Systematic provenance research at the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and Städtische Galerie Frankfurt

In the wake of the Washington Principles and the Joint Declaration , the Städel Museum was one of the first museums in Germany to begin researching the history of the acquisitions made for its collection during the National Socialist era. It also started to systematically explore the provenance of the painting collections created after 1932 and before 1946. The archival indexing of the Städel files from the Nazi era that had been carried out in 2001 by art historian and provenance researcher Nicole Roth on behalf of the city of Frankfurt am Main was of major importance for the examination of the origin of the artworks in question. It was this previous work that made a targeted investigation of the provenance of the paintings possible in the first place. Of approx. 900 paintings in the holdings of the Städtische Galerie and Städelsches Kunstinstitut whose provenance needed to be checked, around half have been dealt with to date. At the same time as this ongoing project, the Städel Museum’s administration department and directorate decided in 2008 to have the history of the institution during the National Socialist era investigated by an independent team of experts in collaboration with the “Degenerate Art” research office (Universität Hamburg) led by Prof. Uwe Fleckner. In 2011, the research findings were published by Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, in the journal series of the “Degenerate Art” research office under the title “Museum im Widerspruch”. The Städel also participated in the exhibition and online project organized by 15 museums on the history and collection of the art dealer Alfred Flechtheim.

This long-term project to systematically examine the collection holdings was funded from January 2010 to March 2012. To date, it has been possible to prove that 10 objects from the holdings of the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and the Städtische Galerie were assets lost as a result of Nazi persecution and these have either been restituted or reacquired. They are eight paintings, one drawing and a sculpture formerly owned by Jewish citizens. Extensive individual research was carried out on the following collections in question: Max Silberberg, Paul Stern, Max Meirowsky, Eduard Behrens, Emma Budge, Alfred and Gertrude Sommerguth, Siegmund Levi and Walter Lämmle.

(c) Städel Museum Frankfurt a. M.