Alfred Flechtheim Scandal at Museum of Modern Art - MoMA - Continues

I reported previously that the MoMA published a catalog called German Expressionism:The Graphic Impulse by Starr Figura that COMPLETELY eliminated mention of Alfred Flechtheim.

Image of Rudolph Belling's sculpture Portrait of Alfred Flechtheim (1927)

More on Alfred Flechtheim and MoMA's attempts to write him out of art history hereand here

MoMA has perpetrated the fiction that Alfred Flechtheim's gallery was not Aryanized in 1933 because MoMA wishes to shield its collection, particularly the items that were stolen from Alfred Flechtheim, from public scrutiny.   More information on the Nazi taking of Flechtheim's inventory here.

MoMA's website does not even show an image of Belling's Portrait of Alfred Flechtheim, and the MoMA has never told the story of Flechtheim's role as a Nazi persecutee story here.
But after the scandal of publishing the German Expressionism catalog that pretends Flechtheim does not exist, MoMA's website now shows 28 works that it claims were published by Alfred Flechtheim:

That's just completely ridiculous, MoMA's collection has many more works from Flechtheim's 1933 inventory.   As I argued here the provenance of Paul Klee's Pastorale shows that it was likely taken by the Nazi Alexander Voemel from Flechtheim in 1933.

Pastorale (Rhythms) (1927)
Paul Klee (German, born Switzerland. 1879-1940)

1927. Tempera on canvas mounted on wood, 27 1/4 x 20 5/8" (69.3 x 52.4 cm). Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund and exchange

Collection work meeting criteria specified in Introduction.

157.1945

Rudolf Probst (Galerie Neue Kunst Fides; Das Kunsthaus), Dresden/Mannheim. Until 1928

Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin and Düsseldorf, then in London. 1928 – at least 1930 [likely until Flechthem’s death, in March 1937]

(J. B. Neumann (Jsrael Ber Neumann), New York. 1930. Agent for Flechtheim)

(Alex Vömel, Dusseldorf. Former Flechtheim Gallery, became Alex Vömel Gallery from March 1933. [Likely on consignement from Flechtheim, 1933 – 1934])

James Mayor Gallery, London. [Brought to London by Flechtheim when he started to work for the Mayor Gallery, c. 1934.] 1934 – 1935

For sale during Paul Klee exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, 1935

(Paul Klee, Bern. Returned to him from above exhibition, unsold, 1935)

[Likely returned by Klee to Flechtheim in London]

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris. [Likely acquired/on consignment from Flechtheim] by 1937 - by 1939

Mrs. Stanley B. Resor, New York. By 1941

Nierendorf Gallery (Karl Nierendorf), New York (New York gallery opened in 1937). Acquired from Stanley B. Resor, by 1945

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired from Nierendorf through Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund and exchange, 1945

And astonishingly, after publishing a catalogue for a 2011 German Expressionism exhibition that pretends Flechtheim did not exist, MoMA's website now has the following:
Alfred Flechtheim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starr Figura, German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 2011

Alfred Flechtheim opened his gallery in 1913, with sponsorship from Paul Cassirer. Became known as the leading dealer in Germany for modern French art, much of it obtained through his friend Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, the eminent Parisian gallerist and German émigré. Despite his ambivalence toward contemporary German art, eventually also exhibited a select number of Expressionist, Bauhaus, and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) artists, including Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, George Grosz (under contract from 1925 to 1931), Paul Klee (whom he represented from 1927 to 1933), Oskar Kokoschka, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and August Macke. Published prints by Grosz, Else Lasker-Schüler, Ludwig Meidner, and many other now less familiar German artists. In 1921 began to issue the cosmopolitan art and culture periodical Der Querschnitt; three years later, sold it to the publishing house Propyläen. Highly successful, particularly in the postwar years, moved his primary operation to Berlin in 1921, and opened branches in Frankfurt and Cologne in 1922. A victim of Nazi anti-Semitism, was forced to emigrate in 1933, and died, impoverished, in London in 1937.

Selected Bibliography

Jentsch, Ralph. Alfred Flechtheim und George Grosz. Bonn: Weidle, 2008.

Peters, Hans Albert, and Stephan von Wiese, eds. Alfred Flechtheim, Sammler, Kunsthändler, Verleger. Exh. cat. Düsseldorf: Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, 1987.

Iris Schmeisser

So it looks like MoMA's website is trying to make it look as if Starr Figura, the one who wrote the catalog that eliminated any mention of Flechtheim, actually did include mention of Flechtheim, but MoMA hired Iris Schmeisser to write the Website's description of Flechtheim.

Alfred Flechtheim's influence on MoMA in its first year of existence was tremendous and remains undocumented by MoMA's pseudo-art historians.  Why doesn't MoMA acknowledge its intellectual and artistic debt to Flechtheim?   And what happens to someone who writes a catalog on German Expressionism who calls Flechtheim AMBIVALENT towards German contemporary art when indeed he was perhaps one of its greatest champions?

Just look at Rudolph Belling's portrait of Alfred Flechtheim, one of which he gave to Harvard to launch what became the Busch-Reisinger collection.   Does that reflect AMBIVALENCE toward German contemporary art?   Why is Belling's sculpture featuring Flechtheim's nose not front and center in the German Expressionism exhibit?

Where the hell is Flechtheim's nose?

Flechtheim's assistant, Curt Valentin, became a Nazi agent and sold massive quantities of Nazi-looted art onto the U.S. market.   Story here

The Belling sculpture of Flechtheim was a "gift" of Curt Valentin to MoMA:

Why won't MoMA photograph and exhibit this artwork?

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Art Litigation: June 30 CLE Presentation at Modern Restaurant at MoMA: How Long Do Victims of Nazi Spoliation Have To Get Their Art Back?

