Jul 31, 2025

Richard Zinser and Knoedler

 Richard Zinser in Getty Provenance Index graph data visualisation of Knoedler transactions: Millet, Cranach, Cézanne, Renoir, Bonnard, Romney

Richard Zinser in Knoedler dataviz
Richard Zinser in Knoedler dataviz: network of stock book entries, buyers, sellers, dates, artists, titles.



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Jul 28, 2025

Who owned Pissarros? What else did they own? Where are they today?


What else?  German and French Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis often owned artworks from several different artists. If one focuses on claims for one artist, can one then expand the search to see what other artworks were stolen?

In this post we look at artworks by Pissarro which are being searched for by the families of Jewish art collectors who were plundered and persecuted during the Nazi era. And then we ask: what other artworks were owned by (and possibly stolen from) these same collectors?

To gather these artworks, and the information about them, we will use Wikidata queries. The graph structure enables us to start from one point (the collector) and move to other artworks owned all around the world. (if the ownership information has been entered in Wikidata.

Databases consulted: Lostart.de and ErrProject


PART ONE

Lostart: Collectors whose heirs are searching for PISSARRO artworks lost or seized during the Nazi era:


Aaron, Clémence Georgette

Blumstein (Familie)*

Bondi, Felix

Braunthal, Max

Dreyfus, Edgar*

Flavian (Friedmann), Catherine und Salomon

Friedmann, David (Breslau)

Glaser, Prof. Dr. Curt

Goldschmidt, Hedwig und Jacob*

Hatvany, Baron Ferenc

Heine, Max & Margarete 

Herz, Dr. Emanuel Emil

Hinrichsen, Dr. Henri

Kainer, Margret und Ludwig

Katzenellenbogen, Ludwig und Estella

Lindauer, Jules

Mendel Kaplan

Nathan, Martha

Ploschitzki, Johanna (geb. Zender)

Posen, Anna und Sidney 

Sachs, Carl (Sammlung)

Schusterman, Grégoire

Semmel, Richard

Silberberg, Max (Sammlung)

Simon, Hugo

Sommerguth, Gertrud und Alfred

Steinthal, Fanny und Max (Sammlung)

Stern-Lippmann, Margaretha und Siegbert Stern

Strauss, Ottmar

Westfeld, Walter


ERRProject: French Jews whose artworks by Pissarro were looted by the ERR Nazi looting organization


Bruno Stahl

Claude Raphael, Paris, France

Frau Jules Rouff, Paris, France

Galerie Marcel Bernheim et Cie., Paris, France

Georges Levy, Paris, France

Georges Schick, Nice, France

Hedwige/Hedwig Zach/Zak, Nice/Paris, France

Hugo Simon, Paris, France

Jules et Madeleine Lindauer, Paris, France

Max Heilbronn, Paris, France

Mr. Kantorowitz, Paris, France

Oskar and Marianne Goldschmidt, Neuilly, France

Paul Etlin, Saint-Marcel par Aubagne, Bouches du Rhone, France

Paul Rosenberg, Bordeaux, France

Pierre Wertheimer, Paris, France

Raoul Meyer, Paris, France

Roger Levy , Neuilly s/Seine, France

Salomon Flavian, Paris, France

Simon Bauer, Paris, France


Remarks: There are 48 German and French art collectors who owed Pissarros in these Nazi-looted art databases. Hugo Simon and Jules Lindauer appear in both LostArt and ERRPROJECT but otherwise there is little overlap.  To have a more complete view of Pissarros looted from (or acquired under duress from) Jewish collectors, one would need to consult databases in The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Poland, and elsewhere. In short, this is a glimpse or a sampling, not a complete overview.  


The appearance of any of the above names in a provenance for any artwork is an obvious red flag.


Are there any patterns we might be able to detect using the Wikidata general knowledge graph?

To find out, we will group the Wikidata identifiers (where they exist) in a variable called ?LostPissarro using VALUES

Wikidata Query

#title:Pissarro owners in Lostart.de

SELECT ?myQids ?myQidsLabel ?myQidsDescription 

WHERE {

  VALUES ?myQids { wd:Q126835436 wd:Q94292296 wd:Q124216935 wd:Q125884667 wd:Q97133770 wd:Q112450 wd:Q324935 wd:Q55842863 wd:Q98887 wd:Q1334632 wd:Q123758642 wd:Q19295051 wd:Q1361426 wd:Q110491536}

  ?myQids rdfs:label ?myQidsLabel.

