100 JAHRE VORBEI. DER ERSTE WELTKRIEG IN BILDERN VON DIX & PECHSTEIN. (100 YEARS ON. IMAGES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR BY DIX & PECHSTEIN.)

In his book about his father, Yves Buchheim, the son of Lothar-Günther Buchheim, describes a visit to Cornelius Gurlitt and the resulting purchase of portfolios, books, drawings and watercolors by Otto Dix. In doing so, he places the acquisition of "Der Krieg", Dix’s portfolios of prints published in 1924, firmly under the suspicion of being looted art. The questions that the Buchheim Museum is asking itself about the origin of its collection, combined with this publicly discussed suspicion, have prompted in-depth research into the provenance of "Der Krieg" by Otto Dix. Piece number 41/70 is kept in the museum’s holdings complete with the five portfolios and text sheets, as well as the 75 etchings. These portfolios, together with the 25 watercolors that make up "Sommeschlacht" (1917) by Max Pechstein, are due to be presented in the exhibition "100 Jahre vorbei!" (100 years on!). This is the reason why this series was also included in the short-term project.

Like most private collections, the Buchheim Museum has no inventory books or acquisition books; only a few invoices or other purchase documents have been located in the archive so far. Consequently, both series' origins and dates of acquisition are currently unknown. The aim of the short-term project is to clarify ownership between 1933 and 1945.

© Buchheim Museum der Phantasie