Showing posts with label Nazi art looting networks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nazi art looting networks. Show all posts

Nov 21, 2024

Nazi seized "degenerate" art in collection of Oberlin Allen Memorial Art Museum




The Allen Memorial Art Museum makes no secret of the fact that a Kirchner in its collection, Self Portrait as a Solder, once hung in a German museum.

 https://allenartcollection.oberlin.edu/objects/3758/selfportrait-as-a-soldier

The same painting can be found in the "Entartete Kunst" database published by the Free University of Berlin.

http://emuseum.campus.fu-berlin.de/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=117555&viewType=detailView

American museums have relatively little issue with recounting the history of artworks that the Nazi government seized from its own (Nazi-run) museums. 

Of Kirchner's Self Portrait of a Solder above, the Allen Memorial Art Museum writes: 

This work, with its raw and garish colors, was included in the 1937 Entartete Kunst-Degenerate Art-exhibition put on by the Nazi authorities in Munich, after which it traveled to other cities in Germany in 1937-38. In Munich, the painting was exhibited in room 3, with other Kirchners, as "Soldier with Whore," under the texts "Deliberate sabotage of national defense" and "An insult to the German heroes of the Great War," 

This text is in a descriptive essay, under the title, "More information".  The online entree for the artwork does not include a provenance tab.* Thus, while one learns that the Kirchner was "Degenerate Art", one does not learn how this art came to reside in an American museum, or that the artwork passed through a Nazi named Kurt Feldhäusser.*


***

Kurt Feldhäusser is a name that Nazi-looted art provenance researchers should be familiar with. In the above provenance for a Kirchner painting at the Oberlin Allen Memorial Art Museum, his name appears after the arttwork was seized from a German museum by the Nazi government in order to be sold to raise cash for the Third Reich.

This same Feldhäusser appears in numerous provenances of artworks looted from Jews that made their way to American museums.

Some restitution cases for artworks that passed through Kurt Feldhäusser include:

  • Artillerymen in the Shower (Kirchner) which had been owned by Alfred Flechtheim and which had been given a false provenance, restituted after litigation by the Guggenheim which had acquired it from the MoMA
  • Over Vitebsk (Chagall) which (also) had been owned by Alfred Flechtheim and which also had been given a false provenance, restituted secretly by the MoMa to the Matthiesen heirs in exchange for a $4 million payment, after initially refusing restitution on the grounds that repayment of a debt and not Nazis had been involved ("MoMA, in its records on its website, said the gallery had turned over the Chagall painting to a major German bank in 1934 “in exchange for debt"- NYT)
  • Sand Hills (Kirchner) which had been owned by Max Fischer and which had been given (sigh) a false provenance, restituted by the MoMa after the museum had initially refused mistakenly confusing the painting with another that had been seized from a German museum due to a sequence of errors


One notes in passing that all three of these artworks passed through both Feldhäusser and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and that all three had false provenances. 

Feldhäusser is a name that is hard to confuse with any other. Feldhäusser was a Nazi Party member. Feldhäusser is linked to both art seized from museums in the Nazi  "Degenerate Art" campaign of 1937-8 and looted from German Jews starting in 1933.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast, for the same artists, the historical treatment of the ownership history depending on whether the artwork was part of the "Degenerate Art" inventory of art seized from German museums or simply looted from Jews.




*The Allen Memorial Art Museum does not publish Nazi-era provenance for the artworks in its online collection with the exception of 30 artworks that were published in a slide show under "Provenance Research Nazi Era". One can find the Kirchner there. (see internet archive https://web.archive.org/web/20210813054133/https://amam.oberlin.edu/art/provenance-research/nazi-era



For more on Kurt Feldhäusser see:

Kurt Feldhäusser or Weyhe in provenance of artworks in American museums



May 26, 2021

Nazi Art Looting Networks: Adolf Wuester







Zoom on a few of the individuals in Adolf Wuester's network (according to the Art Looting Investigation Unit in 1946)

