In its place, the Met substituted the work with another Grosz portrait, also featuring the poet Max Herrmann-Neisse.

'We don't want to be in the middle of any challenges or discussions,' said Harold Holzer, a spokesman for the Met, which opened the exhibit, 'Glitter and Doom: German Portraits From the 1920s' on Tuesday.

Grosz's estate argues it is the rightful owner of the 1927 portrait of 'The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse' and of another work by Grosz, 'Self-Portrait With a Model' in MoMA's collection.

The Grosz estate, represented by its managing director, Ralph Jentsch, has not taken legal action against MoMA but said it would decide by the end of the month whether to file a lawsuit to seek restitution of both artworks.

MoMa, which has been in dispute over the works for three years, says it has thoroughly investigated the claim and concluded that the Grosz estate has no legal basis.

According to correspondence provided by the estate, Jentsch said the works were sold without the consent of the artist, who had consigned them to an art dealer, Alfred Flechtheim, in 1928-29.

Grosz left Germany a few weeks before the Nazis came to power in 1933, and Flechtheim fled to Paris when his Berlin gallery and the portrait were confiscated, Jentsch wrote.

The painting reappeared in 1952, when it was purchased by MoMA for $850 from Charlotte Weidler, a German immigrant.

'Self-Portrait With a Model' was sold for $10 in 1938, Jentsch wrote, 'at a deceitful auction' in Amsterdam where it was consigned by Flechtheim. MoMA acquired it as a gift in 1954 from Leo Lionni, the children's author and illustrator.

'As these Grosz works would not have been lost if Flechtheim and Grosz had not had to flee Germany in order to save their lives, the George Grosz Estate claims restitution,' Jentsch wrote.

But MoMA says the artist was aware the museum had acquired the portrait and was invited to sign it. The museum says Grosz did not ask for the painting to be returned to him even after he saw it at the museum.

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On the Net:

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