collide,'' Snyder said in an interview during a tour of the exhibition. ``This picture was in the possession of an SS officer whose personal history was so sinister.''

Snyder admits the issue of restitution is a sensitive one and questioning the validity of claims is difficult.

``They all have emotional significance and that really makes it a challenge,'' he said.

Yakir should know. She couldn't claim the silver case and goblet for want of necessary proof. They stay with the museum.

``But who will come to ask for it? No one,'' she said. ``My father is gone, my grandfather is gone.''

``Looking for Owners: Custody, Research, and Restitution of Art Stolen in France during World War II'' runs through June 2, ``Orphaned Art: Looted Art from the Holocaust in the Israel Museum'' runs through Aug. 23 at the Israel Museum, Ruppin Blvd., Jerusalem. Call +972-2-670-8811, or go to http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 30, 2008 20:21 EDT