SPK hands over statue from the Alte Nationalgalerie to the Centre national des arts plastiques in Paris

Previously held at the Alte Nationalgalerie, the life-size figure Le Drame Lyrique [“Lyrical drama”], also known as Geigerin [“Female violinist”], has been handed over by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) to the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) in Paris. It once adorned the foyer of the Opéra-Comique. The work by French sculptor Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900) was displayed in the foyer of the theatre institution in Paris up until 1932. Transferred to the Musée des Beaux Arts in Angers in 1936, the sculpture had been considered lost in France since 1939. The figure was held as an item of third-party property at the Alte Nationalgalerie.

The Geigerin [“Female violinist”] was entered in the CNAP’s list of acquisitions on 16 March 1897 under the inventory number 3.674 and with the location “Opéra-Comique”. There she adorned the staircase together with the figure Manon/Opéra-Comique by Falguière’s former student Antonin Merciés (1845-1916). In 1932, Falguière’s sculpture was dismantled during the renovation of the theatre and stored in the CNAP’s marble depot, while the location entry “Opéra-Comique” was deleted from the inventory. The sculpture was taken to Angers in western France in 1936: there are a number of newspaper clippings and photos of the work from Angers dating from shortly after its arrival. After this, all trace of the figure disappears.

The first entry at the Alte Nationalgalerie dates from 1981, when it was included in the inventory under the number B II 95, bearing the note “owner cannot be determined”. It had already been held by the museum for some time by then, as indicated in various memoranda. The identity of the work can be verified based on features documented in the historical photographs from Angers.

For several years, now, staff at Berlin National Museums (Alte Nationalgalerie, central archive) have been engaged in close dialogue with the CNAP and the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

Since the CNAP collections are non-transferable and inviolable, the work cannot have found its way to Berlin through sale. At the time of the inventory, the Alte Nationalgalerie was located in the territory of the GDR, yet a transfer from France to the GDR after the division of Europe seems highly unlikely. The two parties have therefore come to the conclusion that the Geigerin most probably found its way to Berlin in the course of the Second World War and is still owned by the CNAP. 

The CNAP plans to reinstall the statue in the Opéra-Comique once it has undergone restoration in France.