Kurt Walter Bachstitz

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Kurt Walter Bachstitz (born October 4, 1882 in possibly Breslau , † 1949 in The Hague ) was a German- Austrian art dealer who died shortly before his naturalization in the Netherlands .

Portrait of Kurt Walter Bachstitz Senior, photographed by Arnold Genthe , 1923.

Life

Until emigration in 1938

Bachstitz was the child of the Jewish couple Liber Jacob Bachstitz and Mathilde Markowitz. His place of birth is doubtful. Contemporary sources give the then still German Wroclaw (now Polish Wrocław ) as the place of birth. Bachstitz, on the other hand, claimed the Austrian Raipoltenbach as his place of birth when he applied to the US Department of Labor for the extension of his work permit in 1931. He studied architecture in Paris, London and Vienna, where he graduated with a diploma in 1904. Until 1912 he lived and worked as an architect in Vienna. From 1912 to 1914 he lived in Berlin. When the First World War broke out , he was called up for military service and achieved the rank of captain. He fought until he was seriously wounded in 1916. His first marriage was to Elfriede Pesé († 1918), with whom he had two children, Walter Werner († 1943 in Switzerland from tuberculosis) and Margit Martha. On December 19, 1918, he married his second wife, Elisa ("Lily") Emma Hofer. Lily was a Protestant . Because of her, Bachstitz converted to the Protestant faith. In February 1919 he lived and traded from Munich. For example, an encounter with Thomas Mann in Bachstitz's apartment in Munich has been handed down, when Mann von Bachstitz bought a painting by Jan Miense Molenaer and a marble relief by Antoine Coysevox . Mann then characterized Bachstitz in his diary as follows:

"Man, blond-Jewish and elegant, in his mid-thirties, with monocle and fat, white, manicured hands, in a quilted house jacket and patent leather slippers, wonderful as a type of international-cultural-capitalist socialism."

In 1920/21 Bachstitz opened his first gallery in The Hague. His gallery had locations in Vienna , Berlin , New York and The Hague . The gallery in The Hague was temporarily headed by Walter Andreas Hofer , the brother of Lily Bachstitz, who later became the curator of Hermann Göring's collections .

In the summer of 1937, Bachstitz gave up his Austrian citizenship. This year was his last visit to New York and with it the closure of his gallery there. In 1938 the couple emigrated to The Hague. The galleries in Vienna and Berlin probably also closed around this time.

Second World War

Special order Linz

Between the beginning of the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 and 1941, the Bachstitz Gallery NV sold a number of works to the German Reich ( special order Linz ). This organization was run by Hans Posse until he died in 1942.

Among the works sold to the special order were the following:

Artist title NK number / CCP number Sales year current location Illustration
Ferdinand Bol The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon NK 2484 1940 Catharijneconvent Museum
MCC-41266 Offer van Gideon (1) .jpg
Stephan Godl Adam and Eve (plastic) NK 636-ab The correspondence between Bachstitz and Posse regarding the acquisition of these works (and one from Jan Steen ) has been preserved. Posse has enforced strong discounts on Bachstitz. 1940
Greek Tanagra figure Standing woman NK 620 , Mü-No. 12272 1940 RMO, suffering
Girolamo da Santa Croce John the Baptist NK 1627 1940
German (Cologne) Small altar with saints and two scenes NK 2707 1940
German (also alpine) Mary and John before the crucifixion NK 1552 NK 1553 1940
Greek Snake bracelets NK 864-ab 1941
Greek engraved carnelian gem NK 2904 1941 J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
Gerrit Berckheyde Grote Markt with St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem NK 2581 , Li-No. 1298 1940 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde 002.jpg
Alexander Colin Heavenly phenomenon over a city NK 631 1941
Copy after Giovanni Antonio Canal , called Canaletto The return of the Bucintoro to the Molo on Ascension Day NK 1798 1940
Jan van Scorel Saint Paul NK 2919 1940 MCC-41336 Paulus (1) .tif
Pietro Cappelli Roman capriccio NK 1892 1943
Greek golden bracelet with serapis head, 1st century (?) NK 865 , Li no. 3872a 1941 RMO, suffering
Circle of Giovanni di Francesco del Cervelliera frame NK 1787 1939
François Duquesnoy Cupid (assignment: Venice, 16th century) Li no. 2062 1941
Greek Bronze statuette, standing woman, "The Night" (Nyx), 1st century BC Chr. Li no. 1365 1940 J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
Arte romana, statuetta di nyx o selene, I secolo ac.JPG
Rogier van der Weyden, Picture of a Woman, - 1926 via Duveen Brothers to Andrew W. Mellon, today National Gallery of Art , Washington

In February 1941, Bachstitz gave up his official functions at Bachstitz Gallery NV and his wife became managing director. Together with his wife, he secretly carried on the business. In this way they prevented the gallery from coming under administration for the duration of the war. According to the documents in the file regarding his successful naturalization in the Netherlands after the war, the couple secretly protected Jews who tried to escape the rulers. In 1942, Bachstitz was summoned by the occupation authorities (the economic office) when he failed to register the gallery as “non-Aryan property”. Proceedings were brought against him and he was arrested by the Security Service (SD) in July 1943 and sent to Scheveningen prison in The Hague. Due to an intervention by Göring initiated by Bachstitz's brother-in-law Hofer, he was released from prison. He was also decreed to wear the Star of David.