Abels Brothers, HermannCologne, Komoedienstrasse 26DealersSpecialists in 16th to 19th century painting and graphic arts
Bammann, HansDusseldorf, Blumenstrasse 11Dealer, drafted into the army in 1942 and transferred to the ERR in Paris in December 1943 at the request of Lohse and WuesterBelieved to have acted as agent for art purchases in France for museums of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aachen and Bonn
Breker, Prof ArnoStarnberg (Buchhof uber Pocha), BavariaCelebrated Nazi sculptor, often in Paris during the warTook part in arranging tour of French artists through Germany
Goepel, Dr ErhardLeipzig, Stieghtstrasse 76Official Linz agent and buyer in Holland under Posse and VossBought extensively in Holland and also travelled frequently in Belgium and France
Knothe, DrSecretary of the German Embassy, Paris and reported to have worked with Wuester on art matters for von Ribbentrop and possibly Goebbels
Kuetgens, Dr FelixAachen, Heinrichsallee 18Member of Kunstschutz, ParisMentioned as also in charge of Kunstschutz in Serbia and Greece
Loewenisch, AlbertCologne Paris, 8 ave Victor MasselPurchasing agent for the Gauleitung Dusseldorf-Koln-Aachen-Bonn, and one of the official representatives of German museums in FranceContact of Hermssen, Wuester, Weinmueller and Lange
May, Frau WismerZurich, Seefeldstrasse 90Colleague of Wuester in the art section of the German Embassy, ParisArdent Nazi and well connected in high Party circles
Mohnen, Wilhelm JacobGerman nationalCaptured in Rome, 5 February 1945, after taking refuge in the Vatican
Muthmann, DrDirector of Museum of KrefeldIn contact with Wuester, Paul Cailleux, Dr Kurt Martin and Dr Hopp
Pfannstiel, ArthurParisGerman painter and dealer, resident in Paris before the warMember of staff of ERR, Bordeaux and of GIS
Rademacher, Dr BernardBonnAssistant at the Landesmuseum, BonnAgent for art purchases in France
von WaldthausenIn charge of interior decoration of the German Embassy, Paris, 1940Assisted by Wuester, 1942
Wuester, AdolfBernau, Bavaria Bonn SchloeselPainter and amateur dealer, long-time pre-war resident of ParisChief agent in France for acquisition of works of art for Ribbentrop
BlotParisDealer, dealt with Wuester
Cailleux, PaulParis, 136 rue du Fbg St HonoreDealer in contact with Rochlitz, Wuester, Frau Dietrich, HaberstockKnew Lohse, who claims to have freed his wife from a concentration camp
Cloots, F GParis, 14 rue de l’AbbayeSmall dealer specialising in 17th century Dutch paintingIn contact with Wuester and Hofer
Gairac, GeorgesParis, 17 rue de SeineFrench art dealer who sold to Wuester and Bornheim
Gerard, Raphael Louis FelixParis, 4 ave de MessineDealt in confiscated pictures; main source of supply to Wuester and other German buyersIndicted by French Government (Seine Tribunal, Judge Frapier)
de Haucke, Cesar MongeParis, 14 rue du Cherche-MidiDealer active in Paris and New York before the warActive in Paris during the occupation; in contact with Wuester, Haberstock and Hofer; documentary evidence in Unit files
Kalebjian, IreneParis, 52 bis ave d’IenaSchenker documents indicate sales to German buyersOne of Wuester’s chief sources
Leegenhoek, M OParis, 1 rue de Rennes/230 blvd RaspailBelgian nationalProminent restorer and subsequent dealer who sold extensively to Hofer, Lohse, Wendland, Wuester, Dietrich, Haberstock, Miedl, Goepel and the great majority of important German purchasers
Mandl, VictorParis, 9 rue du BoetieGerman refugee dealer, formerly active in BerlinHighly important figure in German art purchases in Paris
Montag, CharlesSevres Meudon Val Fleury, 72 rue de ParisSwiss; naturalised FrenchArtist and dealer
Renand, GeorgesParis, 30 quai de BethuneSold to Ribbentrop through WuesterSchenker documents indicate sales to German buyers
Schmit, JeanParis, 22 rue de CharonneImportant antique dealer and decorating concernDealt with Bornheim, Angerer, Haberstock and other Germans brought to him by Wuester
Schoeller, AndreParis, 13 rue de TeheranWell known expert in French 19th century paintingPresident of the Art Editors Syndicate and appraiser for the Hotel Drouot
Toulinot (Toulino)Paris, 8 ave Victor MasselSmall dealerPartner of Loewenisch
de Trevise, DucParisPre-war sponsor and friend of Rochlitz and Wuester
Trotti, Count Rene AvogliParis, 1/88 rue de GrenelleWell known art dealer of Italian birth; in touch with many German art agents during the war, particularly Wuester, an old friendAlso did business with Haberstock
Wuester AdolfSee Germany
Raeber, Dr WilliBasle, St Albans Anlage 68Prominent art dealerVice president of the Swiss syndicate of art dealers and its most active member
Wendland, Dr HansVersoix/GenevaGerman nationalArt dealer, resident alternately in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany since World War I

