Dec 7, 2019

What does it mean to find the names Walter or Anton Exner in a provenance?

Collection Eduard Fuchs, acquired between 1915 / 1920 and in his possession until 1933; 25.10.1933 confiscation by the Gestapo*


Walter Exner and Anton Exner were both art collectors - and card carrying Austrian Nazis.  Supporters of Hitler from the earlier hours, they expanded their art collections during the Third Reich, and notably after the Anschluss - which poses a problem for the institutions that are the beneficiaries of the thousands of artworks they donated. 

In this post we feature some of the research that historians have published about the Exners, their activities as Nazis, and their importance as Austrian collectors of Asian art.

Chronicle of an Obsession, The History of the Exner Asian Collection  by Gabriele Anderl (in German)


Books and articles cited in this post include: 

Chronicle of an Obsession, The History of the Exner Asian Collection by Gabriele Anderl

Die Praxis des Sammelns. Personen und Institutionen im Fokus der Provenienzforschung by Eva Blimlinger and Heinz Schödl (ed)

The Austrian Kunstdatenbank

Lexikon der österreichischen Provenienzforschung


The German Lost Art Foundation


I.  The Kunstdatenbank entry for the World Museum in Vienna has this to say about Anton and Walter Exner:



One central problem of provenance research at the Museum of Ethnology is the clear identification of objects, which are often described imprecisely in the National Socialist seizure documents, and of which numerous identical or similar objects exist.
This problem is particularly acute in the case of the more than 80 objects acquired after 1938 and still held by the Museum from the Anton and Walter Exner collection, the origins of which partly may be problematic. The Museum has therefore decided to enter these objects in the National Fund Database.

https://www.kunstdatenbank.at/detail-view-museum/world-museum-vienna



II. Both Walter and Anton Exner joined the Nazi party early, and benefited as art collectors from the policies of the Third Reich, according to biographies written by Gabriele Anderl and published in the Lexikon of German Provenance Research. 



These are reproduced below in English, rendered from the German by Google Translate.


Walter Exner


13.11.1911 Vienna - 3.11.2003 Bad Wildungen


Keywords: art collector, art dealer, Nazi party member, publisher, NSDAP, SS .

Walter Exner was the son of the Asian tradesman and collector Anton Exner, with whom he built together the Exner collection, of which today most of them are in the MAK and a much smaller part in the Weltmuseum Wien. How many objects of the collection were still privately owned by Walter Exners after 1945 is not known. Because he first had to work as an unpaid laborer in his father's art trading business in Lerchenfelderstraße, he dropped out of school before he left school. The origin of his family from the Sudetenland influenced Walter Exner ideologically: He stressed as a teenager his "big German attitude". As a Protestant middle school student, he joined the Bible Circle "crusaders". 

In 1930 he became a member of the NSDAP (membership number 300.121) and the SA. In 1934 he took over the money management of the SS-Standarte 81 and was promoted to Obertruppeführer

Shortly before the coup d'état in 1934, Walter Exner traveled to England from where he returned to Vienna in October of the same year in order to escape a feared arrest. In 1935 he traveled for the first time together with his father in the Far East. Upon his return, he took with permission Anton Exners objects from the sale and thus founded the Exner collection, which grew up to the "Anschluss" of Austria on several thousand objects. As a result, Anton and Walter Exner also purchased items explicitly for their collection. In 1936/37, Walter Exner spent a year in Beijing, where he founded the Siebenberg publishing house, in which several publications written by Walter Exner appeared. Exner moved the publishing house later to Austria and then to Germany. In 1937, Walter Exner held his first exhibition in the Museum of Ethnology with objects from Manchuria. From his third and last shopping trip to Asia, he returned shortly after the "Anschluss".

Until his voluntary declaration to the German Wehrmacht after the beginning of the Second World War he was according to own data as V-man for East Asian art with the SD in Vienna active. It was his job above all to prevent the export of valuable woodcuts. After the project of an East Asian Museum in Vienna had failed, Walter Exner began in 1939 with the development of the Asia working group, whose publication series u. a. was published by him and was ideologically in the sign of the German alliance policy with Japan. The close but extremely conflictual relationship with the authoritarian father, who felt overwhelmed, shaped Walter Exner's life. To complete alienation came after Anton Exner without the consent of his son a joint loan to the then State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1944 in a donation to the death converted and 1946 had made another not agreed with the son donation to the museum.

