Jun 19, 2025

Questionable provenance research practices at Bavarian State Painting Collections

According to a June 17, 2025 article in  Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture have been engaging in questionable provenance research practices concerning Nazi-looted art. Members of Parliament are asking questions and demanding answers (see  Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ by Jörg Häntzschel) 

Questionable provenance research practices by the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture include:

Withholding findings and failing to inform heirs The museums kept most of their provenance research findings to themselves and did not inform the descendants of the Jewish collectors who had been robbed
Failure to publish works in the Lostart database Many works suspected of being looted art were not published in the Lostart database, despite the obligation to do so since 1998. While 598 works are now online, 222 of these were only added in the last four months, compared to 376 in the preceding 24 years.
Delay and obfuscation The Ministry and museums are accused of sticking to a course of delay and obfuscation regarding restitution.
Claiming that "claims where the claimants were known" were not entered into Lostart The State Painting Collections' spokesperson stated that works with known claimants were not entered into Lostart previously, as the database was intended for heir searches. This practice has since been changed for "maximum transparency," but it meant that works like Ernst Barlach's busts, whose heirs were known via Alfred Flechtheim's lawyer, were not listed.
Providing incorrect provenance histories online The provenance histories available online are not always accurate. For instance, it's suggested that Picasso's "Fernande" might have been purchased by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, a crucial detail for the looted art question, yet documents indicate the museum never paid for it. This is considered a "trick to conceal Alfred Flechtheim's ownership".
Missing provenance information for some works For other works, such as Beckmann's "Portrait of Quappi in Blue," provenance histories are entirely missing from the Pinakotheken's online collection.
Using unusual classification standards The State Painting Collections reportedly used classification standards that are otherwise unusual.
Minimizing the forced nature of exchanges The State Painting Collections interpreted disparaging remarks by former Director General Ernst Buchner about "artistically indifferent" and "entirely dispensable" deposit pictures used in an exchange with the persecuted Jewish Lion brothers as mere "strategic formulations" related to his collection strategy, rather than evidence of the unfair value of the exchange or persecution-related confiscation.
Denying comprehensive access to files The Ministry explicitly denied comprehensive access to all files to the lawyer representing the Flechtheim heirs, stating it was "not necessary".
Lack of proactive communication with heirs The State Painting Collections never informed the Flechtheim heirs' lawyer about two Barlach busts, even though they knew he represented the heirs, and he only learned about them from Lostart.
Lack of transparency with owners regarding looted art suspicion Owners of works, such as the Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne, were not informed for years that their paintings (e.g., Fernand Léger's "Le Typographe") were classified as suspected looted art, despite internal checks and classifications (yellow, then orange).

Minister deciding alone on restitutions Unlike most other federal states in Germany, the minister in Bavaria decides alone on restitutions, which raises questions about transparency and process.
----
(summary constructed in English with NotebookLLM)
from source:

 Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ 17. Juni 2025

Bayerns Kunstminister Blume versprach nach dem Skandal um Raubkunst an den Staatsgemäldesammlungen eine „neue Ära der Wiedergutmachung“. Doch sein Ministerium und die Museen scheinen am Kurs des Verzögerns und Verschleierns festzuhalten.

Von Jörg Häntzschel

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bayerische-staatsgemaeldesammlungen-ns-raubkunst-blume-verzoegern-li.3270455?reduced=true

see English translation at 

See also:

Facing accusations of hiding Nazi loot, Bavaria pledges more research and greater transparency, The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/26/facing-accusations-hiding-nazi-loot-bavaria-pledges-more-research-greater-transparency

NS-Raubkunst-Skandal in Bayern: Verheimlicht und verschleppt https://taz.de/NS-Raubkunst-Skandal-in-Bayern/!6070973/

Jüdische Erben: »Bayern hat uns betrogen« - Claims Conference spricht von »Vertrauensbruch« https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/kultur/juedische-erben-bayern-hat-uns-betrogen-claims-conference-spricht-von-vertrauensbruch/










May 31, 2025

Knoedler's ledgers: mapping missing entry dates and seller names

 


data source: Getty Provenance Index GitHub Knoedler file  13 Dec 2017

(analysis performed  on CSV file before GPI remodel)

Note:  Transactions prior to 1925 or in the Stockbooks 1-7 have been removed from this file, reducing the number of transactions from 40,250 to 13,809.  This enables us to focus on the years 1928 to 1970.

Three huge spikes in activity pop out: 1951, 1928 and 1942. But before we examine what happened in those years to create such a spike, we must deal with a problem of missing data.

Of the above transactions, 1,746 lack an entry date year. That's over 10%! More than even our highest peak!

What to do? Data scientists often "clean" datasets by eliminating rows with incomplete data. That is exactly what we will NOT do. Instead of eliminating these rows of incomplete data from our data set, we will focus on them. 

Why are these 1,746 transactions missing the entry date year? Do they have anything else in common?

What other indicators might supply us with the missing information? Proxies, in short, for the entry date year. (Names associated with specific date ranges, for example).


The Stock Book Numbers 1928-1970



The Stock Book Numbers for transactions with no Entry Date Year


We see that most of the missing years are from Stock Book 11.  

What else can we learn about the profile of the missing dates? We can compare the most frequent nationalities of all transactions 1928-1970 



to the nationalities of the transactions missing entry date years:


The largest contingent are American.  We don't understand this but will file it away, hoping that it might Make sense later.


