RECOVERED KLIMT ARTWORK GOES ON DISPLAY.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES -- For Maria Altmann, it was a moment of triumph: The famous portraits of her aunt on display for all to see Tuesday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

It was the end an eight-year legal battle with the Austrian government to return artwork looted by the Nazis, five paintings by Gustav Klimt including the portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer, the idealized vision of feminine beauty and elegant intellectuality.

``To see them here is a dream come true,'' Altmann said at a news conference before the LACMA exhibit opened.

``Los Angeles has been my hometown for so long, so to have them here is beyond words. I'm going to come here very often and bring friends to see them.''

The paintings are among the most recognizable and admired works of the 20th century. But it was the story of Altmann's fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to regain her family's looted masterpieces that was celebrated Tuesday.

``These paintings are extraordinary examples from this rich period of art history,'' said LACMA Director Michael Govan. ``And we are especially pleased to tell the story surrounding the family, its relationship to the artist, and their ownership of the paintings.''

Klimt, who died in 1918, is considered central to Viennese cultural identity and symbolizes the history of much of the city's Jewish population, according to museum officials.

Altmann, 90, said her aunt and uncle had wanted to display their art publicly, so she was happy to share the masterpieces with the city that welcomed her and her husband after they fled the Nazis.

Altmann's uncle, prominent Viennese businessman Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, was the original owner of the paintings. He commissioned Klimt to paint several portraits of Adele, including the two full-length paintings on display at LACMA.

Those portraits along with the three recovered landscapes -- ``Beechwood,'' ``Apple Tree I'' and ``Houses in Unterach on Lake Atter'' -- were hung in a memorial room for Adele after she died of meningitis in 1925.When the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938, Bloch-Bauer fled to Switzerland. The Nazis and museum officials divided up his vast art collection, with the five Klimt paintings eventually being displayed in the Austrian National Museum.

Meanwhile, Maria had married Fritz Altmann in 1937. A few months later, he was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp as a hostage to force his brother to sign over his successful sweater business to the Nazis.

Fritz Altmann was released after his brother paid a ransom, and the couple eventually escaped the country and immigrated to the United States. They settled in Los Angeles, where Fritz worked for his brother and Maria worked as a dress designer.

Maria Altmann had just about given up any hope of recovering her family's lost artwork when, in 1998, the Austrian government began considering restitution.

She turned to E. Randol Schoenberg, an attorney and family friend. He fought Altmann's case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled she could sue the Austrian government.

The family eventually recovered the family's artwork through binding arbitration with the Austrian government.

This case was a labor of love for Schoenberg, the grandson of famed composer Arnold Schoenberg, whose family also fled Vienna and settled in Los Angeles.

``For me it's like representing my family in a way. It's rare as a lawyer that you find a case that fits so perfectly with who you are, what you've learned in your life and who you want to be.''

Dozens of visitors lined up outside the small gallery for a glimpse at the five paintings, which will be on display until June 20.

Having seen Klimt's work in Austria and Amsterdam, Alicia Gatell drove in the rain from her home in Palm Desert to honor Altmann and her effort to show her paintings in Los Angeles.

``It's wonderful that she was able to get this done. I'm here as a tribute to her and her family for their tremendous effort.''

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(1 -- 2 -- color) Maria Altmann fought for her family's Gustav Klimt artwork, including ``Adele Bloch-Bauer I.''

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer