Provenance research at the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn—from 1933: pre-war/wartime/post-war acquisitions of paintings

An investigation of the collecting history (Paintings Department) of the present-day LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn for the period 19331945 and afterwards has been in progress since the mid-1990s. Provenance research has been an officially assigned research task at the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn since the end of 2005. However, no office has been specially created for itthese duties must be carried out in addition to employees actual work.

Purchases after 1933

Like almost all large German museums, the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn was given an increased budget and a number of privileges during the Third Reich. It took advantage of this apparent opportunity in a big way to purchase paintings by Dutch Old Masters. When procuring archaeological finds through exchange or purchase, the museum concentrated on objects from the Rhineland.

Due to its geographical location and as a so-called borderland museum, the Landesmuseum was fully oriented towards the westto the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

It was supported in this by administrative offices in Berlin, German administrative offices and banks administered by Germany in the occupied Western territories. Driving it all was the senior minister of Department X (Cultural Preservation) of the Rhine provincial administration: the art historian and prehistorian (minor) Dr. Hans-Joachim Apffelstaedt.

After 1945, all persons doing business at that timeproviding they had survived the war as a member of the German armed forcescarried on their work seamlessly at the Landesmuseum in Bonn.

First project yeardigital image files

226 paintings. The question of provenance multiplied by 226.

Before the funded project began, a foundation was laid for methodical provenance research. Using inventory catalogs, files, lists, correspondence, etc. from then and now, it was possible to reduce the LandesMuseums stock to be examined from around 1,000 paintings to just under 200 paintings.

In the project, work has been going on since June 2010 to examine the LandesMuseums entire paintings collection with a focus on questionable provenance.

In the first project year, an online database was created especially for investigating these approx. 200 paintings with help from the Bureau for Provenance Research in Berlin.

In this database, each painting was given a virtual file holding all the relevant information about the individual painting. A basis is formed by all the existing research findings (incl. key data such as description, artist, year of creation, dimensions, material) and new information is continually added. These virtual picture files reflect the up-to-date state of research on the history, provenance and individual sources.

To complete each picture file, the Landesmuseum used its own funds to commission new photographs to be taken of the paintings. Here, it was essential that not only a new photo of the front of the painting was taken, but that (and for the first time) all details on the back of the painting were systematically captured as well.

Labels of previous exhibition venues, customs stamps from border crossings, the seals of past collectors or art galleries and annotations by restorers are often found on the backs of paintings. To make this information easier to manage, each detail is captured in a photo, noted in the picture file and described.

Once these activities were successfully completed after 12 months, work in the second project year focused on closing gaps in the provenance information and on conducting accompanying extensive research into the former ownership circumstances.

Second project yearprovenance research at Landesmuseum Bonn

The search for 226 answers.

An important step on this research path is the recording of the art dealers, art agents and auction houses that had a business relationship with the Landesmuseum, along with their company data, biographies and activities during the period in question.

A large amount of groundwork was carried out here, too, before the start of the project. A wealth of information was collected through research related to the German and European art trade, with a particular focus on the Bonn region and the surrounding Rhineland (pre-war boundaries).

The task now is to reorganize this information within the framework of the project, identify connections, make information gaps visible, interpret information correctly including seemingly incidental information and refer to the files once again.

Each of the picture files mentioned above constitutes a starting point for this research. The key question here is whether or not the museum acquired the work in the period 19331945, or not until years later. Did the painting come through the Second World War with a clean record or are there indications that it came onto the market as a result of a situation involving persecution?

This gives rise to a series of questions: The Landesmuseum originally acquired the painting from someonewhere did this person get it from? Did they acquire it lawfully? Where can evidence be found?

One goal: a digital art trade lexicon with a focus on the pre-war Rhineland

There is a wealth of information whichif compiled properlyprovides insights into the art trade network of that time.

To create an overview and find an answer to the key question with the help of correct information, all data relating to the art trade will be entered into the database and more added, where possible, during the second project year.

Information that has only existed on paper in archives up to now will be analyzed, digitized and made retrievable in the database. Information from numerous literary works (specialist publications, autobiographies, biographies, etc.) related to the National Socialist era and its stakeholders will be included and relevant connections highlighted. Intensive online investigations reveal information on important individuals and institutions that is often hard to find, with connections that were previously hard to identify now put in an understandable context. Archive visits are increasing.

The database is thus continuing to fill up with names, addresses, dates and historic images, as well as information on archive holdings, source references, specific literature and contacts.

Provenance research on individual paintings has been driven forward thanks to this systematic gathering and restructuring of data. The path towards achieving the aim, i.e. the information gaps yet to be filled are now much clearer and the search for information that provides answers, can be tackled methodically.

Through semantic linking, an information network has been created within the Bonn database which, among other things, casts light on business relationships in the Rhineland and also provides a wealth of data and source material on shopping trips to the occupied Western territories.

The answer is usually very close: the history of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn in the Nazi era

Answers are often not too far away. But first you have to work out where you need to look. To do this, it is essential to work through and understand the history of the museum, especially the history of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn in the Nazi era.

Lots of information on the provenance of the paintings can be found in the individual archives and inventory lists. Correspondence between the museum staff and art dealers as well as private individuals shows how a painting found its way into the Landesmuseum. And if a direct reference to the provenance cannot be found immediately, there are at least names, or even places, that suggest where the search should be continued.

There is information on the business environment of the protagonists and secondary stakeholders in everyday museum life, and also on their social network, on contacts in Germany and abroad, and on working practices and methods.

The actions of museum directors, scientific assistants, art experts, donors, staff, dealers, agents and othersas well as the ensuing resultscan be found in many files and help to reconstruct the history of the museum during the Nazi era.

Particularly interesting is the information gleaned from reading between the lines. For example, how the directors and scientific assistants managed to purchase objects abroad despite a foreign exchange embargo.

A viable and effective way of approaching the research has been to go from the general situation, the history of the time and the history of (the Landesmuseums) everyday life, to the particular situation: the acquisition of the individual painting.

1,000 paintings (and other objects) in the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn

Although it might be unrealistic to think that provenance research could be conducted for each individual object in the Landesmuseum, one should at least keep in mind that the first step towards this has already been taken through the provenance research on the paintings.

The objects acquired during the period in question, be they paintings or archaeological items, often passed through the same hands. Antiquarian bookstores and art dealers sold those objects as well as books and furnishings. This means many of the names are not only associated with the acquisition of paintings, but also with the acquisition of archaeological items, for example. By uncovering the provenance of a painting, it is often also possible to clarify the question of the origin of other items which came into the Landesmuseum by the same route.

The Bonn Landesmuseum in the Nazi era and the art trade in the Rhineland. Who can access this information?

Because museum-specific and sensitive data has also been recorded in the database alongside general information, the Bonn section of the Bureau for Provenance Research portal is only accessible to staff working on the research project. If you are interested in the provenance research activities at the Landesmuseum, you are welcome to send us a written request.

(c) LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn