Expert Opinion - Nazi Looted Art

26
Thannhauser's offerings of high quality artworks from the Hess collection were
obviously not lost on admirers of Kirchner paintings. Ernst Gosebruch, the former
head of the Folkwang Museum who retired in 1933 and became privately active as
an art consultant/broker, also knew of their availability. On 2/11/1936 he wrote to
Carl Hagemann, the collector, whom he had been advising since 1912: “Can you
imagine - here in the Thannhauser Gallery were – and still are some – pictures for
sales from the Hess collection in Erfurt.” On March 4, 1936 the lawyer, art collector
and amateur graphic artist Arnold Budczies appeared at Thannhauser. Gosebruch
had called his attention to the paintings there from the Hess collection. Budczies was
exclusively interested in Kirchner paintings. On the basis of photos and actual
paintings, Thannhauser offered six of the paintings, including for RM 3,500 one with
the title “Postdamer Platz” – and noted: “He is aware that the paintings belong to
Mrs. Hess.” Some weeks later, on April 26, 1936, Budczies reported to his fellow
collector Carl Hagemann: “In the Thannhauser Gallery I saw two large paintings from
the Hess collection: a) the Fehmarn Farmhouse (Staberhof)… and b) the Woman in
the Hammock…the salesman at Thannhauser was so naïve as to tell me that the
prices had been lower earlier but have since been raised after another Kirchner
picture from the same owner was sold (to Lange in Krefeld).”
Evidence: Letter from Ernst Gosebruch to Carl Hagemann on February 11,
1936; letter from Arnold Budczies to Carl Hagemann dated April 26,
1936, included in: Kirchner, Schmitt-Rottluff ...
Customer file of the Thannhauser Gallery on Arnold Budczies’ Berlin
visit on March 4, 1936
The collectors Budczies and Hagemann also exchanged information about other
“very good pictures” by Kirchner – for instance on April 26, 1936 when Budczies
reported on the opportunity to purchase a street scene “Two Women on the Street”
1914, identified by him as “Two Cocottes on the Street”, calling it “a very good
painting, formerly owned by Westheim.” Especially interesting is the price quotation -
RM 2,000 – as well as Budczies’ expectation that the picture “could now be
considerably cheaper.”
Evidence: Letter from Arnold Budczies to Carl Hagemann dated April 26, 1936.
included in: Kirchner, Schmitt-Rottluff ....
Budczies’ assumption was apparently based on the fact that the painting had been
owned by Paul Westheim, a Jewish art publicist and author. Since 1917 Westheim
had published “Das Kunstblatt", a periodical devoted especially to modern art.
Immediately after Hitler came to power, Westheim was directly accused of being a
“cultural Bolshevik” and his publication ceased to exist after 1933. Westheim fled to
Paris in August 1933, leaving his art collection behind.
On August 16, 1936 Thekla Hess asked Wartmann, the director of the Kunsthaus
Zurich, to send “my Marc paintings, then at the [Zurich] Kunsthaus, to the
Kunstverein in Cologne on the occasion of the big Marc exhibition to be held in early
September. Also send 4-5 Kirchner pictures ... and 1 Macke pastel.” The costs were
to be assumed by the KKV which was glad to have these beautiful pictures “on loan”.
However Thekla Hess was in no way happy about this transaction. She “approves” it
“very reluctantly.”