If artworks could speak they would tell you what Nazis did to these art collectors

"Dr Lillie has explained the Kafkaesque system for the confiscation of goods, which usually worked like this. When a Jew applied to emigrate, in theory only 25% of his goods went to the State. An inventory was submitted and the Zentralstelle für Denkmalschutz decided which works of art were of national importance and these were “made secure”, ie; confiscated. It was rare, however, for what was left to be reunited with the owner, who had usually already fled to an unknown destination. Instead, it sat in Nazi-owned warehouses, which sold the goods to pay the “storage charges” that the owner obviously could not cover." 

- A portrait, person by person, item by item, of a society wiped out

Anna Somers Cocks, 1 July 2004 The Art Newspaper, Book review of Sophie Lillie's Was Einmal War

Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten, Kunstsammlungen Wiens (Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2003) 1,440 pp, 354 b/w ills, €69 (hb), ISBN 3707600491

"This important book gives a full documentation for the Jewish art collectors of Vienna whose goods and lives were targeted by the Nazis"

Austrian Jewish art collectors who were dispossessed by the Nazis 

 Leon and Marianne Abramowicz,

 Bernhard Altmann,

 Hans and Helene Amon,

 Otto and Clara Anninger,

 Gustav Arens,

 Fritz and Anna Unger, 

Felix and Lise Haas,

 Carl and Rosa Askonas,

 Stefan Auspitz,

 Theodor and Angela Auspitz-Artenegg,

 Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt,

 Richard and Paula Beer-Hofmann,

 Ernst and Irma Benedikt,

 Ludwig Bettelheim-Gabillon,

 Rudolf and Martha Bittmann,

 Josef and Gusti Blauhorn, 

Hugo and Malvine Blitz,

 Wilhelm and Gertrude Blitz,

 Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer,

 Victor and Alice Blum, 

Oscar Bondy (fled to Switzerland, died in NY in 1944)