George Grosz' Portrait of the Poet Max-Hermann Neisse

Purchased from Charlotte Weidler through Curt Valentin

I hope that you can join me in a CLE presentation of Grosz v MoMA at the Modern Restaurant on June 30 (next Thursday) - the flyer is embedded below.

6-30-11 Emips Cle Lunch Flyer1 (3)

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US Supreme Court Cert Petition: U.S. Museums Betray The Holocaust Victims Redress Act of 1998

We recently filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the heirs of George Grosz in Grosz v. Museum of Modern Art, accessible by the link below.    The certiorari petition describes how in federal courts around the country, museums and holders of artworks taken from Nazi persecutees have successfully advanced doctrines of constructive notice that have eviscerated the right under state law to recover stolen property that Congress thought existed when it enacted the Holocaust Victims Redress Act of 1998.   As the cert petition shows, museums told Congress that state law remedies were sufficient for victims and their heirs to recover stolen artworks.    After 1998, with Congress off their backs, museums then argued to the courts that no remedies were available under state law to those who actually tried to reclaim artworks.   Several museums even retaliated against Jewish heirs by suing them.   By filing these pre-emptive strikes, museums successfully avoided scrutiny into the question of whether or not the art was stolen.  By leaving potentially looted artworks in our museums, such "quiet title" actions have stained our national conscience.

Unfortunately, very few voices have been heard to draw attention to this tremendous crime.   Media coverage is anecdotal.  Each time stolen artworks are uncovered in museum collections, the museums feign horror and surprise, but the reality is that in the high-tax Cold War years, laundering stolen art was a major function of the U.S. museum community.  We are all now paying for those Cold-war "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" policies.   A generation of wealthy Americans dodged taxes by flipping stolen property to museums, thus passing the societal cost of their misdeeds onto the backs of U.S. taxpayers.

In turning their backs on restitution of Nazi-looted artworks after 1998, American museums have betrayed our trust and have become international scofflaws.   This is a major problem and inconsistent with the traditions of common law under which no one can take good title from a thief.   It is also inconsistent with the traditions of equity, which do not unjustly enrich those with superior knowledge, such as the museums, that should have known better than to profit from the world's worst crime.  Everyone in the art community, thanks to U.S. government warnings starting in the 1940's, knew that acquiring an artwork of European provenance that entered the country after 1932 but was created before 1946 was a "red flag".   Art historians now pretend to have no knowledge of this and instead play a game of blaming the victims and waiting until enough people die or are discouraged so that they can assert the defense of laches.   While museums throw up endless new buildings, they claim they can't even afford to figure out what stolen art is in their collections.   And by refusing to share documents and publish provenances, they ensure that no one else can figure out the stolen property trail either.

American museums, having unclean hands, should not be heard to invoke equity.  American museums, which should be taking the lead in opposing Holocaust profiteering, have instead set up impenetrable legal defenses and hide the truth behind spurious claims of privilege.   This is both morally and legally untenable.  If U.S. museums don't do the right thing and show world leadership in returning the property of Holocaust victims, no one will.

Grosz v Moma Petition of Certiorari FINAL With Appendix 5.10.11


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Massive German Art Forgery Scandal - The Alfred Flechtheim Collection

Among those in the know, Alfred Flechtheim is considered perhaps the greatest contemporary art dealer in Germany's Weimar Republic.   He was Jewish, chased by the Nazis from his galleries in Berlin and Dusseldorf.   A Nazi named Alexander Voemel took over his galleries in 1933.  His gallery is still operating today.   An ad for Galerie Voemel brags of its legacy:

Die Galerie Vömel, mehr als ein halbes Jahrhundert in Düsseldorf ansässig, wurde von Alex Vömel - Geschäftsführer der legendären Galerie Flechtheim - gegründet und wird heute von seinem Sohn Edwin Vömel weiter geführt.

Vor einigen Jahren ist die Galerie in das alte Stadtpalais gegenüber vom Stadtmuseum in die Karlstadt umgesiedelt.
Die Galerie Vömel führt Arbeiten der klassischen Moderne, weiterhin ist sie spezialisiert auf Skulpturen und Arbeiten auf Papier des 20. Jahrhunderts.
Gezeigt werden regelmäßig Ausstellungen, welche mit Katalogen dokumentiert werden.


Shunned by his former friends, those who stole his art conveniently wrote him out of art history.   In a book called Boston Modern, art historian Judith Bookbinder credits Alfred Flechtheim with donating a Rudolph Belling sculpture of himself as being the foundation of Harvard's collection of modern German sculpture that turned into the Busch-Reisinger collection.

Flechtheim represented artists such as Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, George Braque, Andre Derain,  Paul Klee, George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, August Macke and many others.

Flechtheim was featured on Nazi anti-semitic posters as the symbol of International Bolshevist Jewry - More on Flechtheim's nose here.

When in 1933 Nazis started attacking modern art in anti-Semitic museum exhibitions, Flechtheim and his sales to German museums were attacked.  When the 1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition took place, the Nazis had a life-sized portrait of Flechtheim.

New York's Museum of Modern Art has many works from Alfred Flechtheim's 1933 inventory, but refuses to share the provenance documentation of these artworks with researchers.

A Swiss government report on MoMA's role in the Nazi looted art trade here.

Shockingly, MoMA's current exhibition catalog German Expressionism:  The Graphic Impulse, writtten by Starr Figura and Peter Jelavich, completely omits any mention of Flechtheim.

In a bitter irony, German prosecutors just arrested a group of forgers that created fake works that they claimed were from Flechtheim's inventory.  Article from German newspaper at the link below:

 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1641522.php/Forgers-charged-in-massive-alleged-Nazi-art-scam

Alfred Flechtheim's German-language Wikipedia page is here.  

