Systematic provenance research into the acquisitions made by the Leopold Hoesch Museum between 1946 and 1968 / Systematic provenance research into the acquisitions made by the Leopold Hoesch Museum from 1933

Are there any cultural assets among the works of art acquired by Leopold Hoesch Museum (LHM) between 1946 and 1980 that were confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, and is it true that the two works for which restitution requests have been submitted are cases of looted art? At the beginning of the project, it emerged that the investigation period clearly had to be extended: what items did the museum acquire in the period from 1933 to 1945 and what was the composition of the pre-war collection?

The aim of the project was to conduct systematic research into the provenance of paintings, sculptures, pastels, watercolours, hand drawings, prints, photograph, etc. and to undertake scholarly documentation of the results.

2,040 items were to be analysed, including legacy items which found their way into the collection after 1933 and are still available. By August 2017, an examination had been conducted of 1,754 objects (111 paintings, 11 sculptures, 1,628 works on paper) plus a 'bundle' of some 500 historical photographs (a total of 2,254 items including the latter). The paintings in the collection were examined first, while investigation of the graphics collection began in February 2016. The latter was completed in August 2017, though a remaining 286 objects were not subjected to a more detailed examination: the prints in question primarily consist of acquisitions from the pre-war collection that have no provenance features and whose origin is unknown, as well as works by regional artists who had close links with the museum. This collection contains: 1. A large number of prints dating from the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century which are print reproductions of well-known works from the history of Western European art and were intended for art education in the museum and at schools in Düren (these are not original artistic prints); 2. Drawings and prints by artists who were not persecuted by the Nazis and who are now either forgotten or only of regional significance.

A review was carried out of the entire private graphics collection of Düren painter and collector Hans Beckers (497 objects), purchased between 1951 and 1961, as well as of 717 objects acquired by the LHM and the museum association Museumsverein Düren between 1933 and 1980, and also the purchase of 118 prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in 1942 and some 300 peep-box pictures between 1936 and 1940.

There are a total of seven restitution cases, and one restitution request that was not granted. These concern 181 items (two paintings and 179 prints). At the beginning of the project, priority was attached to two restitution requests (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Frauen auf der Straße [Women in the street], pastel, possibly from the collection of Prof. Dr. Curt Glaser, Berlin; Heinrich Campendonk, Bild mit Tieren [Picture with animals], oil/canvas, Alfred/Hans Hess Collection, Erfurt). Both restitution requests relate to the works of art acquired after 1945. In addition, the following cases of restitution were also dealt with for which the heirs or descendants were sought and negotiations for a just and fair solution were begun: 1. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Ostsee [Baltic Sea], oil/canvas, Hugo Benario Collection, Berlin; 2. Wenzel Hollar, Jahreszeiten als Straßburger Ansichten [The seasons as views of Strasbourg], four etchings, Theodor Apel Collection, Ermlitz; 3. Nicolaus Berchem, Die Furt, Contreepreuve [The ford, contre-épreuve], Regina Weiss Collection, Ansbach; 4. Adolph Menzel, three woodcuts, Clara Kirstein Collection, Leipzig; 5. Adolph Menzel, 69 prints, Ludwig Ginsberg Collection; 6. 102 prints and hand drawings (Honoré Daumier, Thomas Rowlandson, Max Slevogt and others), Eduard Fuchs Collection, Berlin.

Founded in 1905 and sponsored by the museum association and the municipality of Düren, the LHM was badly damaged in air raids in 1944. Much of its collection was destroyed or has since been lost. Following the re-establishment of the Düren museum association in 1949, the art collection was restored by means of new acquisitions, donations and gifts, and an Expressionist collection in particular was assembled. Among the approximately 50 art dealers, galleries and auction houses with whom the LHM worked in the pre-war and post-war period were dealers who are known to have traded in cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution: Hermann Abels / Cologne, C. G. Boerner Düsseldorf / formerly Leipzig, Karl Buchholz / Berlin, Günther Franke / Berlin, Wilhelm Grosshennig / Düsseldorf, Hildebrand Gurlitt Düsseldorf / Hamburg, Hella Nebelung, Düsseldorf, Dr. Hans Helmut Klihm / Munich, Wilhelm Koeberlin / Munich, Alexander Vömel / Düsseldorf.

From 1934 onwards, groups of works and 'more extensive collections of copperplate engravings' were acquired for the graphics collection at auctions held at auction houses that included Max Perl / Berlin, C. G. Boerner / Leipzig, and Karl & Faber / Munich. Looted art was identified both in these and in Beckers’ graphics collection.

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