Jewish Collectors: Pioneers of Modern Art
Exhibition opening at the Bucerius Kunst Forum

The exhibition focuses on 15 Jewish collectors, couples and families who played a decisive role in shaping modern art in Germany and helping it gain wider recognition. Their stories are not only about what was taken from them during the Nazi era, but also about what they created, supported and made possible. Around 100 works are presented not in isolation, but in the context of the lives of the people who collected them – people who supported artists long before they became part of the canon, championed museums and helped shape cultural debate.

The exhibition runs from 11 September 2026 to 29 March 2027 and is held under the patronage of German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Bringing together research, remembrance and public engagement, it makes historical scholarship accessible to a broad audience – which is precisely why the Alfred Landecker Foundation supports the project.

At the opening, guests were welcomed by Prof. Manuel Hartung, Chairman of the Executive Board of the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS; Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska, Artistic Director and Executive Board Member of the German Federal Cultural Foundation; Hamburg’s Senator for Culture and Media, Dr Carsten Brosda; and Lena Altman, CEO of the Alfred Landecker Foundation. Curators Dr Kathrin Baumstark and Stefan Koldehoff introduced the exhibition.

The presence of Ethan Bensinger from Chicago (Bensinger family), Klaus Blank (Martha und Walter Blank), Maeva Emden and daughters (Max Emden), Mrs. Studzinski (Attorney representing the heirs Hugo and Martha Nathan) lent particular significance to the evening. Descendants of all the collector families featured in the exhibition shared memories, documents and family histories. Their contributions were essential to reconstructing the biographies and collections presented in the exhibition.

Artworks as Part of People’s Lives

“Whose lives were these works once part of?” This question ran throughout the opening because it also lies at the heart of the exhibition. Its crucial shift in perspective is to reconnect the artworks with the lives from which they were torn through persecution, dispossession, forced displacement and murder.

In her remarks on behalf of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska described this approach as an important contribution to Germany’s culture of remembrance. Reconstructing these biographies brings back into view a chapter of cultural history that is significant both in terms of art history and wider society. With their eye for emerging artistic movements, these collectors played a decisive role in the eventual establishment of modern art. Yet as a result of their persecution, many of their names disappeared from cultural memory.

For this reason, curators Dr Kathrin Baumstark and Stefan Koldehoff chose not to place the history of Nazi-looted art at the centre of the exhibition. Instead, they began with the people behind the artworks: their passion for art, their networks and their engagement with society. In their opening remarks, they stressed the importance of continuing to advance restitution – both through appropriate legislation and by providing the necessary resources, including funding for research and dedicated positions. They also offered insights into some of the challenges they encountered while preparing the exhibition. Some museums, for example, declined loan requests on the grounds that the subject was “too sensitive”.

A Story That Begins Before the Loss

In her remarks, Lena Altman, CEO of the Alfred Landecker Foundation, drew on the example of Martha and Walter Blank. The couple were closely connected to Cologne’s progressive art scene. Walter Blank was a radiologist, pacifist and socialist, and a friend of artists including Heinrich Hoerle, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, Jankel Adler and Otto Dix. Art was part of the family’s everyday life.

After the Nazis came to power, the family faced persecution. Martha Blank died in 1935. In 1936, Walter Blank fled Germany with his two sons. They were forced to leave behind their home, medical practice and art collection; most of the collection remains missing to this day.

Altman stressed, however, that Martha and Walter Blank – like the other collectors featured in the exhibition – should not be defined solely by the persecution they endured. They were influential figures in Germany’s cultural, academic and social life.

This perspective also changes how we see the works on display. As Altman explained, they now tell two interconnected stories: one of the cultural vision of people who recognised new artistic developments early on and supported the artists behind them, and another of the violence inflicted on their lives, families and collections.

What Might Have Remained?

The exhibition therefore raises another question: How might cultural life in Germany have developed had this rupture in civilisation never occurred? The Nazis did not persecute and murder individuals alone. They destroyed families, social ties, intellectual circles and cultural networks. The exhibition thus reveals an absence that cannot be measured solely in terms of missing artworks. It shows the vital role Jews played in creating a diverse and vibrant modern culture in Germany – and the cultural and social continuities that Nazi persecution destroyed.

Remembrance Means Responsibility

“Remembrance entails responsibility,” Lena Altman stressed in her remarks. She continued: “There are still so many blind spots, and these are precisely where we need to direct our attention: bringing Nazi art looting into public awareness as an integral part of the Holocaust, understanding the mechanisms of exclusion, disenfranchisement and profiteering, and learning from them. This requires research – and projects like this one, which make its findings accessible and tangible to a broad public.”

The exhibition “From Monet to Picasso: Jewish Art Collectors in Germany” runs from 11 September 2026 to 29 March 2027 at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg. The project is supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Alfred Landecker Foundation.

More information about the exhibition here, tickets are available here.