 #?ownedby wdt:P127 ?myQids.

#  ?ownedby wdt:P18 ?image.

  SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "[AUTO_LANGUAGE],mul,en". }

 FILTER (LANG(?myQidsLabel) = "en")

}


WD: 

* not found

Q126835436,Q94292296,Q124216935,Q125884667,Q97133770,Q112450,Q324935,Q55842863,Q1334632,Q98887,Q123758642,Q19295051,Q1361426,Q110491536,Q131534758,Q131424365,Q104532626,Q22670686,Q131534959,Q94867126,Q125811605,Q125811605,Q20191393,Q1913457,Q1635718,Q94788180,Q108549525,Q126092724,Q100323618,Q2037856,Q2546745


myQids

myQidsLabel

myQidsDescription

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q55842863

Max Hermann Heine

German Jewish art collector (1877-1933)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q94292296

Felix Bondi

German lawyer and art collector (1860-1934)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q97133770

David Friedmann

German Jewish businessman and art collector -(1857-1942)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q110491536

Estella Katzenellenbogen

German Jewish art collector persecuted by the Nazis (1886-1991)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q123758642

Margret Kainer

German Jewish art collector (1894-1968)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q124216935

Max Braunthal

German Jewish art collector (1877-1946)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q125884667

Salomon Flavian

art collector

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q126835436

Clémence Georgette Aaron

French art collector, plundered by Nazis (b. 1867

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q98887

Henri Hinrichsen

German music publisher, died in Auschwitz in 1942

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q112450

Curt Glaser

German Jewish art historian and art collector persecuted by Nazis, refugee (1879-1943)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q324935

Ferenc Hatvany

Hungarian painter and art collector (1881-1958)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1334632

Emil Herz

German publisher (1877-1971)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1361426

Ludwig Katzenellenbogen

Jewish industrialist, refugee, Holocaust victim, husband of Tilla Durieux (1877–1944)

http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q19295051

Ludwig Kainer

German draughtsperson and art collector (1885-1967)


WikidataQuery to see what was owned by these individuals

https://w.wiki/CUi7
https://w.wiki/CUqd
https://w.wiki/CUqf
with image of painting https://w.wiki/CUqq
https://w.wiki/CVCX
https://w.wiki/CVFT
with images of paintings https://w.wiki/CVJw
https://w.wiki/CVM5

LostArtQids https://w.wiki/CVfd
LostArtQids with objects owned https://w.wiki/CVfg


Question: How many of the artworks searched for by 
Q126835436,Q94292296,Q124216935,Q125884667,Q97133770,Q112450,Q324935,Q55842863,Q1334632,Q98887,Q123758642,Q19295051,Q1361426,Q110491536,Q131534758,Q131424365,Q104532626,Q22670686,Q131534959,Q94867126,Q125811605,Q125811605,Q20191393,Q1913457,Q1635718,Q94788180,Q108549525,Q126092724,Q100323618,Q2037856,Q2546745

Are represented in Wikidata?
Task: Compare Lostart listings to Wikidata listings



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Jul 20, 2025

Looted art laundering networks in the USA: Cassirer v Thyssen

Camille Pissarro - Rue Saint-Honoré, dans l'après-midi. Effet de pluie
Rue St. Honoré, après midi, effet de pluie by Camille Pissarro is the object of a claim for restitution: Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation

 "By 1951, the Painting had made its way to the U.S. after changing hands several times in Germany. In July, the Frank Perls Gallery (“Perls”) in Beverly Hills, California, sold the Painting to an art collector, Sidney Brody, for $14,850.[11]Less than a year later, in February of 1952, Perls (for Brody) consigned the Painting with Knoedler Gallery (which you may remember for other reasons) for sale in New York.[12]Missouri-based art collector, Sydney Schoenberg, was next to purchase the Painting; he sold it through New York’s Stephen Hahn Gallery several years later on consignment in 1975 or 1976"

- Case Review: Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, Center for Art Law

https://archive.is/N01Tn#selection-839.0-855.186


On Sidney Brody's rapid return of the Pissarro to Perls, see Iker Seisdedos's article in El Pais: "The Thyssen’s disputed Pissarro: a masterpiece that symbolizes the ongoing struggle to return Nazi-looted art":


