Grosz, shedding light on itineraries

The German Expressionist artist George Grosz (1893–1959) was persecuted by the Nazis for his art, while Grosz's art dealer, Alfred Flechtheim (1878-1937), was persecuted by the Nazis for being Jewish*. Both fled Nazi Germany in 1933, Grosz to America Flechtheim to English. Both were plundered.

Some pretty elaborate speculation has been advanced concerning the itineraries of artworks via Grosz and Flechtheim. So how to cut through all the noise? Where is bedrock solid information to be found? 

This post explores what the museums who have Grosz in their collections have to say about where they got it from.

First, a few numbers.

Grosz is thought to have created more than two thousand artworks, including paintings, drawings, sketches and prints. For the first part of his career, he painted in Germany. After 1933 most of his work was done in America. The Beschlagnahmeinventar "Entartete Kunst" published by the Freie Universität Berlin lists 501 works by Grosz.

Where is this art today?

The Grosz was acquired from...

URL: https://www.openartdata.org/2024/11/the-grosz-was-acquired-from.html

The German Expressionist artist George Grosz (1893–1959) was persecuted by the Nazis for his art, while Grosz's art dealer, Alfred Flechtheim (1878-1937), was persecuted by the Nazis for being Jewish*. Both fled Nazi Germany in 1933, Grosz to America and Flechtheim to England. Both were plundered.

Some pretty elaborate speculation has been advanced concerning the itineraries of artworks via Grosz and Flechtheim. This post explores what the museums who have Grosz in their collections have to say about where they got it from.

Art Institutions Table

National Gallery of Art

Cleveland Museum of Art

Rosenwald Collection

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"Degenerate Art" Collection

Dallas Museum of Art

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Museum of Modern Art

Bavarian State Painting Collections

King Baudouin Foundation

Where is this art today?

We're going to focus on the art created in early years, until 1932.

The itineraries of many of these artworks are contested. We will focus on the one piece of information that museums must know: who they acquired the Grosz artworks from and when.

Recommendation of the Advisory Commission on Nazi-looted property in the case heirs of George Grosz v. Freie Hansestadt Bremen

 https://kulturgutverluste.de/sites/default/files/2024-11/24-10-30-recommendation-grosz-freie-hansestadt-bremen.pdf