Whether from ignorance, stupidity or venality, American museums and art historians seem to be determined to write Alfred Flechtheim out of art history.   It may be that the arrest and trial of this forgery ring in Germany will succeed in uncovering that which those Americans trafficking in and concealing Nazi-looted art would like to bury.

Not even one English-speaking Wikipedian will memorialize poor Flechtheim.

Browse my earlier posts on Alfred Flechtheim here.

A quote from Steven Litt's article  from Cleveland's Plain Dealer in 2003 below, full article here:

"Flechtheim was for the Nazi government, you can say, in art, public enemy No. 1," said Ottfried Dascher of Dortmund, a retired professor of history from the University of Bochum.

Today, Flechtheim is a hot topic in Germany, a nation trying to come to terms with its past. The art museum in Dusseldorf celebrated his life in an exhibition in 1987. His hometown of Munster renamed a street for him. And just last month, art dealers and historians, including Dascher, dedicated a plaque on the Berlin building where Flechtheim once lived.
"There is no week in which I don't get letters and e-mails from all over the world on this subject," Dascher said in a telephone interview.
One reason for the interest is that Flechtheim was part of a group of pioneering art dealers of German-Jewish heritage who were the first to champion the work of Picasso and other modern artists. Flechtheim was also part of the cultural renaissance of Weimar Germany, which brought forth the films of Fritz Lang, the music of Kurt Weill and the drama of Bertolt Brecht.


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Declassified Swiss Government Report Shows Traffic of Nazi Looted Art To Museum of Modern Art (Updated)

Link to image in St. Louis Commerce, full article here

A declassified Swiss government report written by former Pulitzer Foundation director Laurie Stein shows that Nazi looted art passed through Switzerland to arrive at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

As set forth in Laurie Stein's report, Curt Valentin, August Klipstein, and Karl Buchholz were key players in this traffic with Alfred Barr.   MoMA has "the highest concentration of degenerate art from Germany"..... Alfred Barr "did not shy away from buying confiscated art through American-based commercial dealers such as [Curt] Valentin."  (pp 11-12).

Hitler's Swiss Dealer - August Klipstein of Gutekunst & Klipstein, now Galerie Kornfeld

Laurie Stein just chaired a panel in Vienna on Alfred Flechtheim, one of the Weimar Republic's leading art dealers whose gallery was Aryanized by SA officer Alexander Voemel shortly after Hitler took power in 1933.   More on Alfred Flechtheim here, Picasso's Jewish Dealer here, Flechtheim's Nose here, Amicus brief in Grosz v MoMA here, Flechtheim's Portrait By Belling here, Museum directors should be prosecuted for concealing stolen art here .

American museums continue to resist inquiries into the stolen works in their collections.

For more, read below.
Stein Pyritz - Swiss Government Report



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Art Litigation: Alfred Flechtheim Panel in Austria To Discuss His Stolen Collection

Choyo Cactus aka "Jumping Choyo" on Dove Mountain

Below is a link to a presentation I gave in Tucson AZ on recent case developments in the federal courts on Nazi art looting.

Nazi Art Looting - Case Developments [Compatibility Mode]


Nazi art looting will be a major topic at an upcoming conference in Vienna Austria on March 23-25.  Details of the conference are here.

Austria has invited Laurie Stein to chair a presentation on Alfred Flechtheim.   

Alfred Flechtheim was a German Jewish art dealer whose art gallery was Aryanized.   Many works stolen from him are currently in museums around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Stein's report denying the Aryanization here

MoMA Expert Report Stein

The Museum of Modern Art refused to make its provenance documentaton relating to works from Alfred Flechtheim in its collection available to researchers working for the family of artist George Grosz.

More on Nazi Art Looting here.

More on Alfred Flechtheim here.

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Art Litigation: Vienna's Leopold Museum Pays $19 Million For Stolen Schiele Portrait of Wally

Some good reporting on Portrait of Wally from Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg:

Vienna's Leopold Museum Pays $19 Million to Keep Schiele Portrait of Lover - Bloomberg

Piece on Portrait of Wally in the Washington Examiner.

My latest news on Austria buying the stolen Schiele Portrait of Wally here.

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Art Litigation - Grosz v MoMA Amicus Curiae Brief on Nazi Spoliation

Jacob Hilsdorf 1910 photograph of Alfred Flechtheim

When artist George Grosz fled Nazi Germany in January 1933, he left his artworks in the care of Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim.   Flechtheim was the premier contemporary art dealer of the Weimar Republic.  You haven't heard his name before and no one in the United States has even cared enough to make a Wikipedia page for him in English, even though our museums are full of works that passed through his hands.   My earlier posts on him here .   Big article in Welt Online today on Flechtheim here.  Use Google Translate to read it if you don't read German, it predicts that the Flechtheim restitution litigation will be the biggest ever filed in Germany.

My firm represents the heirs of George Grosz in trying to obtain restitution of artworks Grosz left with Flechtheim's gallery in 1933.  Our complaint was dismissed pursuant to Rule 12 b 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as time-barred based on a settlement communication sent by MoMA Director Glenn Lowry to a representative of the Grosz Heirs, which the MoMA claimed, and the district judge accepted, to be a "refusal" for statute of limitations purposes under New York's demand and refusal rule.

I understand that MoMA made an informal presentation of its position to the NY City Bar Association's Art Law Committee, I am hopeful that we will receive equal time.

