Showing posts with label museum transparency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label museum transparency. Show all posts

Nov 7, 2024

The Grosz was acquired from...

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.