Gurlitt: Status Report

News that the Bavarian Public Prosecutor’s office had seized the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt (1932–2014), caused an international sensation when it was made public in November 2013. The 1500 works that the reclusive son of the art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895–1956) had inherited from his father raised suspicions: had they been looted by the Nazis before and during the Second World War?

To investigate these suspicions, the German government provided the funding necessary to conduct further research, while Cornelius Gurlitt agreed to restitute any work identified as looted. Thus far, four works have been returned to the heirs of their lawful owners. Gurlitt, who died in May 2014, bequeathed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern.

The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn and the Kunstmuseum Bern have joined forces to present a selection of Cornelius Gurlitt’s extensive art collection in a concurrent double exhibition. The presentation in Bern—Degenerate Art – Confiscated and Sold—focuses on the work of modern artists defamed as "degenerate" by the Nazis, while the exhibition in Bonn concentrates on Nazi Art Theft and its Consequences. The Bonn exhibition traces the career of Hildebrand Gurlitt within the historical context of the period. Gurlitt, originally a passionate champion of modern art, became one of the leading art dealers of Nazi Germany. That notwithstanding, after the end of the war, he was able to resume his pre-war career as museum director without too much trouble. Complementing Gurlitt’s ambiguous biography, the exhibition sheds light on the lives of some of his contemporaries, focusing in particular on the fate of Jewish artists, collectors and art dealers who fell victim to the Nazi regime.

"It is extremely important that this chapter of the German—and ultimately European—history is never forgotten. The Nazi art theft is still far from being resolved conclusively, and it absolutely has to be seen within its overall historical context, which includes the persecution, disfranchisement and dispossession perpetrated by the Nazi regime and, ultimately, the Holocaust."
–Rein Wolfs

The exhibition Dossier Gurlitt—Nazi Art Theft and its Consequences presents a selection of works from a broad spectrum of the history of art—ranging from Dürer to Monet, from Breughel to Beckmann—that have been hidden from public view for decades. By thematising the provenance of each of the works on show, the exhibition also sheds light on the complex history of the individual objects.

At the same time at Kunstmuseum Bern:
Dossier Gurlitt
Degenerate Art—Confiscated and sold
November 2, 2017–March 4, 2018

Curators: Rein Wolfs, Agnieszka Lulińska
Assistant Curator: Lukas Bächer
Members of the scientific working group of the exhibition: Andrea-Baresel-Brand, Meike Hopp, Birgit Schwarz

Patrons of the Exhibition: Minister of State Monika Grütters, Federal Councillor Alain Berset

Director: Rein Wolfs
Managing Director: Bernhard Spies

Head of Corporate Communications/Press Officer: Sven Bergmann
T +49 228 9171 204 / presse@bundeskunsthalle.de

Current exhibitions:
Ferdinand Hodler. Early Modern Artist
September 8, 2017–January 28, 2018

Weather Report. About Weather Culture and Climate Science
October 7, 2017–March 4, 2018

Soon to come:
Federal prize for art students
November 10, 2017–January 28, 2018

Supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.