 Julius and Paula Breuer, 

Otto and Lilly Brill,

 Julius and Margarethe Buchstab,

 Paul and Mary Cahn-Speyer,

 Edwin and Caroline Czeczowiczka,

 Arthur and Irma Czeczowiczka, 

Georg Duschinsky, 

Ernst and Fanny Egger, 

Lothar and Eveline Egger-Möllwald, 

Alfred and Valerie Eisler,

 Hermann and Hortense Eissler,

 Berta Morelli,

 Hans and Lucie Engel,

 Viktor and Emilie Ephrussi,Charlotte Epstein,

 Rudolf Ernst,

 Gertrud Felsöványi,

 Adele Fischel,

 Josef Freund,

 Wilhelm Freund,

 Hugo and Hilde Friedmann,

 Hermann and Elsa Gall,

 Paul and Martha Gerngross,

 Robert and Frida Gerngross,

 Emil Geyer,

 David and Lilly Goldmann,

 Philipp, Cornelia and Marie Gomperz,

 Fritz and Lilly Grünbaum,

 Karl and Stephanie Grünwald,

 Rudolf and Marianne Gutmann,

 Leo and Helene Hecht,

 Valerie Heissfeld,

 Wilhelm and Daisy Hellmann,

 Franz and Marie Louise Herzberg,

 Fritz and Gertrud Hirsch,

 Ernst and Martha Hirsch,

 Adolf and Hilda Hochstim, 

Franz Josef and Vally Honig,

 Josef Franz and Hermin Hupka,

 Bruno Jellinek,

 Otto and Fanny Kallir-Nirenstein,

 Siegfried and Irma Kantor,

 Emil and Helene Karpeles-Schenker,

 Irma Ketschendorf,

 Benedikt and Emilie Klapholz,

 Norbert and Serafine Klinger,

 Isidor and Camilla Kohn,

 Nettie Königstein,

 Felix Kornfeld

Gottlieb and Mathilde Kraus

Wilhelm Viktor and Marianne Krausz,

 Hans Krüger,

 Moriz and Elsa Kuffner,

 Stephan Kuffner,

 Wilhelm and Camilla Kuffner,

 Adele Kulka,

 Wally Kulka,

 Oscar L. Ladner,

 Richard and Anna Lanyi,

 Georg and Hermine Lasus,

 August and Serena Lederer,

 Rosa Lemberger,

 Mathilde Lieben,

 Leon and Antonie Lilienfeld,

 Markus and Melanie Lindenbaum

, Fritz and Helene Löhner

, Arthur and Marianne Lourié,

 Wilhelm and Fanny Löw,

 Oscar and Irma Löwenstein,

 Alma Mahler-Werfel,

 Fritz Mandl,

 Stephan and Else Mautner,

 Edmund and Adele Mendelsohn,

 Franz Mendelsohn,

 Alice Meyszner,

 Max and Hertha Morgenstern,

 Aranka Munk,

 Oskar and Therese Neumann,

 Richard and Alice Neumann,

 Gabriele Oppenheimer,

 Ignatz and Gisela Pick,

 Moric and Irma Pick,

 Otto and Katharina Pick,

 Ernst and Gisela Pollack,

 Albert Pollak,

 Robert and Adele Pollak,

 Leopold Popper-Podhragy,

 Ernst and Ilse Popper-Podhragy, 

Arthur and Agnes Prager,

 Julius and Camilla Priester,

 Leo Prister,

 Alfred Quittner,

 Amalie Redlich,

 Anton and Marie Redlich,

 Paul and Therese Regenstreif,

 Oskar and Malvine Reichel,

 Arnim and Rosa Reichmann,

 Heinrich Reif,

 Andreas and Luise Reisinger,

 Franz and Anna Riedl,

 Heinrich and Berta Rieger, (Heinrich died in Theresienstadt camp in 1942)

Max Roden and Sascha Kronburg,

 Heinrich and Ella Rothberger,

 Moriz Rothberger,

 Alphonse and Clarice Rothschild,

 Louis Rothschild,

 Franz Rothschild,

 Franz Ruhmann,

 Emma Schiff-Suvero,

 Gustav and Louise Schoenberg,

 Ludwig and Gertrude Schüller,

 Eduard and Gisela Schweinburg,

 Arnold and Margit Löffler,

 Elkan and Abraham Silberman,

 Josef and Louise Simon,

 Marianne Singer, 

Alfred and Irmgard Sonnenfeld,

 Valentine Springer,

 Jenny Steiner,

 Klara Steiner,

 Paul and Nora Stiasny

, Georg Terramare and Erni Terrel,

 Alfons and Marie Thorsch,

 Siegfried and Antonia Trebitsch,

 Alexander and Irma Weiner,

 Leopold Weinstein

,Josefine Winter,

 Paul Wittgenstein,

 Fritz and Annie Wolff-Knize,

 Frank and Mary Wooster,

 Alexander and Luise Zemlinsky,

 Paul Zsolnay,

 Fritz and Trude Zuckerkandl

Philadelphia Museum of Art and the philanthropist donor Gallatin

Portrait of A. E. Gallatin, I905

A claim for restitution has been made against the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the return of "Composition with Blue" by Piet Mondrian, 1926. The artwork was seized by the Nazi authorities in 1937 and, after passing through Buchholz and Valentin, sold to the American collector Albert Eugene Gallatin, who bequeathed it to the PMA upon his death in 1952. (see below for description and provenance published by PMA on its website*)

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is battling a federal action that lays claim to a 1926 painting by Dutch artist Piet Mondria under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act. The suit, which was removed to Pennsylvania Eastern District Court on Tuesday, was filed by the Tucker Law Group and Kaye Spiegler PLLC on behalf of the trustees of the Elizabeth McManus Holtzman Irrevocable Trust. The Museum is represented by Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads; Hahn Loeser & Parks; and Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick. The case is 2:22-cv-00122, Holtzman et al v. Philadelphia Museum Of Art.

