Provenance Research on Drawings Acquired Between 1933 and 1945 in the Holdings of the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München

Since March 1, 2023, the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München has been systematically researching the provenance of hand drawings acquired between 1933 and 1945. The project is planned to run for two years and is funded by the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation) and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.

Otto Weigmann (1873-1940), Director of the Collection from 1918 to 1937, was a convinced National Socialist, a member of the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (Militant League for German Culture) and the Stahlhelm WW1 veterans’ organization, forcing Jewish members out of the Collection’s Society of Friends. Under him and his successor, Alfred Seyler (1880-1950), some 1,130 drawings were added to the Collection. Works of “degenerate art” acquired before 1933 were seized by the Confiscation Commission in August 1937.

The records documenting the acquisitions made by the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München were largely lost during the war. Inventories containing rudimentary information on the acquisitions have been preserved. As a matter of priority, some 680 inventory numbers are to be examined; according to preliminary assessments, the remaining drawings originate from unproblematic sources. Numerous acquisitions already offer initial grounds for suspicion, such as purchases from Ferdinand Möller in Berlin, C.G. Boerner in Leipzig, Käthe Thäter (“Aryanization” of Ludwigs Galerie Otto H. Nathan) as well as the art dealers Eugen Brüschwiler or Galerie Ernst Arnold (owned by Ludwig Wilhelm Gutbier) in Munich. Purchases, particularly in the 1940s, from the Munich auction house Adolf Weinmüller or from the still largely unexplored art dealer Wilhelm Koeberlin in Munich are deemed critical.

Any looted art that might exist is to be identified and, where possible, restituted to its rightful owners. All works identified as looted art and all those with unclear provenance will be listed at www.lostart.de.

© Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München.