German exhibition displays vast collection of Nazi looted art
The Bonn exhibition will showcase some 250 works of a reclusive collector including pieces likely stolen from former Jewish owners
Some 250 art works that a reclusive collector hid from the world for decades, including pieces likely looted from Jewish owners under Nazi rule, are going on show at a German museum.
The paintings being shown from Thursday at Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle are from the huge art collection hoarded by late collector Cornelius Gurlitt.
It includes works by Albrecht Duerer, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.
Authorities first stumbled on the art, stored in Mr Gurlitt’s Munich home, while investigating a tax case in 2012.
The exhibition focuses on works of art believed to have been taken from their mostly Jewish owners as part of Nazi persecution and on works whose provenance has not yet been established.
The Bonn show is part of a double exhibition titled Gurlitt: Status Report.
A parallel show in the Swiss capital Bern features some 200 works from the collector’s trove, mostly from artists who were defamed by the Nazis as “degenerate”.
The art on display in Bern includes expressionist works by artists such as Otto Dix and Franz Marc.
It is the first chance for the public to view any of the paintings and other works from the 1,500-piece collection that belonged to the estate of Mr Gurlitt’s father, the Nazi-era art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt.
The Bonn show, subtitled Nazi Art Theft And Its Consequences, aims to put the works into their historical context.
It tries to shed light on Hildebrand Gurlitt’s life and also focuses on the fate of Jewish artists, collectors and art dealers who fell victim to the Nazi regime.
The works cover a broad time span, from Lucas Cranach via Carl Spitzweg and Edgar Degas to Max Beckmann.
Among the highlights are Monet’s Waterloo Bridge and the marble sculpture Crouching Woman by Auguste Rodin.
Mr Gurlitt, who died in 2014, had hidden away more than 1,200 works in his Munich apartment and a further 250 or so at a property in Salzburg, Austria.
His will bequeathed the works to the museum in Bern. A German government-backed foundation is working with it to ensure that any pieces looted from Jewish owners are returned to their heirs.
That has been a slow and painstaking task. So far, experts have identified six works as definitely having been looted by the Nazis – the latest of them last month.
Researchers determined that the Portrait Of A Seated Young Woman by Thomas Couture belonged to Georges Mandel.
Mr Mandel, a Jewish French politician, was murdered in 1944. That piece is among those on show in Bonn.
The curator of the Bonn exhibit said that a lot of work still remains to be done regarding the provenance of much of the collection.
“The origin of more than 50% of the art pieces has not yet been solved,”Agnieszka Lulinska told the German news agency dpa.
The Bonn exhibition runs until March 11. The Bern exhibition runs until March 4.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