After the end of the Nazi period three criminal cases were brought against Walter Exner before the Vienna People's Court in accordance with § § 10, 11 of the Prohibition Act, in which he was a member of the NSDAP and other Nazi organizations in the period between 1933 and 1938 was laid. The procedures were discontinued. Walter Exner did not return to Austria permanently after the end of the Second World War, but settled in Frankenau, the birthplace of his wife, and later in Bad Wildungen. In a denazification procedure before the tribunal in Frankenberg a. d. Eder (Hesse), he was classified as relieving opinions of acquaintances as less burdened. In 1960 he accepted German citizenship without having to travel the Austrian. After the death of his father, he transferred the attributable to him inheritance of Asiatika in the FRG and expanded its collection by new acquisitions on. It included u. a. valuable East Asian porcelain and sculptures and about 2000 woodcuts. From 1956 to 1963, Walter Exner headed the private "Asia Institute" founded by him and an associated Asia Museum in Frankenau, which he relocated to Bad Wildungen in 1965 and continued there until 1977. He was co-editor of the series Geoculture. Contributions to the study of historical dynamics. Walter Exner sold in his later stages of life the bulk of his Asian collection. A number of objects were also purchased by the MAK and the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna. The purchases as well as the donations of 1944 and 1946 were the subject of systematic provenance research. However, this faced the problem that, as with almost all objects from the Exner Collection, the pre-provenances are unknown.


source: Gabriele Anderl, 7.1.2019 Lexikon der Österreischen Provenienzforchung

To consult the original German text see:

https://www.lexikon-provenienzforschung.org/exner-walter

-----


Anton Exner



Anton Exner is considered the most important Asian trader and collector as well as estimator of Asian art in the Vienna of the interwar period. His collection included all branches of East Asian - especially Chinese and Japanese - art from all eras. Anton Exner worked his way up from humble background. He had no formal secondary education and acquired his expertise as a self-taught. During a long stay in Canada and the USA from 1908 to 1910, Exner made initial contacts with Chinese traders. When returning on a freighter, he acquired handicraft articles and Japanese silk blouses in various Asian ports - they formed the basis for his future business activities in Vienna. From then on, Anton Exner undertook shopping trips to the Far East almost every year. He started his trade from about 1912 at his address in Vienna 8, Lerchenfelderstraße 66, from 1929 on in his house in Vienna 4, Paniglgasse 18-20. In June 1914 Exner was surprised on the return journey from Asia from the beginning of the First World War. He made his way to the US, where he opened a trade in East Asian art on New York's 56th Street. For a while he was interned as an "enemy alien". Only at the end of 1919 was he able to return to Vienna. The Dorotheum in Vienna ordered him to become a sworn treasurer of East Asian art. Exner held this position for about a quarter of a century. Since the early 1920s he has been involved in loans at all major exhibitions of East Asian art in Vienna. The origin of his ancestors from the Sudetenland influenced Exner ideologically. 

Committed to the idea of ​​Greater Germany from his youth, he joined the NSDAP in 1931 (membership number 782.343). He also belonged to her during the time of the party ban, but at the same time became a member of the Fatherland Front. During the Nazi era, Anton Exner often valued Asiatics from withdrawn collections of Jews, especially for the auctions of the Dorotheum. In 1938, with the support of the Reichsstatthalterei (especially the then State Secretary Kajetan Mühlmann), the project of a separate East Asian Museum in Vienna was founded, the basis of which was the Exner Collection. Anton Exner and his son Walter were the driving forces and should be given managerial functions. The project failed mainly because of the resistance of the Staatliche Kunstgewerbemuseum in Vienna, as this would have had to give up its own East Asian stocks.

