News-Detail-Pergamonmuseum - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

SPK has restituted the works "Bildnis Bruno Cassirer" (Portrait of Bruno Cassirer) and "Der Vater Bruno Cassirers auf dem Totenbett" (Bruno Cassirer's Father on his Deathbed) to the heirs of the Berlin art dealer and publisher Bruno Cassirer. They will remain part of the collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie, for which they were acquired with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung. From March 4, 2025, the "Bildnis Bruno Cassirer" will be presented in the permanent exhibition of the Alte Nationalgalerie on the 2nd floor. The second painting, "Der Vater Bruno Cassirers auf dem Totenbett", will be shown next year.

Bruno Cassirer (12.12.1872, Breslau - 29.10.1941, Oxford) was a publisher, gallery owner and horse breeder. Together with his cousin Paul Cassirer, he ran Bruno & Paul Cassirer, Kunst- und Verlagsanstalt, in Berlin's Tiergarten district from 1898, which represented Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt, among others. Bruno Cassirer also had a personal friendship with Slevogt. Even if there is no clear proof, the two works could be attributed to the Cassirer Collection on the basis of numerous clues. For this reason, SPK agreed with the heirs, with whom it had been in contact since the end of 2023, on a return with a repurchase as a just and fair solution.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: "I am very grateful to Bruno Cassirer's heirs for the always constructive exchange and for their openness to sell both works to SPK after the restitution. This acquisition was actually made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung - thank you very much for that too." (please check against the German original)

The heirs of Bruno Cassirer say: “Bruno Cassirer died in Oxford but it is appropriate that these portraits of him and his father should find a perma-nent home in Berlin. We are grateful to Professor Parzinger and his colleagues at the SPK for their work on this case and for the partnership which has enabled this historic wrong to be righted at last.”

"With the restitution of the portrait of Bruno Cassirer and the death por-trait of his father by Max Slevogt to the heirs of Bruno Cassirer, the SPK is assuming responsibility for the crimes of National Socialist Germany. The private Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung (Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation) is particularly keen to support them in the acquisition of the works. The portrait of Bruno Cassirer by Max Slevogt will thus remain an important work in the exhibition of the Alte Nationalgalerie as a permanent loan," says Martin Hoernes, Secretary General of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung. (please check against the German original)

In 1901, the Cassirer cousins ended their business partnership. While Paul continued to run the gallery, Bruno Cassirer henceforth managed "die Kunstanstalt und den Kunstverlag" alone. When the National Socialists seized power in 1933, reprisals against the Jewish family began. Bruno Cassirer's membership of the Reichsschrifttumskammer was revoked on February 25, 1937. This removed any possibility of continuing his professional career. Cassirer then emigrated to England in 1938. The publishing house was dissolved in 1938 on the basis of the "Ordinance on the Use of Jewish Assets". All remaining assets, including two houses and the art collection, were confiscated by the "Reichskommissar für die Behandlung feindlichen Vermögens" (Reich Commissioner for the Treatment of Enemy Property). The realization of the assets took place between 1941 and 1944. In March 1944, parts of Bruno Cassirer's confiscated art collection were auctioned off by order of the Chief Finance President of Berlin-Brandenburg.

The two works that are now in the Nationalgalerie were acquired by the West Berlin Staatliche Museen, Preußischer Kulturbesitz in the 1960s from the art dealer and publisher Wolfgang Gurlitt: in 1961 they pur-chased the "Bildnis Bruno Cassirer" from his Munich gallery for DM 5,800. The work "Der Vater Bruno Cassirers auf dem Totenbett" was donated to the Nationalgalerie by Wolfgang Gurlitt in 1963. Neither work of art contains any provenance markings indicating that it belonged to the Bruno Cassirer Collection, nor are they explicitly mentioned on any list of works owned by Cassirer. Nevertheless, evidence gathered in the course of provenance research indicates a very high probability of attribution. It is known, for example, that Gurlitt bought three works at the forced sale of the Cassirer collection in 1944. Later correspondence between Gurlitt and other people shows that these two oil paintings were among them.

The SPK had already restituted works to the heirs of Bruno Cassirer in 2002 and 2016: in 2002, 156 prints, 145 pen and ink drawings by Max Slevogt, an ink drawing by Lovis Corinth and ten watercolors by Karl Walser were restituted to the heirs from the Kupferstichkabinett. In 2016, limited edition illustrated books, drawings and prints were restituted from the holdings of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and subsequently purchased for the Staatsbibliothek.

Press Images: https://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder.html