German officials said on Wednesday they had returned to its rightful owners the last of 14 works of art unambiguously confirmed to have been looted by the Nazis.
Culture Minister Monika Grütters said all of the pieces identified in a report earlier this year as stolen by the Nazis had now been returned. The artwork comes from a collection owned by the now-deceased Munich retiree Cornelius Gurlitt – the son of a Nazi-era art dealer – which surfaced 8 years ago.
The most recent work to be returned is “Klavierspiel” (Playing the Piano), a drawing by the German artist Carl Spitzweg. It was passed on to the Christie’s auction house as per the wishes of the heirs of the Jewish music publisher Henri Hinrichsen, murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz in 1942.
The handover was organized with the Museum of Fine Arts Bern, which inherited the collection upon Gurlitt’s death in 2014.
Grütters said it was “an important signal” that all works identified so far as looted works of art had been returned to the heirs of their owners.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Carl Spitzweg, playing the piano, ca. 1840
This drawing by Carl Spitzweg was seized in 1939 from the Jewish music publisher Heinri Hinrichsen, who was killed at the Auschwitz death camp in 1942. It was acquired by the Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt – and later found among the spectacular collection of works preserved by his son, Cornelius Gurlitt. The work has now been turned over to Christie’s auction house at the request of Hinrichsen’s heirs.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Max Beckmann, Zandvoort Beach Café, 1934
The watercolor by Jewish painter Max Beckmann did not enter Gurlitt’s collection until 1945. Held by the Allied occupation forces at the Wiesbaden collection center from 1945 to 1950, it was returned to Hildebrand Gurlitt in 1950 Prior to working for the Nazi regime, Gurlitt had collected and exhibited modern art, organizing Beckmann’s last exhibition in 1936 before the artist fled Germany.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Otto Griebel, veiled woman, 1926
This work belonged to lawyer and art collector Fritz Salo Glaser. The artists of the avant-garde Dresden scene were his guests in the 1920s – as was the young Hildebrand Gurlitt. It is not known how Gurlitt came to own the painting. It was confiscated in 1945 and returned later. Of Jewish heritage, Glaser barely avoided deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1945.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, 1903
This painting by the famous impressionist is not suspected of having been looted. The artist sold it to the Durand Ruel Gallery in 1907. Jewish art dealer and publisher Paul Cassirer reportedly gave it to Marie Gurlitt as a gift, and she left it to her son Hildebrand Gurlitt in 1923.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Thomas Couture, Portrait of a Young Woman Seated, 1850
A short handwritten note enabled researchers to identify this work by the French painter as a looted work of art. The photo was entered in the collection of Jewish politician and resistance leader Georges Mandel, who was executed by French fascists near Paris in 1944. German Minister of Culture Monika Grütters (right) handed the job over to the Mandel’s heirs in January 2019.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Paul Signac, Quai de Clichy, 1887
The activist group Provenance Research Gurlitt identified this painting by French neo-impressionist Paul Signac as stolen Jewish property in October 2018. Gaston Prosper Levy fled Nazi-occupied France in 1940. Occupying soldiers reportedly looted his collection of art shortly before his escape. The painting was returned to Levy’s family in 2019.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Auguste Rodin, Crouching Woman, approx. 1882
Hildebrand Gurlitt must have acquired this work from the French sculptor between 1940 and 1945. Previously owned by the Frenchman Eugène Rudier, it entered circulation in 1919 at an auction by Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau, who would have received it as a gift from the artist.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
In Gurlitt’s apartment
Cornelius Gurlitt has preserved the sculpture and many other works of art for decades in his Munich apartment. Prior to his death in 2014, he consented to have his inventory investigated and – if they include stolen art objects – returned to their rightful owners in accordance with the Washington Principles on Art Looted by the Nazis.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Albrecht Dürer, Knight, Death and Devil, 1513
This copper engraving by Albrecht Dürer once belonged to the Falkeisen-Huber Gallery in Basel. It is not known how he got there or how long he was there. In 2012, the engraving appeared in the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt. “Old masters” like Dürer were very important to the National Socialists’ vision of art and were often exploited for propaganda purposes.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Edvard Munch, Ashes II, 1899
The provenance of this drawing is completely unknown. It is certain, however, that Hitler considered the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch to be “degenerate art”. Some 82 pieces by Munch were confiscated from German museums in 1937.
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Gurlitt Collection: Germany’s most infamous art treasure looted by the Nazis
Francois Boucher, male nude, undated
Hitler venerated 18th century French painting. He obtained outstanding paintings for his own collection targeting the Rothschild family collection after the annexation of Austria. Hildebrand Gurlitt supplemented them with drawings by renowned French painters. He acquired this work by Boucher from a Parisian art dealer in 1942.
Author: Julia Hitz
“Behind each of these images hides a human and tragic fate like that of the victim of Auschwitz, Dr Henri Hinrichsen,” she said in a statement.
“We cannot compensate for this grave suffering, but we are trying with the assessment of the looting of Nazi art to make a contribution to historical justice and to assume our moral responsibility.
Grütters stressed that Germany has a lasting commitment to continue the assessment and provenance research of works of art.
How works of art appeared after decades
Recluse Cornelius Gurlitt, who died in 2014, had hidden more than 1,200 works in his Munich apartment, plus around 250 more found at a property on the outskirts of the Austrian city of Salzburg. He inherited much of the collection from his father, a Nazi-era art dealer. Officials first discovered his art collection during an investigation into a tax case in 2012.
Authorities seized some 1,500 pieces in all, including works by notable artists such as Picasso, Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse.
The discovery of the treasure, kept secret until the following year, made headlines around the world and reignited a debate about how Germany had worked hard to reconcile the art looted by the Nazi regime with its rightful owners.
In his will, Gurlitt bequeathed the works to a Swiss museum, the Kunstmuseum Bern. However, a German government-backed foundation worked with the museum to ensure that any pieces looted from Jewish owners were returned.
The relatively small number of works returned in recent years has been attributed to the careful and gradual process of developing ownership of each piece.
The restitution process has been criticized by many heirs and activists as being too slow. According to them, this case underlines the permanent need for in-depth research on the provenance of works conserved more generally in museum and private collections.
rc / dj (TBEN, TBEN, dpa, KNA)
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