"The painting arrived in Los Angeles in the possession of a German merchant called Frank Perls, who was Jewish – “ironically,” notes Cassirer, who describes him as a “super-thief.” During the war, Perls had worked as a translator for the US Army. He sold the work to a noted art lover called Sidney Brody, who was also Jewish and returned it a few months later because, according to Cassirer, he found out that it was a looted piece. A year later, Perls sold the painting again to the heir to a department store fortune in Saint Louis, where it remained for 20 years. It was offered to Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza through a well-known New York dealer, Stephen Hahn."

https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-05-21/the-thyssens-disputed-pissarro-a-masterpiece-that-symbolizes-the-ongoing-struggle-to-return-nazi-looted-art.html

https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=VGPS0A541611


On Stephen Hahn, see the 2005 lawsuit filed against him jointly by two different families who were seeking to reclaim Holocaust-linked art. Artnews reported on the lawsuit in "Judge Supports Suit to Reclaim Profits from Nazi Loot".  

"NEW YORK—A California judge has ruled that two families may proceed with their lawsuit against art dealer Stephen Hahn to recover the profits Hahn is alleged to have earned on sales, some 30 years ago, of works by Pablo Picasso and Camille Pissarro that had been looted during World War II. This is believed to be the first case in the U.S. in which the heirs of Nazi victims have sought compensation from an intermediary.

Claude Cassirer and Thomas C. Bennigson had filed the joint complaint in Santa Barbara, Calif., against Hahn, former president of the Art Dealers Association of America, on July 19. They claimed that Hahn had sold the two paintings without the consent of the legal owners and therefore must hold the profits for them. All three men live in California."

The Artnews article mentions two separate cases in which Hahn played a role. One was Picasso's Femme en Blanc :

"The Picasso was looted by the Nazis in 1940 from Paris art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser, to whom it had been sent for safekeeping by Bennigson’s grandmother Carlota Landsberg, of Berlin. Dealer Hahn imported the painting from France in 1975 and sold it a year later to James and Marilyn Alsdorf of Chicago for $357,000, the complaint states. Bennigson located the Picasso, now worth some $10 million, in 2002, when Marilyn Alsdorf prepared to sell the painting, and the Art Loss Register identified it as stolen. Bennigson has filed a separate claim against Marilyn Alsdorf."

(see also: "The FBI seizes disputed Picasso" Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-oct-27-et-quick27.5-story.html) 27 Oct 2004 — The circa-1922 painting, “Femme en Blanc” (Woman in White) is believed to have been stolen by the Nazis during World War II from the grandmother of Oakland-based heir Thomas Bennigson. The painting was purchased in 1975 by Chicago art collectors James and Marilyn Alsdorf before its tie to the Nazis was discovered. In 2002, Bennigson sued to have the painting returned to him. Although the painting has been taken into U.S. custody, an FBI spokeswoman said Tuesday that the artwork will remain in Alsdorf’s residence until the courts can determine the rightful owner. )

The other was Pissarro's Rue St. Honoré, après midi, effet de pluie:

"Cassirer’s grandmother Lilly Cassirer-Neubauer, of Munich, was forced to sell the Pissarro to a Nazi agent in 1939 for a nominal amount before she fled from Germany. Hahn subsequently acquired the painting and, circa 1976, sold it to Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who later transferred it over to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid."




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Jul 14, 2025

Kunstmuseum Bern's donors, Nazi looted art and problems of transparency and accessibility in a leading Swiss museum

The Kunstmuseum Bern does not make it easy to find provenance information.

Instead of publishing the artworks in its collection on its website in the normal way with all the normal information (title, artist, inventory number, image, credit line, provenance, dimensions, et), accessible via url, the Kunstmuseum Bern has compartmentalised information in various PDF files and on special sections of its website.

Frustrated by the difficulty of obtaining a unified vision of the acquisitions after 1933, we searched for another approach, one adapted to the existing publications. 

In this post we attempt to map the information associated with important donors to the Kunstmuseum Bern during and after the Nazi period -- and fail.  

Why? Because we did not manage to find a central website or dataset or even PDF with all the necessary information.

Even if one has the inventory number or the digital ID of the artworks, it is not easy to find the provenance information unless it is Gurlitt-related. (And even then it is gappy.)

Donors we looked at include:

1. Max Huggler (c. 1945–2007)

  • President of Swiss museum associations and private collector

  • Bequeathed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern, including around 80 significant works by artists such as Cuno Amiet, Joseph Beuys, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and othersWikipedia+15Wikipedia+15Artnet News+15.

