City of Münster returns Pankok painting to Jewish heirs

The City of Münster is returning the painting Lesender Mann [Man Reading] by Bernhard Pankok (1872 – 1943) from the collection of the municipal museum to the rightful heirs of Jewish tobacco merchant and art collector Max Rosenfeld. Research has confirmed that the painting was seized as a result of Nazi persecution. Before its return, Stadtmuseum Münster is displaying the work from 7 March to 27 April in the exhibition Die Rückgabe des Gemäldes ‘Lesender Mann’ [The Return of the Painting ‘Man Reading’]. The exhibition focuses on the friendship between artist Bernhard Pankok and Jewish tobacco merchant Max Rosenfeld. Also on display are a portrait of Max Rosenfeld as well as photographs and design sketches.

Painted in 1892, Lesender Mann [Man Reading] by Bernhard Pankok is one of the artist’s early works. It depicts a man deeply absorbed in reading. Stadtmuseum Münster acquired the painting in 1992 from the Lempertz auction house in Cologne – unaware of its history.

Based on his investigations, provenance researcher Kai Artinger of Kunstmuseum Stuttgart was able to prove that the work was looted art. The research was supported by the Arbeitsstelle für Provenienzforschung (Bureau for Provenance Research) and the German Lost Art Foundation. Artinger has been investigating the origins of artworks at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart since 2014 and discovered the background to this painting in Münster in the course of his work. Pankok lived and taught in Stuttgart from 1902 onwards.

The painting will now be returned to the heirs of collector Max Rosenfeld, who currently live in the United States. Rosenfeld’s younger son Paul Georg (1906 – 1988) emigrated to the US with his family via the Netherlands in early December 1938. Max Rosenfeld’s great-grandchildren now live there.