| Page 3 of 3 < |
Heirs of Jewish Art Collectors Pursue Works Sold in Nazi Era
"Berlin Street Scene," by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, spent decades in Berlin but was returned in 2006 to the granddaughter of Jewish art collector Alfred Hess.
(By Jan Bauer -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Jochen Ludwig, director of the Freiburg museum, declined to comment on whether his institution attempted to do any more research on the ownership history of "Max John" or if the work should be returned to Ute Glaser. "As far as I can recall, no demands were made for any action," he said. "Even if I could recall more, I would first need to consult our legal department."
Another painting once owned by Fritz Glaser, "Harbor Scene," by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee, was in possession of a Munich museum, the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Records establish that Glaser bought the watercolor in 1921. But what happened to it over the next half-century remains a mystery.
Officials from the Munich museum said the next citation of the Klee painting came in 1968, when it was listed as part of the collection of Theodor and Woty Werner, two artists who themselves had run afoul of the Nazis as practitioners of "degenerate art." The Munich museum acquired "Harbor Scene" from the Werners in 1971.
In an April 2006 letter, Munich museum officials informed Glaser that they would try to clear up the painting's provenance, but were "skeptical" they would be able to do so. Glaser and her lawyer haven't heard from them since.
Carla Schulz-Hoffmann, deputy general director of the Bavarian State Collection of Paintings, which owns the Klee work, declined requests for an interview. In a statement, she said the painting's ownership history before 1968 "cannot be determined from the documents we have at our disposal."
Ute Glaser's efforts stalled. Then, in late November, she found another clue in her late husband's files: a wartime letter addressed to him by his father.
The letter, believed to have been written in 1941, confirms that Fritz Glaser was still in possession of "Max John" and another Dix painting at that point and hints that he was under dire financial pressure to unload them. "We are in negotiations on a sale of two artistically very significant, but representationally very unattractive Dix paintings," Glaser wrote. "Hopefully, it will work out."
"Horrid, horrid this devastation of the German cities," he added, in an accurate prediction of what was to come. "All of us here fear that the day will come for Dresden, too."