2. Georges Frédéric Keller (gifted lifetime loan starting in 1951; passed in 1981)

  • Swiss‑Brazilian collector and dealer

  • Lent around 120 modern paintings and sculptures (Cézanne, Matisse, Soutine, Modigliani, Renoir, Dali, Picasso) to the museum from 1951; bequeathed the collection upon his death, considered the museum’s largest donation to that date The Times of Israel+1Wikipedia+1Wikipedia.

3. Hermann Rupf (donation 1954)

4. Nell Walden & Marguerite Arp‑Hagenbach (1960s)

5. Adolf Wölfli Estate (1975)

6. Stiftung Othmar Huber (1979)

  • Deposited key works including Picasso, Klee, Franz Marc, Alexej von Jawlensky, Kandinsky, contributing major modernist pieces Wikipedia.

7. Anne‑Marie & Victor Loeb Foundation (1970s–1980s)

  • Their foundation gifted works by Johannes Itten, Victor Vasarely, Max Bill, Richard Paul Lohse, Piero Manzoni, Jean Tinguely, and others, further boosting the post‑war avant‑garde holdings Wikipedia.

8. Meret Oppenheim Legacy & Other Gifts (1980s onward)

9. Eberhard W. Kornfeld (bequest in 2024)

  • Renowned Swiss art dealer (1923–2023)

  • In 2024, gifted significant works including Kirchner’s Junkerboden (1919) and Giacometti’s Caroline (1965)WikipediaWikipedia+1Kunstmuseum Bern+1.

10. Cornelius Gurlitt Estate (accepted in 2014; subsequent restitutions)

  • Inherited the controversial Gurlitt collection (1,400+ works, including Matisse, Renoir, Monet) under the condition that provenance research and restitution be pursued Wikipedia+3USA Art News+3Wikipedia+3.

Ongoing provenance research has led to the return of identified Nazi‑looted artworks, though most remain part of the museum’s collection under review (ex The Times of Israel )


Gurlitt, Huggler, Kornfeld, Keller and Rupf have all been linked to Nazi looted art previously owned by Jewish collectors, and Othmar Huber is known to have purchased art seized by the Nazi authorities from their own German museums.

***

In 2014, Matthias Frehner, the Director of the Kunstmuseum Bern, stated that the museum does not want any "Kunst aus illegitimem Besitz" (illegitimately owned artworks). (https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=QMYDSA865171) 

But where is the transparency?

Unlike nearly all other museums in its class, Kunstmuseum Bern appears to offer no public REST or developer-facing API to access its collection or metadata. 

There are isolated datasets, like for (some of) Gurlitt,  published at https://gurlitt.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/collection/item.

There are PDFs with various reports, published here and there.

There is a "Gesamtliste_Slg.Präsentation_26.05.2025.pdf" which is not complete and which changes depending on which artworks are currently exhibited.

There is a 18MB PDF with a "Findmittel". (One can apparently travel to Bern and access information.)

There are various catalogues offering a slice of the collection.


But who among us had ever been able to consult or analyse the complete list of all the artworks created before 1945 and acquired by Kunstmuseum Bern after 1932?

One does not even appear to be able to  access a complete list of the artworks held by the Kunstmuseum Bern for a specific artist.

After a restitution claim has resulted in a restitution, a settlement or a refusal, one can not ask the question "what else" passed through the same hands because the data is not publicly available.

There is, however, a simple solution to this lack of transparency.

Kunstmuseum Bern could publish its collection online, like other museums do, with title, artist, medium, inventory number, digital object ID, and credit line.

That's not hard. Why not do it now?

***

Below is what appears to be the current procedure:

The Kunstmuseum Bern's collection, as a whole, comprises over 4,000 paintings and sculptures and approximately 44,000 drawings, prints, photographs, videos, and films, spanning from the Gothic period to the present. This vast collection means many works acquired since 1932 would have been created before 1945.
3. Procedure for Obtaining the List
1. Consult the "Museumsarchiv Findmittel" (PDF): Identify the specific document numbers and titles mentioned above that fall within your target acquisition period (since 1932) and indicate the presence of creation dates.
2. Submit a Request: Contact the archive via email (archiv@kunstmuseumbern.ch) to inquire about accessing these specific documents. Explain your research scope (artworks acquired since 1932, created before 1945).
3. Review the Documents: Once you gain access, you will need to meticulously go through the "Eingangsjournal für Kunstwerke", "Verzeichnis der Schenkungen und Legate", and the "Sitzungsprotokolle" to extract the relevant information. You would filter the entries by the "Eingangsdatum" (acquisition date) to be on or after 1932, and then by the "Datierung" or "Zeitraum" (creation date) of the artwork to be on or before 1945.

