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German Lost Art Foundation
German Lost Art Foundation Berlin Branch Office
The descendants of the collector Georg Tillmann have waived the rightful restitution of two mantel figures by the artist G. H. Wolff. At the family’s request, the two large limestone sculptures will remain at Hamburger Kunsthalle. A memorial plaque now commemorates the fate of the persecuted Jewish collector.
The provenance of the two figures was researched between 2021 and 2024 through a project run by Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen and Hamburger Kunsthalle, supported by the German Lost Art Foundation. The sculptures belonged to Hamburg banker, collector and patron Georg Tillmann (1882–1941), who commissioned them from the artist Gustav Heinrich Wolff in 1925.
Research led by Dr. Ute Haug showed that the sculptures left Tillmann’s possession in circumstances of injustice before coming into the possession of Hamburger Kunsthalle. However, the Tillmann* family chose not to pursue restitution and instead requested that the figures remain in the museum. A memorial plaque beside the more than two-metre-high figures in the Hubertus Wald Forum of the Kunsthalle now recalls their provenance.
Georg Tillmann left Hamburg in 1932 with his wife Dorothy (1891–1944) due to the increasingly difficult political situation for Jewish citizens and emigrated to Amsterdam. His assets, house and property at Schöne Aussicht 29 in Hamburg were confiscated before 1940. Tillmann emigrated to the USA in 1940. The sculptures were taken from Tillmann’s house between summer 1934 and May 1936 without his knowledge or permission by Alice Sauerlandt: she was the wife of Max Sauerlandt, who had headed the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg since 1919. Although Tillmann allegedly placed the sculptures at her disposal, he did not find out about what happened until afterwards. Having been on loan from her to Hamburger Kunsthalle since 1936, the sculptures were sold by Alice Sauerlandt to Stiftung zur Förderung der Hamburgischen Kunstsammlungen (today Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen) in 1958. The sculptures have remained there on permanent loan since then.
The origin of the sculptures was revealed through a research project investigating the provenances of artworks with unresolved or problematic origins held by Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen. Since 1956 Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen has supported Hamburger Kunsthalle by adding the works it acquires to the museum’s holdings as permanent loans from the foundation.
To the funded projects in Hamburg
[*The spelling of the surname varies: Georg Tillmann / Hugo Tillman]
