Richard Semmel

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Richard Semmel (born September 15, 1875 in Zobten am Berge , Lower Silesia , † December 2, 1950 in New York ) was a German entrepreneur and art collector. As a Jew, he was exposed to hostility in Germany in 1933 and went into exile. His heirs initiated several restitution proceedings in order to obtain the return of works of art from his collection.

Life

Landhaus Richard Semmel in Berlin-Dahlem

Richard Semmel was the owner of the Arthur Samulon textile company for many years . The company, based in Magazinstrasse 15/16 in Berlin-Mitte , produced women's underwear and children's clothing. The economic success of the company enabled Semmel and his wife Clara Cäcilie, née Brück, to lead a prosperous life. The childless couple had a villa built in 1925/1926 according to plans by the architect Adolf Wollenberg on a park-like plot of 10,000 square meters in Pacelliallee 19/21 in Berlin-Dahlem (Landhaus Richard Semmel, now the seat of the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq ). In addition, Semmel began building an art collection in the 1920s.

With the so-called seizure of power by the NSDAP on January 30, 1933, Richard Semmel's living conditions changed suddenly. As a Jew and a member of the German Democratic Party , he was exposed to hostility and received threats. At the end of January 1933, he stayed in Switzerland for a winter holiday, then returned briefly to Berlin and left Germany for good in April 1933. The first stop in his exile was Amsterdam , where he stayed for several years. He was able to transfer numerous works of art to the Netherlands and had them auctioned off in 1933 at the Amsterdam auction house Frederik Muller & Cie to finance his living. Before the Second World War, Richard Semmel and his wife managed to emigrate to the United States . His brother died during the German occupation in the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands . Richard Semmel lived in impoverished circumstances in New York and had to rely on friends for support. He died there in 1950. He declared Grete Gross-Eisenstädt, a long-time friend of the family, to be his heiress. Their grandchildren tried several times to have works of art from the Richard Semmel collection restored. In the future, a memorial stele in front of the former house in Berlin's Pacelliallee 19/21 will commemorate his fate.

The Richard Semmel art collection

The exact size of Richard Semmel's art collection is not known. According to estimates, there are more than 120 paintings in the collection. 71 pictures in the collection alone were sold on November 21, 1933 in the Amsterdam auction house Frederik Muller & Cie. auctioned. The main focus of the collection was on Dutch old master paintings and works by French artists of impressionism and post-impressionism . The following works can be clearly assigned to the Richard Semmel collection:

  • Portrait of a young man by an unknown artist, Amsterdam around 1620. Richard Semmel acquired it in 1928 as a work by Thomas de Keyser . In 1940 it entered the collection of the special commission in Linz via the Dutch art trade and was restituted to the Netherlands after the Second World War. The work, at times also attributed to Werner van den Valckert , was in the Gouda Museum for several years and was handed over to Richard Semmel's heirs in 2009 by the Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, The Hague. Then the painting came into the art trade.
  • Madonna and Child by Jan van Scorel belonged since 1926 to collect Richard Semmel. In 1958, the Centraal Museum Utrecht acquired the painting in good faith . The Restitutiecommissie commissioned to negotiate a possible return of the painting decided that the painting should not be restituted to the heirs. It emphasized the special importance of the picture for the museum and, on the other hand, noted that Richard Semmel's possible heirs did not know the collector personally and had no personal relationship with the painting. However, the commission suggested that the museum should refer to the previous owner Richard Semmel in an appropriate manner. The museum will not return the painting to the heirs.
  • Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Fountain by Bernardo Strozzi was bought by Dirk Hannema in Amsterdam in November 1933. He donated the picture in 1964 to the Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle , which he founded . The Restitutiecommissie decided in 2013 that the museum would not have to return the painting to the heirs and would not have to pay any compensation. The reasons given included the fact that the sale took place long before the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II and that the heirs had no personal relationship with the collector or the work of art.
  • La maison blanche by Paul Gauguin came through the art dealer Alex. Reid & Lefevre in London in the possession of the 9th Earl of Jersey . The Earl's heirs agreed on a settlement payment with Richard Semmel's heirs before the painting was auctioned on February 4, 2014 at Christie's auction house for £ 1,314,500.
  • Paul Gauguin's La Route montante was auctioned on June 13, 1933 at the Frederik Muller auction house. In 1937, the painting came into the possession of the Zurich art collector Emil Georg Bührle via the Max Moos Gallery in Geneva . His heirs transferred the painting to the EG Bührle Collection Foundation in 1960 .
  • Paysage pres de Cagnes by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was also auctioned on June 13, 1933 at the Frederik Muller auction house. In 1956 the picture came into the collection of the American steel manufacturer Newton Korhumel. Before the Korhumel heirs had the painting auctioned at Christie's auction house for US $ 866,500 in 2012, they had agreed financial compensation with Richard Semmel's heirs.
  • Study of a peasant girl digging up by Camille Pissarro was also auctioned on June 13, 1933 at the Frederik Muller auction house. After several changes of ownership, it was auctioned on November 7, 2007 at Sotheby's and achieved a price of US $ 2,057,000.

  • Dutch (Amsterdam):
    Portrait of a Young Man , around 1620

  • Paul Gauguin:
    La maison blanche , 1885

  • Camille Pissarro:
    Study of a peasant girl digging up , 1882

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Villa Semmel - The overexploitation. In: cicero.de. July 26, 2019, accessed July 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Information on the scope of the collection at www.jewishnews.net.au
  3. ↑ Information on the auction of the Richard Semmel Collection at www.restitutiecommissie.nl
  4. ↑ Information on the type of collection at www.liveauctioneers.com
  5. ↑ Information on the picture on www.restitutiecommissie.nl
  6. ↑ Details of paintings on www.liveauctioneers.com
  7. ↑ Information on the picture on www.restitutiecommissie.nl
  8. ↑ Information on the painting on www.restitutiecommissie.nl
  9. ↑ Information on the painting and the reason why there is no restitution on www.restitutiecommissie.nl
  10. ↑ Michael Safi: National Gallery of Victoria takes down painting sold under Nazi duress in The Guardian of April 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ Information about the painting on www.christies.com
  12. ↑ Information on the picture on www.buehrle.ch
  13. ^ Eileen Kinsella: Potential Restitution Claim for Renoir Prompts Preemptive Suit from September 14, 2011 on www.artnews.com
  14. ↑ Information about the picture on www.christies.com.
  15. ^ Dan Hinkel: Lawsuit settled over Renoir painting purportedly lost in Nazi persecution article of December 6, 2011 in the Chicago Tribune
  16. ↑ Information on the painting on www.sothebys.com
personal data
SURNAME Roll, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Zobten am Berge , Lower Silesia
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1950
Place of death new York