In 1938, Anton Exner offered the museum a part of his East Asia collection on loan. The selection of objects was made by the museum, a loan agreement was closed. In 1943 there was a major exchange deals between Exner and the Kunstgewerbemuseum, in which the museum mainly East Asian export and commercial goods from the former Trade Museum gave and acquired high-quality craft objects. In 1944, Anton Exner signed a notary act, which turned the temporary loan into a loan on life or a donation in the event of death. This "first donation" - it included 2,195 objects - was not discussed with Anton Exner's son Walter, who had entered the Wehrmacht. A protest letter from Walter Exner in 1944 to the museum remained without consequences.

In June 1945 Anton Exner was arrested as a former National Socialist and initiated a people's court case because of his affiliation to the NSDAP during the period of illegality (§ 10 of the Prohibition Act) and on suspicion of improper enrichment (§ 6 of the War Crimes Act) against him. It was also about the "Aryanization" of the art dealer Wilma Werner in the city center of Vienna by Anton Exner's daughter, Edith Schmaelz, behind the Exner was considered a driving force. At the request of the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the remainders of Exner's private collection were seized by the state and transferred to depots of the Dorotheum. In a police transcript, Anton Exner offered on 28.6.1945 to make the objects of the republic a present. In 1946 he confirmed this "second donation" legally binding, again this time without the consent of his son, who had helped to build the collection. Years of effort by Walter Exners to get his share back from the MAK were fruitless. The people's court proceedings against Anton Exner and several close family members were discontinued. The MAK currently owns about 3,700 mostly very valuable objects from the Exner collection, the Weltmuseum Wien 177 inventory number of the same provenance. The difficulties for the provenance research resulted mainly from the fact that there is no reliable provenance information to the previous owners and dealers and it remains unclear which objects on the numerous shopping trips of Anton (and Walter) Exner locally and which in Austria and other European Countries - especially during the Nazi era - were acquired. Although Anton Exner had stated in a letter to the MAK in 1948 that, to his knowledge, there were no deprived objects in his collection, in the second half of the 1940s and 1950s, some of the museum's reserves came from the holdings of the Collection Exner. They concerned objects from the collections Klara Mertens-Steiner, Ernst Dub, Richard E. Weiss and Caroline (Caroline) Czeczowiczka.


- Gabriele Anderl, 7.1.2019 Lexikon der Österreischen Provenienzforchung 

source: https://www.lexikon-provenienzforschung.org/exner-anton




Translated from the German by Google Translate
Original texts in German by Gabriele Anderl, published online in the Lexikon der Österreischen Provenienzforchung
(url: https://www.lexikon-provenienzforschung.org/exner-walter  and https://www.lexikon-provenienzforschung.org/exner-anton)___


III. The German Lost Art Foundation lists 14 search results for "Exner" of which ten refer to the "Viennese art dealer".


Simple search

14 Search results
1
2
3
  • Meteorologische Optik
  • Signature: Kc 655 b [= G46 / 307 ]
  • Type of object: Book
  • Author: Pertner, Josef Maria; Exner, Felix M.
  • Asset: Geschenke
  • Kind of report: Found-Object Reports
  • Lost Art-ID: 517269
4
  • Faience roof rider: gable crowning, rider sitting on fabulous animal with sacrificial bowl (damaged)
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 04 / Lepke 97
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Yellow, green and brown glazed
  • Height: 60.00 cm  Width: 56.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner] for 55,- RM (estimated […]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582685
5
  • Faience incense holder: squatting of the mythical dog on a round foot
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 16 / Lepke 615
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / uniform green glazed
  • Height: 40.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner] for 13,- RM (no estimat[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582697
6
  • Faience roof rider: Fable lion sitting on square substructure (damaged)
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 21 / Lepke 599
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green, yellow and turquoise glazed
  • Height: 44.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner] for 24 RM (estimated pr[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582701
7
  • Faience roof rider: Man with helmet cap on horseback
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 37 / Lepke 24
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green, yellow, brown and black glazed
  • Height: 38.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], who specializes in Asi[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582718
8
  • Temple figure: Sitting saint on rocks (putty)
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 57 / Lepke 414
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Polychrome glazed: Turquoise, aubergine and yellow
  • Height: 22.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […]k Den Haag) auctioned by Exner [probably Walter Exner], a Viennese art dealer […]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582737
9
  • Faience roof Rider: Priest sitting on a mythical dog
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 60 / Lepke 32
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green and yellow glazed
  • Height: 42.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], specialized in Asian a[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582740
10
  • Two faience roof riders: Fabell lion jumping over clouds and standing Ho bird (severely damaged)
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 107 / Lepke 587
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green and yellow glazed
  • Höhe: 27 cm bzw. 23 cm
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], who specializes in Asi[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582803
11
  • Faience roof tiles: Sitting tile
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 112 / Lepke 597
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / White yellow and green glazed
  • Height: 26.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], who specializes in Asi[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582808
12
  • Faience roof rider: A pair of temple devices to set up incense candles
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 113 / Lepke 598
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green and yellow glazed
  • Height: 21.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], who is specialized in […]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582809
13
  • Faience "Tonkoro": Round on three feet with fish handles
  • Inventory number: Dachreiter 114 / Lepke 601
  • Type of object: Crafts and other folk arts
  • Artist: Unknown
  • Material / Technique: ceramic / Green and brown glazed
  • Height: 25.00 cm  
  • Asset: Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
  • Provenance: […] the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner], who specializes in Asi[…]
  • Kind of report: Search Requests
  • Lost Art-ID: 582810
14