What about the sellers? And here we are in for a bit of a surprise.


Of the 1,746 transactions that have no entry year, the vast majority - 1,481 - also have no seller.


What kind of ledgers are these that Knoedler was keeping, with neither year nor seller? 

Which ledgers are most concerned by this double absence?




With 1,469 mysterious transactions, it's Stock Book 11. 

Who are the joint owners listed in Book 11 ledger entrees which have no entry date or seller name?

(filter: Joint owner appear at least twice)

Joint Own Auth 1

Count

Knoedler Numbers in Book 11

Pinakos, Inc. (Rudolf Heinemann)

84

A6420, A5321, A4774, A6680, A5326, A5434, A1825, A1834, A1845, A1849, A1943, A1944, A1945, A1946, A2523, A2730, A2770, A2774, A2795, A2964, A3026, A3029, A3044, A3049, A3274, A3292, A3300, A3312, A3527, A5250, A5286, A5467, A5469, A5515, A5624, A5708, A5730, A4542, A4824, A4839, A4840, A4843, A4844, A4849, A4851, A4854, A4898, A4920, A4937, A4940, A4955, A5117, A5213, A5944, A5948, A5960, A5963, A5964, A5965, A5982, A6010, A6122, A6777, A6679, A6593, A6548, A6530, A6501, A6500, A6430, A6415, A6318, A6310, A6299, A6295, A6294, A7059, A6998, A6970, A6932, A7109, A5602, A5603, A6826

Hirschl & Adler Galleries

37

A3815, A4107, A3884, A3886, A3873, A3875, A3876, A3880, A3882, A3883, A3885, A3888, A5284, A5319, A5560, A5561, A5737, A5738, A5788, A5806, A5807, A5928, A6102, A6738, A6727, A6726, A6722, A6721, A6704, A6651, A7047, A7046, A7021, A7005, A7004, A6972, A7125

Spark, Victor David

25

A6144, A3188, A5745, A4448, A4923A, A4923C, A4923D, A4923H, A4923I, A4923K, A4923L, A4923M, A4923O, A4923P, A4923Q, A4923R, A4923S, A4923T, A4923W, A5016, A6013, A6018, A6138, A6145, A6147

Berggruen (Heinz), Galerie & Cie

23

A5750, A6640, A7031, A7030, A7029, A6899, A7119, A7120, A6070, A6073, A6114, A6112, A6150, A7018, A7017, A7016, A7015, A6844, A6843, A6443, A6350, A6347, A6641

Schempp, (Theodore), & Co.

13

A6934, A5188, A6684, A7066, A7002, A7001, A7000, A6942, A6939, A6935, A7116, A7130, A7131

Kennedy Galleries, Inc.

13

A4936, A7127, A7128, A7129, A5581, A6272, A6273, A6274, A7124, A7135, A5074, A5075, A6669

Fine Arts Associates

11

A5304, A5209, A6764, A6739, A7039, A6869, A7114, A7115, A7133, A7134, A6922

The A.B. Closson Jr. Co.

9

A5079, A5080, A5082, A5083, A5085, A5086, A5087, A5088, A5089

Betty McLean Gallery

9

A5288, A5290, A5291, A5292, A5294, A5299, A4684, A4685, A5055

E. and A. Milch

7

A3655, A3855, A3857, A3858, A4635, A6824, A7136

Marlborough-Gerson Gallery

7

A7078, A7080, A7082, A7081, A7083, A7077, A7079

Pearlman, Henry

6

A7086, A7087, A7089, A7090, A7091, A7088

Kleemann Galleries

6

A4617, A6432, A6391, A6390, A6332, A6331

De Hauke & Co.

5

A6763, A7100, A7101, A7103, A7110

Frank Perls Gallery

5

A6506, A6230, A6762, A6743, A6435

Balay, Roland

5

A3834, A3835, A3836, A3837, A3838

Latendorf Bookshop

5

A6249, A6250, A6251, A6252, A6253

Agnew's

5

A5435, A6098, A6099, A6228, A7056

Old Print Shop, The

4

A5714, A5716, A5718, A4672E

Weitzner, Julius H.

4

A6921, A5703, A6534, A6929

Charell, Ludwig

3

A6379, A6378, A6377

Babcock Galleries

3

A3413, A3661, A5072

Galerie les Tourettes (Otto Wertheimer)

2

A5281, A7117

John F. Fleming Rare Book Co.

2

A6388, A6387

Galerie des Arts Anciens et Modernes

2

A6135, A6313

SUTTON, HILDA

2

A3383, A3395

Louis Leon and Co.

2

A6801, A6525

Michelotti, M.

2

A5320, A4049

Ward Eggleston Galleries

2

A5991, A5992

Kernochan, Katherine Lorillard

2

A2144, A2145

Ackermann, (Arthur), and Son

2

A3600, A2556

Frederick A. Stern Inc.

2

A3068, A3206

Weil, (André), Galerie

2

A6701, A6795

STRÖLIN, ALFRED

2

A6478, A6477

Abdy, Robert Henry Edward, Sir, 5th Bart.

2

A7009, A6967

Colnaghi's

2

A1982, A3060

Where else do these Knoedler numbers appear? What do they tell us?



Can the recent publication of the new Getty Provenance Index on linked data principles help us to go further in the analysis of the information that is missing from the original Knoedler ledgers? How might we do this?

tbc...