In the German Empire, new artistic movements such as Impressionism and Expressionism were long met with skepticism and rejection. It was primarily Jewish art collectors who, around the turn of the twentieth century, approached these styles with openness and ultimately paved the way for their later success. They recognized the potential of these works early on, built significant collections, and supported artists who today are considered defining figures of modern art — including Paul Cézanne, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, and Georges Braque.
Art and Persecution
With the rise of the National Socialists to power, the lives of Jewish collectors changed radically. What began with exclusion ultimately developed into systematic removal from social and economic life. Art collections were subjected to special taxes and eventually appropriated; artworks were confiscated or forcibly sold. For the Jewish collectors themselves, Nazi persecution meant displacement, exile, or murder. After 1945, their contribution as pioneers of modern art remained largely invisible and unacknowledged for decades, while their collections became scattered across museums and private collections around the world and the artists and their works gained international fame.
Wladimir von Zabotin, Sonntagmorgen in Danzig, o. Dat., Kunsthalle Mannheim © Sammlung Emma Zabotin © Foto: Kunsthalle Mannheim
Paula Modersohn-Becker, Vier Kinder vor Landschaft mit Moorkanal, um 1900, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz-Museum Gunzenhauser, Eigentum der Stiftung Gunzenhauser © Foto: Archiv Museum Gunzenhauser
Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, Diskussion, 1926, Kunstmuseum Bonn © Foto: Reni Hansen - ARTOTHEK
Ferdinand Hodler, Stockhornkette mit Thunersee, um 1913, Dr. Simon und Charlotte Frick-Stiftung, St. Gallen Kunstmuseum St. Gallen © Foto: Stefan Rohner
Reconstructing a Lost Cultural History
The exhibition “From Cézanne to Kirchner: Jewish Collectors of Modern Art in Germany” at the Bucerius Kunst Forum Hamburg brings the cultural legacy of Jewish art collectors back into view and tells their stories. Among them are the Hirschland family, Paul and Clothilde Schüler, Max Meirowsky, Rosa Schapire, and Margarete Mauthner. Their important private collections are being brought together again for the first time in this exhibition. Around 100 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and objects by Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Lovis Corinth, Ferdinand Hodler, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, and other artists are brought to Hamburg. Each collection is presented in its own gallery space, allowing visitors not only to encounter the artworks themselves but also to learn about the collectors’ lives, their persecution, and the often remarkable journeys the artworks took after they were seized.
Silke Mülherr, Co-CEO of the Alfred Landecker Foundation, says:
“The story of these Jewish collections speaks of great cultural passion and artistic foresight - yet at the same time of the gradual disenfranchisement and persecution of the Jewish minority under National Socialism. For that very reason, the exhibition also draws attention to questions that are once again gaining urgency today: rising antisemitism and the gradual exclusion of certain groups from cultural and economic life. It commemorates the lives and work of these Jewish collectors while also making clear the destructive force antisemitism can unleash - both for individuals and for an entire culture."
Art and Remembrance
By engaging with the lives of the collectors and with their flight, displacement, or murder during the Nazi period, the exhibition builds a bridge to historical and civic education. Particularly at a time of rising antisemitism, it encourages visitors to reflect on the mechanisms of exclusion - and on the dangers they pose to an open, democratic society. Educational materials for school groups and teachers, as well as audio guides and a public program, complement the exhibition’s educational offerings.