The Grosz Heirs appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the appeal is now pending.  An amicus brief was filed in support of our position, a list of the Amici and a copy of the brief below:

American Jewish Congress, Commission for Art Recovery; Filippa Marullo Anzalone, Yehuda Bauer, Michael J. Bazyler, Bernard Dov Beliak, Michael Berenbaum, Donald S. Burris, Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman, Talbert D’Alemberte, Marion F. Desmukh, Hedy Epstein, Hector Feliciano, Irving Greenberg, Grace Cohen Grossman, Marcia Sachs Littell, Hubert G. Locke, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Arthur R. Miller, Carol Rittner, John K. Roth, Lucille A. Roussin, William L. Shulman, Stephen D. Smith and Fritz Weinschenk, In Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants and Reversal


Grosz v MoMA Amicus Brief - Nazi Art Looting

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June 15 Cocktails and Dinner - Murder, Mystery and Egon Schiele's Dead City Dinner at the Harmonie Club NYC

 Egon Schiele's Dead City - Stolen from Fritz Grunbaum

Murder, Mystery and Egon Schiele's Dead City

Cocktails: 6:30 Dinner and Speaker to Follow

When:  Tuesday June 15, 2010

Where:  Harmonie Club

4 East 60th Street (212) 355-7400

Cost:  $150

NYS Medical Defense Bar Association $125

Payment:  Check to "New York State Medical Defense Bar Association"

RSVP  Andrew M. Neubardt

Rende, Ryan & Downes LLP

(914)  681-0444

aneubardt@rrd-law.com

In 1998 D.A. Robert Morgenthau created worldwide headlines when he entered the Museum of Modern Art and seized two stolen artworks, Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally and Egon Schiele's Dead City. After more than a decade, litigation surrounding both artworks is still raging, with Dead City at the center of an appeal to the first Holocaust-era art trial ever in a U.S. federal court. Ray Dowd of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP represents the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, the Jewish cabaret performer and owner of Dead City when he died in the Dachau Concentration Camp. He will take us on a visually-compelling tour of Nazi art looting and discuss its implications for U.S. museums today.

Praise for Murder, Mystery and Egon Schiele's Dead City

The program was outstanding and participants offered many positive comments on their evaluations, including the following: “Better than excellent; Hauntingly brilliant in every way! Extraordinary research and amazing cadence in relating it; Subtly spellbinding, no speaker more thorough!; Nice guy; Wonderful!; Fascinating; Very knowledgeable—impressive; Very interesting; Very well done, detailed explanation of subject.”


Mindy Blechman, Continuing Legal Education Director, Gratz College

The thoroughness with which you presented the diabolically methodical process that the Third Reich used to despoil Jews of their property kept the class riveted during your lecture. The horror of the Nazi art looting came to life for the audience as you presented the evidentiary issues and the legal problems associated with restitution litigation for holocaust victims and families. Since your presentation, many of the attendees have contacted me and commented on how astonished they were after your lecture. It is chilling to realize how methodical and relentless the Third Reich was in their pillaging operations.

Filippa Marullo Anzalone
Assoc. Dean, Boston College Law School

Ray's presentation was dynamic and deeply moving. He is an entertaining speaker, and supremely knowledgeable about Holocaust art recovery and the legal and ethical issues associated with this complex topic. He presented before a Bar Association audience of judges and lawyers in Cincinnati, and gave a second presentation at the Cincinnati Museum Center. His talk was compelling and very well received.

Michael Newman
Federal Bar Association, Vice President for the Sixth Circuit


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Alfred Flechtheim's Portrait By Rudolph Belling: Image Not Available at MoMA

The MoMA has not made an image of this bronze sculpture of Alfred Flechtheim available on the internet.  The sculpture was a 1950 gift of the Nazi agent Curt Valentin.   Aside from noting that the sculpture was a gift of Curt Valentin, no other provenance is given.

American museums agreed to publish images and provenances in 1998 to help Holocaust victims trace artworks.  Why has MoMA shirked this duty and no one complains?  Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn are on the Board of the MoMA - why have they not insisted on transparency on European works entering the U.S. after 1933 that were created before 1945?   Is there really no political will in this country to follow the Washington Principles?

There is not even an English-language Wikipedia page on Alfred Flechtheim, Germany's most important pre-war dealer in modern art.

Why has Flechtheim's image and history been obliterated?  Why have America's art historians and historians failed to honor Flechtheim's role in 20th Century art?   The artists of his time celebrated him, yet US art historians have not even granted him a footnote in history.

My earlier posts on Alfred Flechtheim here.

Above you see an essay in Italian by Konstantin Akinsha that you can find here called "Alfred Flechtheim's Nose:  Anti-Semitism and images of Nazi propaganda"

Above, from the Akinsha article, you see Alfred Flechtheim pictured with a cigar at the 1937 "Degenerate Art" Exhibition in Nuremberg, surrounded by the modern "degenerate art" that the Nazis hated.

The Nazis knew that Alfred Flechtheim was at the center of everything Jewish, modern and artistic that they hated.

So why has the MoMA and its confreres in the American Association of Museums obliterated Flechtheim's image from MoMA's website and his biography from the history of modern art?  Why do American art historians not discuss and celebrate his life and contributions and discuss the fabulous inventory that he had when his gallery was Aryanized by the Nazi Alexander Voemel in 1933?

Is there not one honest art historian working in an American museum today?  The damage Hitler caused in obliterating Jewish culture and contributions must be fought not by lawyers, but by art lovers and historians of good conscience who come forward and say enough is enough.  Pretending that Alfred Flechtheim did not exist is unacceptable.

Below, a beautiful work by Paul Klee that MoMA acquired in 1945.

Pastorale (Rhythms) (1927)


Paul Klee (German, born Switzerland. 1879-1940)
1927. Tempera on canvas mounted on wood, 27 1/4 x 20 5/8" (69.3 x 52.4 cm). Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund and exchange
Collection work meeting criteria specified in Introduction.

