Showing posts with label art market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art market. Show all posts

Apr 30, 2022

Tracking Nazi-looted art dealers: Restitutions as data


What can we learn by analyzing the provenances of artworks which have been restituted to the heirs of Jewish art collectors persecuted by the Nazis?

Patterns. Repetition. Familiar faces. 

Those art dealers who just keep "popping up".

In this post we see what we can learn from the provenance published by auctions houses which have been authorized to sell previously looted art AFTER it has been restituted to the families.

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.


Dec 15, 2020

Loebl in the Kleinberger archives

 


Network described in the 1946 OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Final Report Red Flag List of Names: Ali (Allen) Loebl and Bruno Lohse

https://www.lootedart.com/MVI3RM469661

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The OSS ALIU Reports on Nazi looting networks in Europe put Allen Loebl at the center of a syndicate of art dealers trading Nazi looted art. Loebl appears in the Red Flag Name index and is mentioned in the Final report fourteen times. The ALIU investigators who drafted the Final Report specified that Loebl had close ties to Bruno Lohse, a notorious Nazi art plunderer. 

At the very least, the mention of Loebl in a provenance from the Nazi era (1933-1945) should mobilise provenance researchers and Holocaust researchers to trace the full history of the artwork in question and to verify whether the artwork belonged to a Jewish collector or dealer who was persecuted when Hitler came to power.  

In this context, the publication of the Kleinberger Archives represents a major step forward

https://cdm16028.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll23/search/searchterm/loebl

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It was chiefly through LOEBL that LOHSE became familiar with the Paris art trade, and became acquainted with such other dealers and Victor MANDEL, PERDOUX and ENGEL, who operated as an informal syndicate. (See Consolidated Interrogation Report No. 3, "German Methods of Acquisition, " Dealers.)


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The Kleinberger archives are now online. 

Searching is fast and easy. Results show all the mentions, as well as the artists and more. 

Below is the result of a simple search for Loebl, (cousin of Kleinberger president Harry Sperling and a Red Flag Name for his involvement in selling Nazi looted art).

https://cdm16028.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll23/search/searchterm/loebl




The artists concerned by these transactions (according to the website) include:




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The Kleinberger Archives offer new possibilities for research.


note: Under Harry Sperling, the president of Kleinberger and Allen Loebl's cousin, the Kleinberger art dealership got up to all kinds of tricky business. 


Sperling deserves a serious investigative biography that takes into account his art dealing, smuggling, and intelligence-related activities, which are attested in numerous documents.

This new resource, which makes it possible to quickly search through the Kleinberger files, should help researchers who want to shed like on these transactions.