Looted art stolen by Nazis to go on show in German museum
Some 250 art works that a reclusive collector hid from the world for decades, including pieces likely looted from Jewish owners under Nazi rule, are going on show at a German museum.
The paintings shown for the first time yesterday at Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle – include works by Albrecht Du er er, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. They are from the huge art collection hoarded by late collector Cornelius G ur litt. Authorities first stumbled on the art, stored in Gurlitt’s Munich home, while investigating a tax case in 2012.
The exhibition focuses on works of art believed to have been taken from their mostly Jewish owners as part of Nazi persecution and on works whose provenance hasn’t yet been established.
The Bonn show is part of a double exhibition titled Gurlitt: Status Report. A parallel show in the Swiss capital Be rn features some 200 works from the collector’ s trove, mostly from artists who were defamed by the Nazis as “degenerate”.
The art on display in Be rn includes Expressionist works by artists such as Otto Dix and Franz Marc.
It is the first chance for the public to view any of the works from the collection that belonged to the estate of Gurlitt’s father, the Nazi- era art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt.
The Bonn show, sub titled Nazi Art Theft and Its Consequences, aims to put the works into their historical context. It tries to shed light on Hilde - brand Gurlitt’s life and focuses on the fate of Jewish artists, collectors and art dealers who fell victim to the Nazi regime.
The works cover abroad times pan, from Lucas Cra- nach via Carl Spitzweg and Edgar De gas to Max Beckmann. Among the highlights are Monet’s Waterloo Bridge and the marble sculpture Crouching Woman by Auguste Rodin.
Cornelius Gurlitt, who died in 2014, had more than 1,200 works in his Munich apartment and a further 250 or so at a property in Austria.
His will bequeathed the works to the museum in Bern. A German governmentbacked foundation is working with it to ensure that any pieces looted from Jewish owners are returned to their heirs.
That has been as low and pains taking task. So far, experts have identified six works as definitely having been looted by the Nazis– the latest of them last month, when researchers determined that the Portrait of a Seated Young Woman by Thomas Couture belonged to Georges Mandel.