157.1945


Rudolf Probst (Galerie Neue Kunst Fides; Das Kunsthaus), Dresden/Mannheim. Until 1928


Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin and Düsseldorf, then in London. 1928 – at least 1930 [likely until Flechthem’s death, in March 1937]

(J. B. Neumann (Jsrael Ber Neumann), New York. 1930. Agent for Flechtheim)

(Alex Vömel, Dusseldorf. Former Flechtheim Gallery, became Alex Vömel Gallery from March 1933. [Likely on consignement from Flechtheim, 1933 – 1934])

James Mayor Gallery, London. [Brought to London by Flechtheim when he started to work for the Mayor Gallery, c. 1934.] 1934 – 1935

For sale during Paul Klee exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, 1935

(Paul Klee, Bern. Returned to him from above exhibition, unsold, 1935)

[Likely returned by Klee to Flechtheim in London]

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris. [Likely acquired/on consignment from Flechtheim] by 1937 - by 1939

Mrs. Stanley B. Resor, New York. By 1941

Nierendorf Gallery (Karl Nierendorf), New York (New York gallery opened in 1937). Acquired from Stanley B. Resor, by 1945

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired from Nierendorf through Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund and exchange, 1945

Request for Information: Where did MoMA Get This Paul Westheim Portrait by Otto Dix?

Can anyone tell us where the MoMA got this Portrait of Paul Westheim (1923) by Otto Dix?  Westheim was one of Germany's leading art critics, art dealers and an art collector whose collection was stolen during World War II while he was interned in French Concentration Camps.  According to scholars, Westheim spent the remainder of his life looking for the artworks that had been stolen from him by Charlotte Weidler.

MoMA won't reveal where it got this work from, so we'd appreciate any information on its provenance.  Another genius of 20th Century Art whose existence has practically been erased from the pages of history.

Below is what happens when you take Paul Westheim's Wikipedia page and hit "translate" from the German.

Paul Westheim Paul West home

aus Wikipedia, der freien Enzyklopädie From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wechseln zu: Navigation , Suche Jump to: navigation , search

Paul Westheim (* 7. August 1886 in Eschwege ; † 21. Dezember 1963 in Berlin ) war ein deutsch-jüdischer Kunstschriftsteller, Herausgeber und Kritiker. Paul West Home ( August 7 1886 in Eschwege , † December 21 1963 in Berlin ) was a German-Jewish art critic, editor and critic. Paul Westheim war mit der Übersetzerin und Dichterin Mariana Frenk-Westheim verheiratet. Paul West was home with the translator and poet Mariana Frenk-West home married.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Contents [Verbergen]

1 Studium und kulturhistorische Arbeit A cultural study and work
2 Flucht und Exil 2 Escape and Exile
3 Werke ( eine Auswahl ) 3 Works (selection)
4 Literatur 4 Literature
5 Weblinks 5 References
6 Einzelnachweise 6 References

Studium und kulturhistorische Arbeit [ Bearbeiten ] studies and cultural work [ edit ]

Er studierte Kunstgeschichte an der TH Darmstadt und der Universität Berlin . He studied art history at the TH Darmstadt and the University of Berlin . Während seiner Studienzeit war er Schüler von Heinrich Wölfflin und Wilhelm Worringer . During his studies he was a student of Heinrich Wolfflin and Worringer . Von 1917 bis 1933 gab er das Kunstblatt heraus, in dem er Beiträge der expressionistischen Maler Wilhelm Lehmbruck , Oskar Kokoschka , Otto Dix und Pablo Picasso veröffentlichte. From 1917 to 1933, he gave out the art sheet in which he reviews the expressionist painter Wilhelm Lehmbruck , Oskar Kokoschka , Otto Dix and Pablo Picasso published. Er gab darüber hinaus die Mappenwerke für Grafik Die Schaffenden , des Almanachs Europa und die Buchserie Orbis pictus heraus. He was also the portfolios for graphics, the creators, the almanac and the book series Orbis pictus out Europe. Paul Westheim verfasste zahlreiche grundlegende Monographien über die moderne Kunst des 20. Paul West wrote home many fundamental monographs on modern art from the 20th Jahrhunderts und sammelte selbst bedeutende Werke von George Grosz , Oskar Kokoschka , Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , Erich Heckel uva 1920 erschien seine Monographie über Oskar Kokoschka und 1931 Helden und Abenteurer . Century and gained even important works by George Grosz , Oskar Kokoschka , Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , Erich Heckel and others in 1920 appeared his monograph on Oskar Kokoschka and 1931 heroes and adventurers. Paul Westheim nutzte schon frühzeitig die modernen Kommunikationswege und wurde durch seine kunstkritischen Rundfunkbeiträge zu einem der führenden Kunstkritiker in Deutschland. Paul West, the home took advantage of early modern means of communication was through his art-critical radio review for one of the leading art critics in Germany. Er förderte junge Künstler durch Ausstellungen in seiner Berliner Galerie. He encouraged young artists through exhibitions in his Berlin gallery.

Flucht und Exil [ Bearbeiten ] Flight and exile [ edit ]

Auf Grund der politische Veränderungen nach 1933 emigrierte Westheim zunächst nach Frankreich . Due to the political changes after 1933 Westheim emigrated to France . Er musste seine Kunstsammlung zurücklassen, die er bei der befreundeten Charlotte Weidler versteckte. He had to leave his art collection, which he befriended at the Charlotte Weidler hidden. Er arbeitete für deutschsprachige Zeitungen und gab das Mitteilungsblatt des Freien Deutschen Künstlerbundes Freie Kunst und Literatur heraus. He was working for German newspapers and newsletter of the Free German artists were federal Liberal Arts and literature out of that. 1935 wurde Westheim die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft aberkannt. 1935 West home was stripped of German citizenship. Mit dem Kriegsbeginn des 2. With the start of the second war Weltkriegs wurde er jedoch sofort wegen seiner deutschen Herkunft inhaftiert. World War, he was quickly arrested because of his German origin. Er wurde in fünf verschiedenen französischen Internierungslagern festgehalten. He was held in five different French internment camps. Er selbst nannte ironisierend seine Gefangenschaft „seine Tour de France“. He called his imprisonment an ironic "his Tour de France". Durch einen glücklichen Zufall gelang ihm 1941 die Flucht aus einem Internierungslager, das Emergency Rescue Committee verhalf ihm zur Flucht aus Frankreich. By happy coincidence, in 1941 he succeeded in escaping from a detention center, the Emergency Rescue Committee helped him escape from France. 1941 erhielt der nunmehr fast erblindete Paul Westheim in Marseille ein Einreisevisum für Mexiko [1] . 1941 West home was the now almost blind Paul in Marseille for an entry visa for Mexico [1] . Er floh über Spanien und Portugal nach Mexiko. He fled through Spain and Portugal to Mexico.


