Erasing Jewish owners from provenance: Martha Liebermann

 

Martha Liebermann committed suicide the day before her planned deportation by the #Nazis to the Theresienstadt Ghetto

Her heirs list this portrait of her daughter Käte by her husband Max on Lost Art.

You would not know this from the #NGA's #provenance.https://t.co/5JY2Clrb0b pic.twitter.com/q0xVQLhDkb

— Open Art Data | @openartdata.bsky.social (@OpenLinkArtData) July 9, 2024

Graupe in provenance texts of American museums

The Paul Graupe auction house was a key player in sales of Jewish art collections during the Nazi-era.

In this post, we look at a selection of  88 artworks in American museums that mention "Graupe" in the provenance text.

 Some texts refer to sales prior to 1933. Some texts specify that an artwork was NOT sold at Graupe's. And some texts clearly refer to sales at Graupe's during the Nazi era. Some texts are factual while others contain speculative language.

Provenances for Chagall at the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland?

 How are Swiss museums progressing on Nazi-era provenances?

A search for Marc Chagall at the Kunstmuseum Basel.

• Marc Chagall
• • Ma fiancée aux gants noirs, 1909
• Öl auf Leinwand
• 87.4 x 64.4 cm
• Kunstmuseum Basel, mit einem Beitrag von Dr. h.c. Richard Doetsch-Benziger erworben 1950
• Inv. 2239

Provenienz

spätestens 1920 – Datum unbekanntHerbert von Garvens-Garvensburg (1908–1953), Hannover
1926Alfred Flechtheim (1878–1937), Berlin (in Kommission?)
Datum unbekannt – ca. 1930Christoph Bernoulli (1897–1981), Basel
ca. 1930 – 1950Eduard Freiherr von der Heydt (1882–1964), Ascona, angekauft bei Christoph Bernoulli
1950 – heuteKunstmuseum Basel, angekauft bei Eduard von der Heydt

Reportedly found in - a sampling of interesting provenances

What does "reportedly found in" mean when it appears in a provenance text for an artworks or antiquity?

Below are a few sample texts.

(Texts published by museums are indicated by color.)

Erasing Jewish collectors' names from Nazi looted art: Alfred Weinberger

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 In 2009, Sotheby's put up for sale this Renoir entitled DEUX FEMMES DANS UN JARDIN with the following provenance.

PROVENANCE

Soutro Gallery, London
Sale: Christie's, London, June 24, 1997, lot 284
Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 3, 2005, lot 114)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

https://web.archive.org/web/20181204232353/https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.177.html/2009/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-n08547

No mention of Alfred Weinberger, who had owned the Renoir until a Nazi looting organization seized it in Paris on December 4, 1941.

The above is one of the most typical provenance types that conceals Nazi-looted art.