Pinakotheken returns paintings by Lesser Ury

The bank had gone bankrupt as a result of the repression by the National Socialists, and the Jewish family’s property was auctioned off by the bankruptcy trustee – including the painting, which had an estimated price at the time of 800 Reichsmarks.

Art collector lost fortune and fled

Goldschmidt himself fled to Paris in 1937 and lived in hiding for a time during the German occupation. He died on March 31, 1947 in Paris. “Curt Goldschmidt’s fate is representative of that of many Jewish collectors and patrons. The persecution by National Socialism deprived him of his fortune and his art collection; he was only able to save his life by fleeing,” said Bavaria’s Art Minister Markus Blume (CSU).

According to the state painting collections, it is unclear whether and by whom the picture was auctioned, but in 1940 it appeared in an auction house in Cologne with the note that it came from “non-Aryan ownership”. What happened next is also unclear. In 1972, however, the State Painting Collections bought the picture – and they are now returning it to the family, who were pleased about it in a statement and praised the efforts of the State Painting Collections and the Free State of Bavaria.

History of Jewish collectors and patrons

The restitution of the painting “returns a work that is not only an important example of Lesser Ury’s art, but also reflects the history of Jewish collectors and patrons in early modern Berlin,” said the head of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Anton Biebl. He moved to the top of the Pinakothek after there was massive criticism – including the way restitution was handled.

“The return honors the painting’s dual Jewish provenance – from its creator to its collectors to its loss as a result of Nazi persecution,” Biebl said.

According to the Bavarian State Painting Collections, the work has a special historical significance as a special testimony to Jewish art and collection history in the early 20th century.

Lesser Ury was best known as a chronicler of Berlin street and coffee house scenes as well as for landscape paintings in an evening atmosphere.