French art tycoon, third in a family dynasty of art dealers who had a great taste for French 18th century works and Impressionist painters; known as the undisputed expert for such painters as Fragonard, Manet or Monet. He published several catalogues raisonnés, notably those concerning the works of Modgliani, Gauguin, Lebourg, Van Dongen, Vlaminck or Pissarro and Utrillo.
A powerful CEO of the Wildenstein empire, he ran several galleries in Paris, New York, London, Buenos Aires and Tokyo and owned an impressive collection of paintings and works of art. The family maintains the Wildenstein Gallery and the Pace Wildenstein Gallery in Manhattan.
During the last decade of his life, Wildenstein was forced to battle to defend the memory of his father, Georges, who had been accused by historian Hector Feliciano of having dealt with the Nazis during the war. (Georges’ name appeared in a U.S intelligence service report regarding certain French dealers who cooperated with the Nazis between 1940 and 1945). He strongly denied that his father, who sought refuge in the U.S during the Second World War, had been in touch with German
authorities in order to protect his business during the occupation of France and swiftly rejected allegations that the latter had bought works of art and paintings stolen from Jewish families by the Nazis. Still, the heirs of Jewish collector Alphonse Kann sued the Wildenstein family in an attempt to recover half a dozen illuminated 15th century manuscripts worth several million dollars, which had
disappeared from Kann’s collection during the war. Kann’s heirs were granted a decision from a New York court ordering Wildenstein to submit all his gallery’s ledgers to U.S Justice Dept.
Wildenstein was also the owner of thoroughbred and standard bred horses. He died in Paris following a surgical operation on 23 October 2001.
Link to Wikipedia biography