Sales to Kurt Martin

Between 1942 and 1944, Bachstitz sold a number of works to the museums directed by Kurt Martin .

In 1944, through Göring and through his brother-in-law Hofer, Bachstitz received a visa to travel to Switzerland. In return, Bachstitz gave some works of art to the Göring Collection.

After the war

Many of the paintings sold to Germany were brought back to the Netherlands in particular via the Central Collecting Point in Germany after the war. Bachstitz's efforts to restore these works failed, with the exception of the restitution of Jan Steen's work with the motif Samson and Delilah , which he had given Göring in return for the exit visa. The other works became the property of the Stichting Nederlands Cultuurbezit (SNK). Bachstitz died in 1949. In 1951, his widow dissolved the Bachstitz Galerie NV with a high deficit. The gallery's art library was auctioned. In 2009 the Netherlands restituted a work by Pietro Capelli from the SNK to the heirs of Kurt Walter Bachstitz. The Bachstitz Gallery had sold it to the special order Linz in 1943. The request of the heirs for the restitution of the other twelve works sold to the Linz special order was rejected. The reason given by the Dutch Restitution Commission was that Bachstitz had "remained undisturbed" during the first years of the occupation. There are not enough indications that the sale was involuntary. The heirs have made applications to resume the proceedings.

Greek necklace with butterfly pendant, acquired in 1921 by William Thompson Walters, now Walters Art Museum , Baltimore

In July 2013, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation restituted two works of art to the heirs of von Bachstitz, which the Berlin Palace Museum had acquired in 1943 in The Hague. In 2016, the heirs received an intaglio back from the Dutch government. The gem was auctioned off by the auction house Sotheby's and achieved a high selling price. The heirs are still looking for art objects that Bachstitz lost because of Nazi persecution.

Web links

Wikisource: Briefe Bachstitz  - Sources and full texts

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d e Bachstitz, Inc. records, 1923–1937 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bachstitz, Restitution Commission of the Netherlands, Az RC 1.78, Consideration No.2 . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  3. ^ NA, Ministry of Justice, naturalization files, access code 2.09.22, inv. No. 13533, no. 2189; Central Bureau for Genealogy, The Hague, Calmery archive, Bachstitz file
  4. ^ NA, Ministry of Justice, naturalization files, access code 2.09.22, inv. No.13533, no.2189
  5. ↑ File RC 1.78, estate inventory (via Ministry of Finance, inheritage tax returns)
  6. ^ NA, SNK 178, Bachstitz file, draft letter from Bogisch to Weyma, undated
  7. ^ Thomas Mann Diaries, 1918–1921, edited by Peter de Mendelssohn, Frankfurt / M. 1979, ISBN 978-3-10-048192-4 , pp. 143-145
  8. ↑ Many sales to the USA from the interwar period are documented, for example Ganymed jewelry , Metropolitan Museum of Art and 20 antiques , Walters Art Museum , last viewed on July 8, 2015
  9. ↑ Wikisource: Correspondence Bachstitz July 1940 Wikicommons
  10. ↑ NL-NA, ministerie van justitie (1915–1955), inv. No. 13533 (1646)
  11. ↑ 10 search reports at www.lostart.de, last viewed on June 11, 2015  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.lostart.de  
  12. ↑ Bachstitz, Restitution Commission of the Netherlands, Az RC 1.78, Consideration No.6 . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  13. ↑ US-NARA, RG 260, M1946. Roll 127. Restitution Research Records. Göring, Hermann: Notes on Purchases. Page 65.
  14. ^ Post-War Reports: Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index . lootedart.com. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  15. ↑ NL-NA, Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (SNK), 2.08.42.
  16. ↑ NL-NA 2.09.16, Nederlands Beheers Instituut NBI, inv.no. 2168, Note Kesselaar NBI 16 December 1955.
  17. ^ Art library of the late KW Bachstitz (Bachstitz Galleries), The Hague .: Internationaal Antiquariaat (Menno Hertzberger): Free Download & Streaming: Internet Archive . archive.org. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  18. ↑ Bachstitz, Restitution Commission of the Netherlands, Az RC 1.78, Consideration No.5 . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  19. ↑ File number RC 4.138
  20. ↑ Berliner Kunstgewerbemuseum restitutes two works to the heirs of the art dealer Bachstitz - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . preussischer-kulturbesitz.de. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  21. ^ NK 2904
  22. ^ Revised recommendation Bachstitz | Restitutiecommissie. Retrieved March 27, 2017 (English).
  23. ↑ Heirs of an art dealer fight for restitution - WELT. Retrieved March 27, 2017 .
  24. ↑ 48 search reports at www.lostart.de, last viewed on June 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Bachstitz, Kurt Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Austrian art dealer
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Breslau
DATE OF DEATH 1949
Place of death The hague