1942 lernte Paul Westheim im Heinrich-Heine-Klub in Mexiko-Stadt die verwitwete Hispanistin Mariana Frenk kennen. 1942 West Paul got home in the Heinrich-Heine-club in Mexico City widowed Hispanistin Mariana Frenk know. 1959 heirateten beide. Both were married in 1959. Nach dem 2. After the second Weltkrieg verwehrten beide deutschen Staaten den als linksliberal eingestuften Paul Westheim die Remigration. World War denied both German states classified as left-liberal Paul West home, the re-migration. Charlotte Weidler brach 1945 den Kontakt zu ihm ab und verkaufte seine Sammlung. Charlotte Weidler in 1945 broke off contact with him and sold his collection. 1954 erhielt der bis dahin staatenlose Paul Westheim die mexikanische Staatsbürgerschaft . 1954, the then stateless until Paul West home, the Mexican citizenship . Paul Westheim verstarb während eines Besuchs 1963 in Berlin, der Stadt in der er nach eigenen Aussagen am liebsten gelebt hätte. Paul West, died during a visit home in 1963 in Berlin, the city where he had lived by his own statements at the most.

Westheim trat besonders für die Anerkennung des deutschen Expressionismus ein. West came home especially for the recognition of the German Expressionist one. Er veröffentlichte darüber hinaus Arbeiten über altmexikanische Kunst und indische Architektur. He also published works on ancient Mexican Indian art and architecture. Zu den bekanntesten Werken Paul Westheims gehören die Monographien über den deutschen expressionistischen Bildhauer Wilhelm Lehmbruck und den österreichischen expressionistischen Maler Oskar Kokoschka. The best-known works include the monographs Paul West home on the German expressionist sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck and the Austrian expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka. Große Anerkennung erfährt zudem das Lebenswerk Paul Westheims insbesondere in Mexiko. Great appreciation also learns the life work of Paul West home, particularly in Mexico.

Werke ( eine Auswahl ) [ Bearbeiten ] Works (a selection) [ edit ]

Der Tod in Mexiko . Death in Mexico. = la Calavera Müller & Kiepenheuer, Hanau/M. = La Calavera Müller & Kiepenheuer, Hanau / M. 1987, ISBN 3-7833-6400-0 . 1987, ISBN 3-7833-6400-0 .

Karton mit Säulen. Box with columns. Antifaschistische Kunstkritik . Anti-Fascist art criticism. Kiepenheuer, Leipzig 1985, 1. Kiepenheuer, Leipzig 1985, 1 Aufl. Ed

Kunstkritik aus dem Exil . Art Criticism from exile. Müller & Kiepenheuer, Hanau/M. Müller & Kiepenheuer, Hanau / M. 1985, ISBN 3-7833-6507-4 . 1985, ISBN 3-7833-6507-4 .

Heil Kadlatz. Kadlatz salvation. Der Lebensweg eines alten Kämpfers; Roman . The life of an ancient warrior, Roman. Rogner und Bernhard, München 1977, ISBN 3-8077-0083-8 Rogner and Bernhard, München 1977, ISBN 3-8077-0083-8

Die Kunst Alt-Mexikos . The art of old Mexico. Dumont, Köln 1966 Dumont, Cologne 1966

Otto Mueller. Otto Mueller. 1874-1934, Aquarelle, Kreiden, Lithographien . 1874-1934, watercolors, pastels, lithographs. Galerie Schwarzer, Hamburg 2004 (Repr. d. Ausg. 1954) Black Gallery, Hamburg 2004 (Repr ed d. 1954)

La calavera . La calavera. Übersetzung Mariana Frenk, Antigua Librería Robredo, Mexiko 1953 Translation Mariana Frenk, Antigua Librería Robredo, Mexico 1953

Arte antiguo de México . Arte antiguo de México. Übersetzung Mariana Frenk , Fondo de Cultura , Mexiko, Buenos Aires 1950, Neuauflage Económica Alianza Ed., Madrid 1988, ISBN 84-206-7067-7 Translation Mariana Frenk, Fondo de Cultura, Mexico, Buenos Aires 1950, new edition Económica Alianza Ed., Madrid 1988, ISBN 84-206-7067-7

"Innere Angelegenheit" . "Internal affair". Aufsatz in Warum schweigt die Welt? Hrsg Berthold Jacob , Mit Beitr. von Carl von Ossietzky ; Georg Bernhard ; W. Franck; Jack Iwo; Alfred Kantorowicz ; Rudolf Leonhard ; Paul Westheim, Editions du Phénix, Paris 1936 Essay in Why the world is silent? Eds Berthold Jacob , With contributions by Carl von Ossietzky , Georg Bernhard , W. Franck, Jack Iwo; Alfred Kantorowicz , Rudolf Leonhard , Paul West home, Editions du Phénix, Paris 1936

Rassenschande: Novelle . Racial shame: novella. Ed. Ed. du Phénix, Paris 1935 du Phénix, Paris 1935

