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Wolfgang Gurlitt

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Wolfgang Gurlitt; portrait by Lovis Corinth

Wolfgang Gurlitt (15 February 1888 – 26 March 1965) was a German art dealer, museum director and publisher whose art collection included Nazi-looted art.

Family and friends

He was grandson of the painter Louis Gurlitt, and son of the art dealer Fritz Gurlitt, founder of the Fritz Gurlitt Gallery, which he had taken over in 1907 and reopened after First World War, and cousin to the Nazi's art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt. At the same time he worked as a publisher. A friend of Alfred Kubin and Oskar Kokoschka, he was one of the first gallery owners in Germany to exhibit the work of artists such as Lovis Corinth, Leon Dabo, Henri Matisse and Max Slevogt. Already in the early years of the business he ran into financial difficulties and had to take out loans several times. He was known to have "unsound business practices". In 1925 he was unable to repay debts of 50,000 dollars and had instead to hand over artworks which had been offered as collateral for the loans. In 1932 he filed for bankruptcy. Although many customers had lost money and he was unable to pay his debts, in particular his tax liabilities, he continued to work in the art business.

The Berlin Regional Director of the Reich Chamber of Visual Arts, Artur Schmidt, successfully intervened several times on Gurlitt's behalf and reduced the amount demanded by the creditors, while Gurlitt ran his affairs in the name of his divorced first wife Julia. He also managed to conceal his partial Jewish descent until 1938, while other members of his family had already had to emigrate. In 1940 however the Gestapo were charged with an investigation of his case. In particular his Jewish lover and business partner Lilly Agoston, as well as his earlier business connections, aroused the distrust of the Nazis.

Matisse Exhibition, 1914

In July 1914, Henri Matisse had an exhibition at the Gurlitt gallery, for which Michael and Sarah Stein, Americans living in Paris and brother and sister-in-law of Gertrude Stein, had lent nineteen paintings from their collection. (Flam, 1995, pp. 229). The pictures were lost in the first days of World War I "and subsequently confiscated, or threatened with confiscation", but "they survived intact never returned to Paris, resurfacing after complex and protracted negotiations in private hands in Copenhagen (where can be seen today in the Statens Museum for Kunst)." (Spurling, 2003).

The Nazi Era

Wolfgang Gurlitt, cousin of Hitler's art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, was a close contact of the director of the Hitler Führermuseum, Hermann Voss. Wolfgang was investigated for Nazi art looting in 1946, along with other members of the Gurlitt family. Provenance research undertaken by the Lentos Art Museum has established conclusively that numerous artworks from Wolfgang Gurlitt's art collection, which he sold to the museum, had been looted by Nazis from Jewish collectors. The museum undertook provenance research to establish the origins and ownership history of the collection and the city of Linz created a dedicated provenance working group in 2007. As of 2019, 64 works of art had been investigated, of which 13 paintings were found to have been looted art. Artworks from Wolfgang Gurlitt's collection restituted to the families of the Jewish collectors plundered by the Nazis include:

  • 1999: Lesser Ury, Die Näherin (Inv. no. 138)
  • 2003: Egon Schiele, Stadt am Fluss (Inv. no. 13) restituted to the heirs of Daisy Hellmann
  • 2009: Gustav Klimt, Damenbildnis (Inv. no. 149) restituted to the heirs of Aranka Munk
  • 2011: Wilhelm Trübner, Bildnis Carl Schuh (Inv. no. 104) Settlement with the heirs of Harry Fuld
  • 2012: 6 paintings by Anton Romako: Mädchen mit aufgestütztem Arm (Tochter des Künstlers), 1875, Inv. no. 10; Der Zweikampf (Kämpfende Ritter), Inv. no. 81; Zigeunerlager, Inv. no. 83; Mädchen mit Früchten, um 1875, Inv. no. 103; Ungarische Puszta (Strohschober in Bálványos), about1880, Inv. no. 104; Bildnis Karl Schwach, 1854, Inv. no. 145 restituted to the heirs of Oskar und Malvine Reichel (on loan to the Lentos)
  • 2015: Lovis Corinth, Othello (Der Mohr), 1894, (Inv. Nr. 23) and Lovis Corinth, Schwabing (Blick aus dem Atelierfenster), 1891, (Inv. Nr. 24) restituted to the heirs of Jean and Ida Baer
  • 2015: Emil Nolde, Maiwiese (Maienwiese) , 1915, (Inv. Nr. 94) restituted to the heirs of Dr. Otto Siegfried Julius

The Postwar Era

After the Second World War Wolfgang Gurlitt remained in Austria - possibly to avoid his past catching up with him. In 1946 he was involved already in negotiations about a gallery of modern art in Linz. A majority of the exhibits were to originate from Gurlitt's collection, with artistic direction being entrusted to Gurlitt himself. There was a provisional opening in 1947, with the actual opening taking place in 1948.

Gurlitt organised exciting exhibitions; first he presented the work of Kubins, and following this a Kokoschka exhibition. In 1952 there was a notable exhibition of graphic art under the motto "No More War!".

Gurlitt also profited in Austria from his skilful dealings with the occupying powers. Already in 1946 he changed citizenship. He received travel and transportation facilities as well as rapid access to his bank accounts which had at first been closed.

