Three New Members Are Added but German Museums Can Still Decline to Participate
After nearly a year of hinting at changes the Advisory Commission in Germany that makes recommendations to state museums on claims for allegedly Nazi-looted works in their collections (“Beratende Kommission im Zusammenhang mit der Rückgabe NS-verfolgungsbedingt entzogener Kulturgüter, insbesondere aus jüdischem Besitz,” or “Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property”), the federal government announced last week the addition of three new members. Yet despite public outcry over the outdated and opaque procedures of the commission (better known as the Limbach Commission, in reference to the late Jutta Limbach, presiding member and former judge of the Constitutional Court), none of the fundamental flaws in the panel have been confronted or addressed. Instead, the occasion has served as little more than another photo opportunity for federal Minister of Culture Monika Grütters, whose visage dutifully accompanies all the recent announcements.
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Topics:
Legislation,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
Stefan Koldehoff,
Beratende Kommission,
Gurlitt,
NS Raubkunst,
Restitution,
Bavarian State Paintings Collection,
Looted Art,
World War II,
Süddeutsche Zeitung,
Monika Grütters,
Limbach Commission,
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen,
Raphael Gross,
Gary Smith,
Marion Eckart-Hofer,
Simon Dubnow Institute,
American Academy in Berlin,
Rudiger Mahlo,
Jewish Claims Conference
The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart has agreed to return Bildnis Pfalzgraf Johann III (Portrait of Elector-Palatine Johann III), ca. 1526, by Hans Wertinger to the heirs of the art dealers Saemy Rosenberg and Isaak Rosenbaum, the owners of the art dealer firm I. Rosenbaum in Frankfurt. Rosenbaum and Rosenberg sold the Wertinger in 1936, but the proceeds were paid into a Nazi-blocked account. The work eventually ended up with collector Heinrich Scheufelen in 1948.
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Topics:
Stefan Koldehoff,
Joint Declaration,
Nazi-looted art,
Baden-Württemberg,
Washington Principles on Nazi-Looted Art,
Heinrich Scheufelen,
Die Bilder Sind Unter Uns,
SPK,
Portrait of Elector-Palatine Johann III,
Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Nazi terror,
Isaak Rosenbaum,
Deutschlandfunk,
Restitution,
coerced sale,
World War II,
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart,
Saemy Rosenberg,
Jürgen Walter,
Museums,
forced sale,
Zacharias Hackenbroch,
Bildnis Pfalzgraf Johann III,
Welfenschatz,
The Pictures Are Under Us,
I. Rosenbaum,
Frankfurt
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) reported yesterday that the challenge by Uta Werner to her cousin Cornelius Gurlitt’s will may extend late into this year. Werner has petitioned the court in Munich to set aside the last will and testament that named the Kunstmuseum in Bern as Gurlitt’s sole heir and beneficiary of the 1,280 works of art found in his apartment in 2012, as well as those in Salzburg. In November, the Kunstmuseum, the Bavarian government, and the German government announced to great fanfare but little analysis that the museum would accept the bequest and work with the Gurlitt Task Force to sort through objects with questionable provenance related to Hildebrand Gurlitt’s role as an approved dealer of “degenerate art” under the Nazis, and the concern that some of the objects may be Nazi-looted art.
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Topics:
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Breslau,
Henri Hinrichsen,
Stefan Koldehoff,
Die Bilder Sind Unter Uns Das Geschäft mit der NS-,
Zwei Reiter am Strand,
Max Liebermann,
Germany,
Fall Gurlitt,
Nazi-looted art,
Gurlitt Collection,
SRF,
Hildebrand Gurltt,
will contest,
Gurlitt,
Restitution,
David Toren,
World War II,
Task Force,
Die Zeit,
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen,
Kunstmuseum Bern,
Martha Hinrichsen,
Raubkunst,
The Pictures Are Under Us Business in Nazi-Looted,
last will and testament