Helden und Abenteurer: Welt u. Leben d. Künstler . Heroes and adventurers: the world and life d. artist. Verlag Reckendorf, Berlin 1930/1931 Publisher Reckendorf, Berlin 1930/1931

Für und wider: kritische Anmerkungen zur Kunst d. Gegenwart . For and against: critical comments on the art d. present. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1923 Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1923

Das Holzschnittbuch . The woodcut book. Kiepenheuer , Potsdam 1921, Reprint Rogner und Bernhard 1977 u. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2324-1 Kiepenheuer, Potsdam, 1921, edition Rogner and Bernhard in 1977 and Mann Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2324-1

Die Welt als Vorstellung: ein Weg zur Kunstanschauung . The world as representation: a way to view art. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1919 Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1919

Literatur [ Bearbeiten ] [ edit ] References

Walther Killy , Rudolf Vierhaus (Hrsg.): Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie . Walther Killy , Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Saur, München 1998, ISBN 3-598-23160-1 , S. 459. Saur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-598-23160-1 , p. 459th

Melissa Müller , Monika Tatzkow: Verlorene Bilder, verlorene Leben – Jüdische Sammler und was aus ihren Kunstwerken wurde . Melissa Mueller , Monika Tatzkow: Lost images of life lost - Jewish collectors and what became of her artworks. Elisabeth-Sandmann-Verlag, München, 2008, ISBN 978-3938045305 (zum Verbleib seiner bei Charlotte Weidler deponierten Sammlung). Elisabeth Sandmann Verlag, Munich, 2008, ISBN 978-3938045305 (for his whereabouts at Charlotte Weidler deposited library).

Rolf Tauscher: Literarische Satire des Exils gegen Nationalsozialismus und Hitlerdeutschland. Rolf Tauscher: Literary satire of exile against National Socialism and Hitler's Germany. Von FG Alexan bis Paul Westheim . FG Alexander and Paul West home. Verlag Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-86064-062-3 (zugleich Habilitations-Schrift, Universität Halle 1991). Verlag Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-86064-062-3 (also written habilitation, University Hall 1991). S. 86–89 (zu Rassenschande ), S. 132–136 (zu Heil Kadlatz! ). P. 86-89 (to racial shame), p. 132-136 (for healing Kadlatz!).

Weblinks [ Bearbeiten ] References [ edit ]

Literatur von und über Paul Westheim im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek ( Datensatz zu Paul Westheim • PICA-Datensatz • Apper-Personensuche ) Works by Paul West home in the catalog of the German National Library ( West home record to Paul • PICA-Record • apperceptive People Search )

Einzelnachweise [ Bearbeiten ] References [ edit ]

↑ siehe Artikel zum mexikanischen Konsul in Marseille Gilberto Bosques ↑ see article to the Mexican consul in Marseilles Gilberto Bosques

Normdaten : PND : 119291320 – weitere Informationen
LCCN : n 82089534
VIAF : 64034784 Standard data: PND : 119291320 - more info
LCCN : 82089534 n
VIAF : 64034784

Personendaten Retrieved

NAME NAME Westheim, Paul Home West, Paul

KURZBESCHREIBUNG Help Kunstschriftsteller und Kritiker Art writer and critic

GEBURTSDATUM Help 7. 7th August 1886 August 1886

GEBURTSORT People Eschwege Eschwege

STERBEDATUM Deaths 21. 21st Dezember 1963 December 1963

STERBEORT Deaths Berlin Berlin

Von „ http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Westheim “ Retrieved from " http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Westheim "

Kategorien : Autor
Literatur (20. Jahrhundert)
Bewegung Freies Deutschland
Literatur (Deutsch)
Deutschsprachiger Emigrant zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
Mann
Geboren 1886
Gestorben 1963
Eschwege Categories : Author
literature (20th century)
Free Germany Movement
literature (German)
German immigrants to the time of National Socialism
men
1886 births
1963 deaths
Eschwege

Cleveland Jewish News: Alfred Flechtheim Work At Center of Cleveland Museum of Art Nazi Art Looting Controversy

Fernand Léger (French, 1881 - 1955)

The Aviator Foreign title: L'aviateur
Medium: oil on canvas
Measurements: Framed: 90.48cm x 117.16cm x 7cm, Unframed: 65cm x 92cm
Date: 1920
1981.16
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund

Provenance D. H. Kahnweiler, Paris; Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin; Kofler-Herni coll.; (Galerie Beyeler, Basel); (Perls Galleries, New York)

Link to article on an upcoming May 11, 2010 panel on Nazi-art looting to take place at the Maltz Museum  in Cleveland Jewish News

Experts to discuss reclaiming Nazi-looted artworks

Cleveland Jewish News News Local

Many works from Alfred Flechtheim's 1933 inventory are at the MoMA in New York City.  MoMA won't disclose the provenance documents to show where the works came from.  Flechtheim was the most important contemporary art dealer in the Weimar Republic.  American art historians have entirely ignored him and the provenance folks related to the American Association of Museums have been criminally negligent in failing to document his role in the history of 20th Century art.

Otto Dix - Portrait of the Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim (1926)

Jules Pascin - Alfred Flechtheim as Toreador

Hans Bolz - Alfred Flechtheim - 1910

My earlier posts on Alfred Flechtheim here and here.

Art Litigation: American Association of Museums Should Be Prosecuted For Concealing Stolen Property

MoMA's Glenn Lowry - Asserting Statutes of Limitations Against Heirs of Nazi Persecutees and Getting Richly Compensated For It

On Friday, I attended a panel on the U.S. State Department's proposal to set up a U.S. Commission to deal with the problem of Nazi-looted art in U.S. museum collections.   More on the panel, Wrestling the Dead Hand of History organized by Prof. Jennifer Kreder here.

