Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann (October 11, 1875 in Bonn - May 20, 1937 in Amsterdam) was a German Jewish art collector.

Family life

Born in Bonn, into a German Jewish family, Hedwig Weyermann was the daughter of Gottschalk WEYERMANN and Mina OPPENHEIMER. She married the Dutch art collector Emanuel Albert Lewenstein (December 5, 1870 – 10 June 10,1930), and they had two children Robert (October 30, 1905 in Amsterdam - 1975 in Ohio, USA) and Wilhelmine Lewenstein.[1] Lewenstein-Weyermann had two siblings, Victor (born August 6, 1872)[2] and Mathilde Citroen (Weijermann, also known as "Weyermann" (February 3, 1874 in Bonn - September 24, 1946 in Heemstede).[3] Lewenstein-Weyermann's husband Emanuel died in 1930, and she died in 1937.

Nazi persecution

When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the German and Dutch Lewenstein family was persecuted because of their Jewish heritage. Lewenstein-Weyermann's daughter Wilhelmine emigrated with her husband José da Silva via the Netherlands to Mozambique in 1938. Her son Robert went to Vence, France.[4]

In 2017 the Lewenstein heirs filed a lawsuit in the US District Court, Southern District of New York against the Bayerische Landesbank for the restitution of a painting by Wassily Kandinsky called Das Bunte Leben [The Colorful Life] (1907).[5][6] [7] Lewenstein had lent the painting to the Stedelijk Museum in 1933 and, in circumstances that remained unclear, it was auctioned in 1940 at the Frederik Muller & Co auction house.[8] On 9 October 1940 Das bunte Leben was acquired by Salomon B. Slijper whose widow sold it in 1972 to the Bayerische Landesbank. The bank loaned it to the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and the Kunstbau in Munich where it was located at the time of the claim. In June of 2023, the Advisory Commission recommended that the Kandinsky be restituted to Lewenstein's heirs.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Emanuel Albert LEWENSTEIN". 2017-03-05. Archived from the original on 2017-03-05. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  2. ↑ "Victor Weyermann". geni_family_tree. 1872-08-06. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  3. ↑ "Mathilde Citroen". geni_family_tree. 1874-02-03. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  4. ↑ Holter, Eric (2022-07-08). "La collection Emanuel Lewenstein". Mondex (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  5. ↑ "3 March 2017 Heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein-Weyermann, Robert Gotschalk Lewenstein and Wilhelmine Helena Lewenstein v Bayerische Landesbank". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  6. ↑ Moynihan, Colin; Smale, Alison (2017-03-03). "Heirs Sue for Return of a Kandinsky, Saying It Was Looted by Nazis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  7. ↑ Russell, Josh. "German Bank Faces Suit by Reputed Kandinsky Heirs". courthousenews.com.
  8. ↑ "Une œuvre majeure de Kandinsky est identifiée comme un objet d'art spolié | Magazine Barnebys". Barnebys.fr (in French). 2023-06-26. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  9. ↑ "The Advisory Commission recommends to the Bayerische Landesbank to restitute Das bunte Leben by Wassily Kandinsky to the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein" (PDF). beratende-kommission.de. The Advisory Commission is of the opinion that the painting was seized as a result of persecution. The Lewenstein family and Irma Lewenstein Klein were persecuted as Jews by the National Socialists from the beginning of the German occupation of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940.
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