___

* Faience roof rider: gable crowning, rider sitting on fabulous animal with sacrificial bowl (damaged)
Search request - details
Lost Art-ID 582685
Permalink http://www.lostart.de/EN/Verlust/582685
Artist Unknown
Title Faience roof rider: gable crowning, rider sitting on fabulous animal with sacrificial bowl (damaged)
Dating Ming-Epoche 1368-1644
Type of object Crafts and other folk arts
Measures Height: 60.00 cm  Width: 56.00 cm
Material / Technique ceramic / Yellow, green and brown glazed
Inventory number Dachreiter 04 / Lepke 97
Description Fuchs text for plate 4: „Berittenes Fabeltier (Hundslöwe mit Drachenklauen). Der Reiter hält eine Opfer-schale in den Händen. Polychrom glasiert: goldbraun, grün, gelb. Höhe: 60,00 cm / Länge: 56,00 cm"
Bestand Sammlung chinesischer Dachreiter (Tempelbekrönungen)
Provenance Collection Eduard Fuchs, acquired between 1915 / 1920 and in his possession until 1933; 25.10.1933 confiscation by the Gestapo; forced sale (payment Reichsfluchtsteuer) 1937 by his daughter Gertraud Fuchs: auction at Auktionshaus Rudolph Lepke Berlin, Catalogue 2115, p. 10 - on 15.10 and on 16.10.1937 this roof rider was auctioned under no. 97 (fig. plate 4, upper illustration): "Fayence-Dachreiter, Giebelbekrönung: Auf Fabeltier sitzender Reiter mit Opferschale; gelb, grün und braun glasiert. Höhe 60 cm, Länge 56 cm. Ming (Beschädigt)“.
According to the annotated Lepke catalogue (Kunsthistorische Bibliothek Den Haag) auctioned by the Viennese art dealer Exner [probably Walter Exner] for 55,- RM (estimated price: 75,- RM); whereabouts unknown
Literature / Source Fuchs, Eduard: Dachreiter und verwandte chinesische Keramik des 15. – 18. Jahrhunderts, München (A. Langen) 1924, S. 58, Abb. Tafel 4; Das Haus eines Sammlers: Das Haus des Kunsthistorikers Eduard Fuchs in Zehlendorf bei Berlin. In: Die Dame, Heft 15, Zweites Aprilheft 1928, Abbildung S. 12
Circumstances of loss
Berlin (Beschlagnahme) 25.10.1933
source: German Lost Art Foundation 


see also (photo): Chronik einer Obsession: Die Geschichte der Asiatika-Sammlung Exner (Deutsch) Gebundenes Buch
von Gabriele Anderl (Autor)

MAK online collections query for Exner : 2663 results
https://sammlung.mak.at/sammlung_online?&viewType=list&q=exner


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publication date: December 6, 2019
modified: January 18, 2020
publisher: Open Art Data
author: OAD
url: https://www.openartdata.org/2019/12/walter-exner-mak-weltmuseum-vienna.html

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