Amb. Stuart Eizenstat - Expressing Outrage

The atmosphere was one of unanimous outrage over the misbehavior of U.S. museums and their lack of adherence to the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art.  U.S. museums have taken to suing heirs of victims of Nazi persecution to avoid discovery and litigation "on the merits".   U.S. museums assert laches and statute of limitations defenses, knowing that it will damage international efforts to obtain recoveries of artworks from museum collections around the world.  If the U.S. is not going to support Jewish heirs, then who will?

The Jewish Claims Conference and Ronald Lauder's Commission for Art Recovery have asked U.S. museums to renounce the use of "technical" legal defenses such as laches and statutes of limitations as being unethical.   According to Lauder's lawyer Charles Goldstein, who signed the letter, the AAM and AAMD have not even bothered to respond to the request.   This is not the usual museum practice in dealing with a billionaire's lawyer.

In the postwar era, U.S. museums acquired tens of thousands of potentially-looted artworks. They've given virtually none of it back, have not properly researched their collections, and sit back hoping that the heirs of an exterminated population will never figure it out.   According to the museums, it is the job of the people who were murdered to finance and assert claims, after which, museums will decide whether or not to give the work back.

Museums claim that no one had any idea about the Holocaust when they acquired these artworks from the 1940's until today, often as donations, almost always without paperwork.   Since the severe Nazi persecution of Jews and the spoliation of their property was on the front page of every newspaper in the world starting in March 1933, the museums are engaging in a particularly pernicious form of Holocaust denial.

The custom and practice in the art world has always been to get documentation of the artwork's prior ownership and authenticity.  If you didn't get the paperwork, you were taking a risk that the property was stolen.   This practice has not changed, yet museums falsely claim that this is a recent development.  Wealthy Americans who bought European art at bargain prices without paperwork in the '40's, '50's and 60's knew darned well that they were probably buying stolen art.  Museum people always knew of the problem and were specifically and repeatedly warned in writing by the U.S. State Department in the 1940's and 1950's against acquiring artworks lacking paperwork.  Receiving stolen property has alway been a crime.


18 U.S.C. § 662 : US Code - Section 662: Receiving stolen property within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction

Whoever, within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, buys, receives, or conceals any money, goods, bank notes, or other thing which may be the subject of larceny, which has been feloniously taken, stolen, or embezzled, from any other person, knowing the same to have been so taken, stolen, or embezzled, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; but if the amount or value of thing so taken, stolen or embezzled does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

(Italics supplied).

U.S. museums that refuse to disclose the documents necessary to trace the true owners of artworks in their collections should be prosecuted and their directors jailed.

Alfred Flechtheim - U.S. Museums Will Not Reveal Provenance Documents Relating To His 1933 Inventory

Image Jacob Hilsdorf 1910 courtesy Wikipedia

U.S. museums have it backwards and should be trying to figure out whose stolen property they are holding.  It was heartwarming to hear Goldstein affirm that museums do not have a fiduciary duty to litigate all claims and defenses relating to the stolen art in their collections.

When will the AAM and AAMD respond?   And without Robert Morgenthau on the scene, who will keep the museums honest?

Audio Recording and Powerpoint of Nazi Art Looting Presentation at Yad Vashem

Egon Schiele's Self-Seers - Stolen from Fritz Grunbaum and Still Missing

Last week I gave a lecture at Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research in Jerusalem.   I dealt with the problems faced by attorneys who need to prove that the Holocaust happened and to prove that transactions involving Nazi persecutees during the period 1933-1945 were presumptively duress transactions.

If you would like to listen to my presentation, the link is here.   The Powerpoint presentation that illustrates the audio is here.  The invitation reproduced below.

The International Institute for Holocaust Research-Yad Vashem


cordially invites you to attend the lecture

Egon Schiele's Dead City

Current Issues In Nazi Art Looting and Recovery
Raymond Dowd, Esq.

Partner - Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP New York

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

10:00-12:00

Lecture Hall, Room 223, Administration and Research Building

Yad Vashem, Mount of Remembrance

In 1998, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau seized Egon Schiele's Dead City and Portrait of Wally at New York's Museum of Modern Art, creating a scandal that changed the legal landscape of Europe and the United States for victims of Nazi persecution and their survivors. Ray Dowd represents the heirs of Fritz Grunbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer murdered in the Dachau Concentration Camp. Fritz's wife Lily died in the Minsk Death Camp. Grunbaum's art collection surfaced in Switzerland in 1956 under disputed circumstances, and in the first Holocaust-era art recovery trial in U.S. history, Bakalar v. Vavra, the District Court found that passing the artwork through Switzerland gave it clean title. The case is on appeal. Many of Fritz's artworks are in the Leopold Museum and the Albertina Museum in Austria. In over ten years, Austria has not even bothered to respond to the heirs' claims.

Berlin Court Returns Poster Collection to Jewish Heir

A Berlin administrative court has ruled in favor of Peter Sachs, an heir of a victim of Nazi art looting. Article here.

The decision requires the German History Museum to return thousands of posters, including one of Simplicissimus's Red Bulldog.

According to the Kulturkampf blog:

Simplicissimus was a German magazine that began in 1896 and ran until 1967. It was characterized by a sharp, satirical style that was enhanced by its stylish imagery. The paper's mascot, the red bulldog by Thomas Theodore Heine, is an almost iconic image, and its original is at MoMA in New York.

It is good to see the anti-fascist bulldog's return to its Jewish owner after so many years.

Austrian Jewish comedian Fritz Grunbaum founded an antifascist political cabaret called Simplicissimus in Vienna. When Hitler invaded Austria on March 12, 1938, Grunbaum was arrested by the Gestapo and put in the first transport to Auschwitz. Today the Vienna cabaret is known as Kabarett Simpl.

Simple justice can take a long, long time.