Preparation of a study to assess the value of Prof. F. Winkler’s private diaries as source material

Born in Prehna, Germany, in 1888, art historian Friedrich Winkler (1888–1965) became the director of the Berlin Museum Library in 1915 in the era of Wilhelm von Bode. In 1933, he was appointed head of the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin following the death of the former director, Elfried Bock. Winkler held this position until 1950. He was subsequently responsible for the Museum’s collection in Dahlem, West Berlin, until 1957.

Between 1906 and 1961, Winkler kept private diaries, which are still in the possession of his family to this day. An extensive set of these diaries is available for the years 1933 to 1945. They mainly contain notes on exhibition, publication and lecture preparations and research, and on evaluations, visits and acquisitions of artworks. There are also many names, including those of antiquarian art bookshops, galleries and art dealers (e.g. Boerner, Lepke, Commeter, Perl, Haberstock), and collectors (e.g. Purrmann, Thyssen, Roselius, De la Gardie). In a three-month project, the diary entries for the years 1934, 1937, 1938 and 1943, which are all written in Sütterlin script—a historical form of German handwriting—are to be examined as examples with the aim of checking and assessing their value as source material for general provenance research. The work includes examining whether they contain any provenance information or clues regarding the origins of identifiable artworks. Researchers will also look at the kinds of details that were recorded about art dealers, private collectors and museum staff, and their networks. The findings of the investigation will be presented in a detailed report.

As a result of the project, the diaries are now kept in the holdings of the central archive of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, where they are available to researchers and scholars. Future research could focus on the art trade network, the Berlin museums in the Third Reich, and also on Friedrich Winkler himself.

© Doris Kachel