2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The representatives of the Armand Dorville heirs visited the Alte Nationalgalerie today to sign the restitution and purchase agreement for the work. The work was acquired by the Nationalgalerie in 1961 via a London gallery. It originally came from the collection of the Jewish lawyer and art collector Armand Isaac Dorville (1875 - 1941) and will continue to be exhibited in the Alte Nationalgalerie.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, said at today's signing ceremony: "I am very grateful to Armand Dorville's heirs for making it possible for us to purchase the work for the Alte Nationalgalerie and for coming to Berlin especially for this purpose. We will continue to work with all our might to come to terms with the past, to return works to their rightful owners and to ensure that the injustice that occurred is not forgotten."

On behalf of the community of heirs, their representative Antoine Djikpa, ADD&Associés, said: "On behalf of Armand Dorville's heirs, we would like to thank the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation for its trusting and constructive cooperation and its commitment to finding a fair and just solution together."

Ralph Gleis, Director of the Alte Nationalgalerie, is delighted that the acquisition has secured the preservation of the work for the museum: "This painting by Pissarro is of great importance for our collection, as it marks an important step towards Impressionist art, which forms a core part of the Alte Nationalgalerie's holdings. I would like to thank Armand Dorville's heirs for their trust in our institution, which is expressed in this purchase."

Armand Dorville acquired the painting in Paris in 1928. After the occupation of Paris by the Wehrmacht, he fled to the south of France in 1940, where he was able to take part of his collection with him. He lived in his castle in Cubjac (Dordogne) until his death on 28 July 1941. As he had no children, he named his three siblings and four nieces as his heirs. As Jews, they too had been persecuted by the National Socialists during the Vichy regime. They gave the estate to various auctions.

In June 1942, the heirs had the remaining part of Dorville's art collection auctioned off at the M. Terris auction house in Nice. Among them was "Une Place à la Roche-Guyon", which was listed in the auction catalogue under the title "Vue intérieure de village". On the first day of the auction, Armand Dorville's estate was placed under the control of the Commissariat Général aux Questions Juives. The proceeds from the auction were to be transferred to the state. However, in December 1942, the forced administrator Amédée Croze argued that the proceeds should go to the family after all. This was approved by the Commissariat Général in July 1943, on the condition that the money would be paid out in treasury bonds or as an annual pension. The money was then deposited in private accounts. The heirs did not have access to it, nor were the authorised payments made. The heirs were severely affected by persecution and were therefore unable to effect payment. Some of them, his sister, her two daughters and her two granddaughters, were arrested, deported to Drancy and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

Armand Dorville

Armand Isaac Dorville was born in Paris in 1875. The socially committed lawyer was a well-known public figure in Paris and France. Among other things, he chaired the Jewish association Société la Bienfaisance Israélite and was active as a journalist, as emphasised by his numerous press articles. The passionate art collector was also involved as a patron and lender at exhibitions. For example, the work "A Square in La Roche-Guyon" was on loan to the Musée de l'Orangerie in February and March 1930. Dorville's art collection comprised around 450 works, including works by Renoir, Bonnard, Vallotton, Vuillard, Delacroix, Manet, Guys and Forain.

About the work "A square in La Roche-Guyon"

Ident. no. NG 75/61; 1867, oil on canvas; 50 x 61 cm

In autumn 1867, Camille Pissarro (10.7.1830 - 13.11.1903) accepted an invitation from an artist friend to La Roche-Guyon, a town on the Seine north of Paris. He painted there together with Paul Guillemet and presumably also with Paul Cézanne, who at the same time was trying out a heavy, broad painting style and applying the colours thickly with a palette knife. This view of the converging rows of houses on the town hall square in La Roche-Guyon, with the bold border created by the narrow gabled wall on the right, was painted in the muted brown, beige and grey tones favoured by Pissarro at the time.

The painting is on permanent display in the Alte Nationalgalerie and is shown there in changing contexts. Pissarro was admired as the eldest of the Impressionists and an important pioneer. For example, "Une Place à la Roche-Guyon" is shown partly alongside other works by him in the Impressionist Room and partly in the Room for the Development of Plein Air Painting together with artists from the Barbizon School.

The work remained in the artist's possession until his death. The National Gallery (West) acquired the work in 1961 from the London art dealer Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd. The provenance for the period between the 1942 auction and the 1961 acquisition is not entirely clear.