By leveraging these specific archival materials identified in the "Findmittel," you should be able to compile a comprehensive list of artworks meeting your criteria.

***

Provenance information for the Kunstmuseum Bern in a patchwork of  PDFs and the Gurlitt Nachlass site:


DER NACHLASS GURLITT

The database publishes all artworks and artefacts from the Cornelius Gurlitt Estate. It contains some 1,600 objects, including paintings, drawings, aquarelles, sculptures, and prints, as well as archaeological finds and works of Asian art. Most of the provenances (1000+) have gaps and uncertainties for the Nazi years.



Bequest of Cornelius Gurlitt: Decisions by the Foundation of the Kunstmuseum Bern

This "News" page from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe details the Kunstmuseum Bern's approach to the Cornelius Gurlitt bequest. It explains the "Provenance Traffic Light" system (red, yellow-green, yellow-red, green categories) for classifying artworks based on provenance certainty during the Nazi era (1933-1945)301. It outlines the museum's decisions regarding acceptance and restitution, ongoing research, adherence to international ethical principles like the Washington Principles and Terezín Declaration, and plans for transparency and scientific reappraisal.... It also lists some of the works from the Gurlitt bequest and the Kunstmuseum Bern's own collection that require further provenance research


Werkliste Sammlungspräsentation

This PDF lists artworks currently on display. The content changes.


"Wir machen uns auch angreifbar" - "We're also vulnerable"

This "News" page from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe includes an interview snippet with Marcel Brülhart (Member of the Board of Trustees of the Kunstmuseum Bern), who discusses the  provenance research project for 525 works, acknowledging the incompleteness and contradictions in existing internal source


Provenienzbericht Stand:2022-11-16

This PDF document is a provenance report from Kunstmuseum Bern, updated November 16, 2022 for 297 selected artworks



Provenienzbericht Stand:10/26/2020

This PDF is a provenance report from Kunstmuseum Bern, dated October 26, 2020,

https://archive.kunstmuseumbern.ch/admin/data/hosts/kmb/files/page_editorial_paragraph_file/file/1689/20201207_provenienzbericht-bak-gemalde-ill.pdf


Provenienzbericht Stand: 04.12.2024

KMB_BAK 2023-2024_Provenienzberichte.pdf

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2024-12/KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt%20RK.pdf


https://kmbzpk.nodehive.app/sites/default/files/2024-03/20201207_provenienzbericht-bak-gemalde-ill.pdf

Provenienzbericht 2016-2017

https://kmbzpk.nodehive.app/sites/default/files/2024-03/2016_2017_kmb_provenienzberichte.pdf



Provenance research on the legacy of Georges Frédéric Keller, 2019 – 2020

KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2024-12/KMB_BAK_2023_2024_AB_Projekt%20RK.pdf


Kunstmuseum Bern: Jahresbericht 2024 

https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/api/files/2025-05/P100151_Jahresbericht_KMB_2024_web_3.pdf


German Lost Art Foundation: Kulturgüter aus dem Kunstfund Gurlitt

Thirteen artworks 


German Lost Art Foundation: Fundmeldung

21 artworks


Sammlung von Hermann und Margrit Rupf


***


Documents found in www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/en/node/1083 on 7/16/2025 at 5:50:37 AM

Information published by the Kunstmuseum Bern about restitutions and settlements

Documents found in www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/de/proven...ung/restitutionen on 7/16/2025 at 6:07:00 AM



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Jun 28, 2025

Heinemann and Mondschein (Frederick Mont) in provenances of artworks in American museums

El Greco - Portrait of a Gentleman, Julius Priester The El Greco looted in 1944 by the Nazi Gestapo from Julius Priester passed through Rudolf J. Heinemann, (1901 – February 7, 1975) and the business he owned, Pinakos, and Frederick Mont (aka Fritz Mondschein) and the gallery he owned, Galerie Sanct Lukas, before being identified. The provenance of the looted artwork was falsified, and it took more than seventy years to find it, claim it and obtain restitution (in 2015). 

The obvious question for museums to ask themselves is: which artworks in our collections passed through these individuals or their businesses and are there any provenance gaps or discrepancies that require further verification. 

 The number of questions marks "?" (49) and "probably" (41) and "possibly" (30) and "might have" or "may have" (12) suggests the presence of guesswork and speculation.

Below are a few of the artworks known to have passed through Heinemann or Mont. 
Read more »
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