An obvious question is whether any other artworks passed through the same hands. Are there any issues or gaps in their Nazi-era provenances that require further research?

Below are some of the artworks donated by A. E. Gallatin or that passed through his hands on their journey to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For research purposes only. 

Williams College Museum of Art does not publish provenance but does publish Credit Line

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Why does the Williams College Museum of Art still not publish provenance?

That is a question that deserves to be asked by students of art history.

While waiting for the ownership history of artwork to become available for the WCMA, we look at the Credit Lines of artworks acquired after 1933 and created before 1945.

The source of the raw data is the WCMA Github.

Historical Art Market Networks: interesting publications with useful information

WAR BUSINESS, CAPITAL AND ART HOUSE: The emergence of the Emil Bührle Collection in a historical context

excerpt: "Emil Bührle benefited not only from the opportunities before and during the war that resulted from the dissolution and expropriation of Jewish collections, but also from the reorganization of the international art market in the postwar period, which was partly a result of these persecutions. In fact, 9 of the 14 major galleries from which Bührle acquired most of his artworks in Zurich, London, Paris, and New York were owned by Jews who had fled Nazi Germany, Austria, or occupied Western Europe."

-  KRIEGSGESCHÄFTE, KAPITAL UND KUNSTHAUS: Die Entstehung der Sammlung Emil Bührle im historischen Kontext (excerpt translated from German with Deepl)

 I'd like to draw the attention of readers to two extremely interesting publications out of Switzerland.

• From the seminar on social and economic history at the University of Zurich led by Professor Dr. Matthieu Leimgruber:

* KRIEGSGESCHÄFTE, KAPITAL UND KUNSTHAUS: Die Entstehung der Sammlung Emil Bührle im historischen Kontext

Forschungsbericht zuhanden des Präsidialdepartements der Stadt Zürich und der Direktion der Justiz und des Innern des Kantons Zürich

Universität Zürich, Historisches Seminar Forschungsstelle für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte Lehrstuhl Prof. Dr. Matthieu Leimgruber

Forschungsteam: Cécile Amstad (2017–2019), Dr. Lea Haller (2017–2018), Dr. Erich Keller (2018–2020)

 

(published in German) 

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• From the University of Lausanne, SNF SINERGIA research project «Local power structures» https://wp.unil.ch/sinergia-elites

Art, finance, and elite networks: The Presidents of the Zurich Art Society (Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft), 1890-2021

Stéphanie Ginalskia, Matthieu Leimgruberb, Juliette Montandona & Emilie Widmera

Lausanne & Zürich, May 2021

Contents

 Dynastic continuity versus «palace revolution»?......................................2 

A timeline of ZKG Presidents, 1890-2021 .................................................3 

1890-1922 – Welcome to the Heimplatz. 

Amateurs, artists, and notables in the early years of the ZKG....................4 

1922-1975 – The rise of the «financial praetorians». 

The ZKG as platform for financiers and art collectors................................4 

1975-2021– The «financial praetorians» and the consolidation of the 

Zurich cultural «Standort»...........................................................................5 

Biographical profiles...................................................................................6

 

(published in English) 

The Paris art dealer who sold the looted work to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum was François Heim

1. How did Jacopo Zucchi's  “The Bath of Bathsheba” get from Italy to Connecticut where it hung at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum in Hartford from 1965, until it was "restituted" to the Italians?*

Who was the "Paris dealer" who sold the looted painting to the Wadsworth museum?

Plundered art: a perspective from the Holocaust Art Restitution Project tells the story - and the story of the story.

see: 

21 August 2011 Jacopo Zucchi, “The Bath of Bathsheba”: or how pieces of a story build a new story about the same story ex post facto

2. What other artworks were sold to museums by François Heim?

Triptych of Madonna and Child with Angels, LACMA M.69.54

According to the Getty Provenance Index records, Triptych with the Madonna and Child with Saints (Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.69.54) was acquired by LACMA from François Heim in 1969.