For transcription of the Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report and the Red Flag list of Names see lootedart.com here.


Aug 20, 2020

Nazi looted art: deception by provenance authors


The scale of deceptive practices by art market professionals concerning Holocaust-related looted art is under-appreciated.

The web of complicity is tough to break through, and it is rather depressing to even try. 

However, inspired by recent events, we will in this next series of posts, attempt to highlight of few of the tricks used by various art market actors to disguise what they clearly suspect to be illicit origins.

In this first post, we revisit the El Greco, Portrait of a Gentleman, that was part of the Julius Priester collection before the Holocaust. 

ARCHIVED LINK

Jan 9, 2019

The Ultimate Art Looting Network: AGENTS OF HIGH PLACED NAZIS

Declassified in 2001, the "Agents of High Placed Nazis for Looting Works of Art " Source: NARA 1518815  


AGENTS OF HIGH PLACED NAZIS FOR LOOTING WORKS OF ART

Herr Adolf WÜSTER
Herr Gustav ROCHLITZ
Dr. VOSS
Dr. Kurt MARTIN
Andreas HOFER
Dr. HABERSTOCK
Dr. LOHSE
Dr. BUCHNER
Dr. Otto FÖRSTER
Herr BAHMANN
Dr. GURLITT
Dr. MÜHLMANN
Dr. GOEPEL
Prof. HERBST
Dr. R SCHOLZ
Herr APFELSTAEDT
Emil ZAUNKELMER

From Paris
Martin FABIANI
Roger DEQUOY
Alfred DABER
César de HAUCKE
? PETRIDES
Count Avogli TROTTI



Most of these names are familiar from the Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report and Red Flag List.  Several of these names also appear in provenances of artworks that are currently in public museums.

The ALIU singled out this "cluster" of individuals for particular attention. What was their position within the overall ALIU Red Flag Network? And how did it evolve in the aftermath of the war?

The ALIU Red Flag list presents a snapshot of the network (as they understood it) shortly before the OSS unit was dissolved. When happened next? And, in particular, after both the Munich and Wiesbaden Central Collecting Points were closed in August 1951?

Can we track the evolution of this cluster over time?

Paul Pétridès in 1946 ALIU Red Flag list


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Dequoy and Fabiani: 1946 Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report (Red Flag List of Names)

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Dr Hans Herbst : 1946 ALIU report
(note: as for the other networks above, the relations are taken from the mentions of Herbst in the bios of other Red Flag names.) 
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Nazi art looter Karl Haberstock had many, many contacts among art dealers and galleries

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This chart shows the links between several of the names on the "Agents of High Placed Nazis for Looting of Works of Art.
When there are so many names the graph becomes harder to read.  The table has 473 rows taken from the  1946 ALIU Report/
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In future posts, we will describe how we are formatting the ALIU Red Flag list for import into Fusion Tables so that anyone can replicate (and maybe improve) the graphs. 
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transcription of names from FOLD3 document https://www.fold3.com/image/270079420

about this document:

Roberts Commission - Protection of Historical Monuments

National Archives Catalog ID: 1518815
National Archives Catalog Title: London Files, compiled 1943 - 1945
Series:London Files
Category: London File- British Element CC (Bunjes Papers, Ect.)
Date Range:1943 - 1945
Publication Title:
Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943-1946
Content Source:
 The National Archives
Publication Number:
M1944
Content Source:
NARA
Source Publication Year:
2007
Language:
English, French, German
Country:
n/a
Footnote Job:
11-004
Footnote Publication Year:
2011
Record Group:
239
Short Description:
NARA M1944. Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, 1943-1946.
Roll:
0032

Declassified: April 23, 2001, Published 2007