Despite numerous conflicts with the trustees of the museum Gurlitt was by January 1956 director of the new gallery in Linz. Again the outcome was major financial difficulties. This may have been the primary reason that the greater part of the Gurlitt collection was transferred in 1953 to the city of Linz. However, the provenance of many of the works was uncertain, which made them worth less in the negotiations. Further discrepancies - Gurlitt did not separate his interests as collection director and art dealer clearly enough - finally led to him being asked to resign and his name being removed from the Gallery name (at that time, New Gallery of the City of Linz, Wolfgang Gurlitt Museum). Three years later however he went to court to have the old name restored.

The composer Manfred Gurlitt was his stepbrother, and was a cousin of the musicologist Wilibald Gurlitt.

See also

References

  1. "PROVENANCE RESEARCH AT THE LENTOS KUNSTMUSEUM LINZ Interim Report October 2019" (PDF). www.lentos.at. Lentos Art Museum. Retrieved 2021-06-06. To date, 64 works of art have been investigated, with the focus of the investigation being on the Gurlitt Collection. On the basis of this research 13 paintings have been restituted so far
  2. Dittmar, Peter (2013-11-04). "Raubkunst: Die Gurlitts, ein deutscher Kunsthändler-Clan". DIE WELT. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  3. "Nazi art stash, including a Monet, linked to The Monuments Men mine". The Independent. 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2021-06-07. Hildebrand's cousin, Wolfgang Gurlitt, was also active on behalf of Hitler in acquiring artworks
  4. Schuster, Walter. "Spoils of War: Special Edition International Conference "Database assisted documentation of lost cultural assets - Requirements, tendencies and forms of co-operation" Research and documentation of provenance of the "Gurlitt Collection" of the City of Linz /" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-20. art dealer Gurlitt was repeatedly said to have had unsound business practices
  5. "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  6. "Page 115 Ardelia Hall Collection: Munich Administrative Records, Investigations: Göring-Gurlitt, NARA 3725274". Fold3. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  7. "Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - WOLFGANG GURLITT. FAIRY PRINCE". www.lentos.at. Retrieved 2021-06-06. The life and activities of the art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt (1888–1965) are closely intertwined with the beginnings of the LENTOS Kunstmuseum: for the museum, the Gurlitt Collection is a legacy that is as brilliant as it is problematic. The exhibition casts light on the turbulent life of the passionate collector and controversial art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt, who was involved in deals with looted art during the National Socialist era. Having been made honorary director of the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz (today: LENTOS Kunstmuseum) in 1946, he put on more than a hundred exhibitions. In 1952/53 the City of Linz acquired what was to become the core of the new museum's collection – 84 paintings, 33 drawings and a Kubin collection – works Gurlitt had managed to protect from the ravages of war. Since 1999, Linz has restituted thirteen works from the Gurlitt collection to the lawful heirs of their pre-War Jewish owners
  8. "Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - Provenance research". www.lentos.at. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  9. "Austrian exhibition to reveal story of Wolfgang Gurlitt, art dealer for the Nazis turned museum director". www.theartnewspaper.com. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2021-06-06. Wolfgang Gurlitt (centre), a dealer in Nazi-looted art who acquired works for Hitler's unrealised museum in Linz, Austria, reinvented himself after the Second World War as the director of the city's art gallery
  10. "Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - Provenance research". www.lentos.at. Retrieved 2021-06-06. The systematic scrutiny of the holdings of the LENTOS and/or of its predecessor institution, the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, has been going on since 1998. In 1999, the City of Linz published a first comprehensive report compiled by the head of the City Archives, Dr. Walter Schuster, on the Sammlung Gurlitt, the Gurlitt Collection, which originally formed the core of the Museum's holdings. A working group for provenance research was established by the mayor and the city's chief executive director in 2007 to focus the process. The group is assisted by the internationally acknowledged expert in provenance research in the context of museums and public institutions, Dr Vanessa-Maria Voigt (Germany), and headed by the LENTOS's artistic director, Stella Rollig. Its chief focus, in addition to more topical provenance queries, is systematic research into the provenance of works acquired by the City of Linz from the Gurlitt Collection.
  11. "Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - Provenance research" (PDF). www.lentos.at. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  12. Artdaily. "Sotheby's to Sell Restituted Masterpiece by Egon Schiele". artdaily.cc. Retrieved 2021-06-06. The painting was originally part of the collection of Wilhelm (Willy) and Daisy Hellmann of Vienna. Willy was a textile magnate and his wife, Daisy, was a member of one of the most important families of art patrons in Vienna in the first quarter of the 20th century. The Hellmanns bought Landscape at Krumau directly from Schiele, who was a personal friend, soon after it was painted. The work hung in the Hellmann's apartment until October 1938 when it was seized by the Nazis and put up for sale in Vienna in 1942. It was bought by Wolfgang Gurlitt who sold it to the Neue Galerie in Linz in January 1953, where it has been on public display until its restitution earlier this year.
  13. "Heirs of Nazi victim to sell restituted Klimt". Reuters. 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2021-06-06. Last year, the Austrian city of Linz recommended that the work up for sale be transferred from its Lentos gallery to Aranka Munk's descendants. It cited the findings of an independent expert, Sophie Lillie, who confirmed the painting had been seized from Munk by the Nazis after she was deported to a concentration camp where she died in 1941. Vienna lawyer Alfred Noll applied in 2007 for the return of the painting, which made its way into Linz's collection from an art dealer after World War Two.
  14. "Linz restitutes Nazi Looted Art Again" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-06.
  15. "Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz - Provenance research". www.lentos.at. Archived from the original on 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  16. "Austrian exhibition to reveal story of Wolfgang Gurlitt, art dealer for the Nazis turned museum director". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2024-01-28.

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