Acquisitions after 1933. Systematic inventory review at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe

A comprehensive and fundamental need for research at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG) has been highlighted by the provenance research projects funded to date, the investigation completed in 2012 into the provenance of the Philipp F. Reemtsma Asian collection, and research carried out into accessions from the art trading companies belonging to the Margraf & Co. art trading group.

This applies in particular to the approximately 600 acquisitions made during the core Nazi period and the accessions of the late 1940s and 1950s, when numerous private collections compiled during the Nazi era were broken up again as a result of a change of generation, with the items subsequently re-entering the art market. Potential suspected cases have been identified in the course of research to date.

As a matter of principle, all artefacts in the MKG collection that date back to before 1945 and were traded after 1933 must be checked for their provenance. Case-by-case decisions are made regarding any necessary or sensible restrictions on this policy in relation to individual objects or groups of objects due to the fact that they are to be categorised as mass-produced goods based on their immediate utility value or because they are specimens of barely verifiable edition art.

The museum wishes to fulfil its historical responsibility and carry out systematic research into the collection, as became mandatory with the signing of the Washington Agreement, and it intends to continue this process in the coming years.

Numerous proofs of provenance have been obtained for the MKG in connection with the provenance research projects carried out to date, A total of 184 accessions are now considered satisfactory. However, analysis of the inventory, accession and storage registers and research into the museum’s archives demonstrate the need for fundamental and systematic research. This will be followed up on in the years to come by means of continuous research into the collection and its accession history.

Provenance research carried out to date has resulted in identification of a portfolio of very varied accessions. These shed light on the history of the museum and its collection during the Nazi era, but also beyond this period. The MKG has presented these research findings since 2014 in the exhibition Raubkunst? Provenienzforschung in den Sammlungen des MKG” [Looted Art? Provenance research in the collections of the MKG]. Due to the positive response, the museum decided at the beginning of 2016 that this exhibition would remain on display until further notice.

The latest research findings will also be presented in the two central foyer showcases in future. Since research into the Bremen art collector and dealer Johannes Jantzen (1887-1972) was completed in December 2015, the MKG has displayed objects purchased by the museum from his collection. A wall text provides the necessary background information, explaining how Jantzen came to collaborate with the Nazi regime as an art dealer.

In the permanent display collection, artefacts that are currently the subject of research will continue to be marked with a red triangle to indicate that their provenance and history have been investigated. Since the exhibition was set up in autumn 2014, research has been carried out into the works of art in the possession of the Sultans, a Jewish family from Berlin, and the Jewish silver confiscated in 1939. There are 3,100 silver objects of this provenance in the MKG collection. Some items were added to the display collection after the 1960s without their provenance being labelled, and research was carried out into these silver items. In the newly fitted Art Nouveau-style room, the silver previously owned by Jewish citizens is now labelled to indicate its provenance. The world religions have been assigned a permanent place in the MKG’s display collection. In memory of the persecution and dispossession of Jews in Hamburg, a display case dedicated to Judaism shows silver confiscated in 1939.

In February 2016, the MKG organised a symposium on the topic “Silver formerly owned by Jewish citizens – how do museums deal with it?” In the concluding panel discussion, there was a clear vote in favour of continuing research and exhibiting the confiscated silver items so as to be able to tell the story of Jewish life under the Nazi regime based on these objects.

© Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe