Investigation into the provenance of museum collections in connection with the theft, confiscation and sale of objects under duress between 1933 and 1945.

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Massengebet

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Massengebet

Artist/ Creator
Paul Klee
Title
Massengebet
Year
1913
Technique
Ink on paper
Size
105 x 237 mm
Inventorynumber
A 8453
Description

Sheetsize 254 x 323 mm, drawing size 105 x 237 mm

Category
Drawings

Museum

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Conclusion

This drawing was part of the collection that Otto Ralfs stored at Firma Walter Blank during the war. In January 1945 the place was plundered by the Soviet Red Army.

Explanation

The donor who gave the drawing to the museum in December 1958 wished to remain anonymous.

The work was owned by Otto Ralfs, of Brunswick in Germany, who had acquired it from the artist in or before 1925. Otto Ralfs (1892-1955) was a collector and friend of Paul Klee. He had built a large collection since 1923. In 1942 or 1943, Ralfs stored this work and others from his collection at Firma Walter Blank in Kattowitz [today’s Katowice, Poland]. When the city was captured by the Red Army in January 1945, Firma Walter Blank’s storage facility was plundered.

Reconstruction origin

Before 1925 <> 1945
Otto Ralfs (collection), Brunswick

Museum inventory; Paul Klee archive; J. Helfenstein, Paul Klee: catalogue raisonné, London/Bern 1998-2004, vol. 2, 85, cat. no. 1008

After 1945 <> ?
Anonymous (collection), Poland

Museum inventory

? <> 1958-12
Anonymous (collection), Netherlands

Museum inventory

1958-12
Donated to the museum by an anonymous donor

Museum inventory

1958-12 <> present day
Stedelijk Museum