Provenance research on the Haubrich Collection

From the 1920s onward, the Cologne lawyer Josef Haubrich systematically compiled a collection of modern art. Haubrich was a firm believer in the quality of this art and also acquired quite a number of works in the years between 1933 and 1945. He donated his collection to the city of Cologne in 1946 and—with the aid of the municipal Haubrich Fund and in conjunction with Leopold Reidemeister, the director of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum—he continued to expand it up until his death in 1961. The collection was incorporated into Museum Ludwig in 1976. Today it is one of the main focal points of the collection.

The project funded by the Bureau for Provenance Research involved an investigation into the provenance of 144 paintings and sculptures which had come into Museum Ludwig via Josef Haubrich. The project was also designed to help obtain a more precise picture of the character and importance of the collector and donor Josef Haubrich and anchor this in its historical context.

Dorothee Grafahrend-Gohmert, who conducted the project for Museum Ludwig, was able to rule out confiscation as a result of Nazi persecution for 97 works. For 53 works, it was not possible to fully clarify their provenance without gaps. These were mostly sculptures, which appeared in large numbers and could not be explicitly identified. These works are now under special observation. It is hoped that their provenance will be clarified in the future.

The results of the project were published in August 2012 in the volume “Meisterwerke der Moderne. Die Sammlung Haubrich im Museum Ludwig”. They are also mentioned on the signs in the gallery and can be viewed online in the Museum Ludwig database (www.kulturelles-erbe-koeln.de).

(c) Museum Ludwig