Individual case research on the Max Slevogt painting Rotes Haus an der Landauer Straße, 1910

Funding area:
Nazi-looted cultural property
Funding recipient:
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen
Federal state:
North Rhine-Westphalia
Contact person:
Dr. Isabel Hufschmidt

positionKuratorin | Forschung, wissenschaftliche Kooperation und Provenienzforschung Museum Folkwang

phone+ 49 (0) 201 8845 119

emailisabel.hufschmidt@museum-folkwang.essen.de

Christiane Wanken

positionKunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen

phone+49 (0) 209 169 4179

emailchristiane.wanken@gelsenkirchen.de

Type of project:
short-term project
Project duration:
until
Description:

In 1953, the art museum Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen purchased the Max Slevogt painting Rotes Rathaus an der Landauer Straße [Red town hall on Landauer Straße] 1910 from Galerie Aenne Abels. As a result of research into the provenance of works sold by the Abels galleries, it emerged that there was a provenance gap for this painting from 1928 to 1948. At the same time, an enquiry from an heir of the original owner family was received in February 2019.

The work of art was purchased directly from the artist by the Czapskis, a Jewish entrepreneur family.

In 1928 it was included in the catalogue to mark Slevogts 60th birthday at the Akademie der Künste Berlin (Akademie der Künste, Max Slevogt: Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Berlin: Cassierer, 1928). Eugenie Czapski was named as the owner of the painting in question. The aforementioned painting reappeared on the art market in 1948.

The aim of the project was to close the provenance gap between 1928 and 1948, mainly seeking to clarify whether the painting was part of the sale of the Czapski family home in 1935 or whether it was sold at a different time. The main focus was on uncovering all the background details pertaining to a potential sale of the painting from 1933 onwards.

© Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen