Emil Orlik:Poster for the 24th auction at Graupe 1922
Company blueAuction catalog for Wilhelm Solf's Japan collection (1936)

Paul Graupe (May 29, 1881, in Neutrebbin; – February 9, 1953, in Baden-Baden) was a German antiquarian bookseller and art dealer.

Early life

Paul Graupe was born in 1881 into a Jewish family in Neutrebbin, Germany. He attended grammar school and apprenticed as a bookseller in Posen in the firm of Joseph Jolowicz. He then worked for Gustav Fock in Leipzig, Jacques Rosenthal in Munich, Martin Breslauer in Berlin, Lipsius & Tischer in Kiel and Friedrich Cohen in Bonn.[1]

Graupe founded an antiquarian bookshop under his name in Berlin by 1902. Graupe was exempt from military service as an ineligible person in the First World War. In 1916 he held his first book auction in Berlin, and in 1917 he auctioned off the library of the late publisher and co-founder of Insel-Verlag Alfred Walter Heymel, including dedication copies of Rainer Maria Rilke.

After the First World War, Graupe helped organise the replacement of the holdings of the University Library of Louvain, which had been destroyed in World War I, alongside Joseph Baer & Co, Jacques Rosenthal, Ludwig Rosenthal, Karl Wilhelm Hiersemann and Martin Breslauer.[2][3] Book art and graphic art were the main focus of his business until 1927. He also published auction catalogs. He expanded his business to include fine art and, between 1930 and 1932, held seventeen major art auctions in partnership with Kunsthandlung Hermann Ball .[4][5]

Nazi era

Paul Graupe's activities during the Nazi era have been described as "between and gray areas, to the genesis and networks of the Nazi art trade".[6] When the Nazis (National Socialists) came to power in 1933, many Jewish art dealers like Alfred Flechtheim had to flee after their galleries were Aryanized, that is transferred to non-Jews. However, Graupe received special permission from the Nazi Reich Chamber of Culture to continue art dealing and auctions until 1937.[7] Since he had an international clientele, Joseph Goebbels considered him a foreign exchange earner.

Graupe was involved in the liquidation of numerous art collections, such as that of Max Alsberg, who committed suicide in 1933.[8] Nazi persecution of Jews included the seizure of assets and the imposition of special taxes like the Reich Flight Tax.[9] In January 1934 Max Alsberg's art collection was auctioned off by Graupe.[10] In 1935, Max Silberberg's extensive picture collection and library were sold off at Graupe.[11][12][13]Rosa Oppenheimer's collection was sold in a forced auction in 1935. Other Jewish collections which passed through Graupe in the Nazi era include Oscar Wassermann,van Dieman,[14] Emma Budge[15] and Leo Lewin.[16]

Van Gogh: Der Mann ist auf See

By 1937 Graupe had organized about 160 auctions with works by Rubens, Rembrandt or Tiepolo, Corot, Menzel and Liebermann, when he himself had to flee to Switzerland, the business in Berlin was aryanized, that is, transferred to a non-Jewish owner, Hans Wolfgang Lange (1904-1945) and continued until 1944.[17]

Graupe founded the company "Paul Graupe & Cie" in Paris,[18] but had no permission to work as an auctioneer in France.[19][20] From 1936 he ran his Paris business in partnership with Arthur Goldschmidt.[21] At the beginning of the war in 1939, he escaped internment in France because he was in Switzerland. The company's warehouse in Paris was looted by Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg after the German invasion of France in 1940. Graupe managed to escape with his wife to the US in 1941, where he had great difficulty in doing business. Only the painting "The Man is at Sea" by Vincent van Gogh could be smuggled out of occupied France, and Graupe sold it to Errol Flynn.[22]

His activities were investigated by the Art Looting Intelligence Unit in 1945 and 1946, and Graupe was put on the Red Flag List.[23]

After the end of the war, he returned to Paris in 1945 and resumed business there. He endeavored to restitute the looted stocks, although it was later impossible to reconstruct which paintings Graupe owned and which his firm had taken on commission. Graupe fell seriously ill in 1950 and died in 1953. His son Tommy Grange was also an art dealer and continued to conduct research, restitution and compensation negotiations for the family until the 1960s.

Controversial artworks and transactions

“Meules de Blé” by Vincent van Gogh, which Max Meirowsky entrusted to Paul Graupe in 1938 as he fled Nazi persecution was later the subject of restitution claims from both the Meirowsky and Alexandrine de Rothschild's heirs.[24]

Herbert Max Magnus Gutmann (1879-1942) submitted claims for artworks auctioned at Graupe (2.p14. April 1934 Graupe Auction Nr. 132, Lot 17, in Berlin)[25][26]

In 2017 the Oetker company reached a settlement with heirs of Emma Budge for a 17th-century silver cup in the shape of a windmill that was sold via the Paul Graupe auction house in 1937[27][28]

Auktion Paul Graupe, Berlin Verst. No. 137 25./26.1.35 No. 110[29]

There are many provenance research projects concerning Graupe's activities.[30]

Auction catalogs (selection)

  • Bibliothek Paul Schlenther. Versteigerung am Sonnabend, den 5. Mai 1917. Einführung: Otto Pniower. Graupe, Berlin 1917.
  • Otto von Falke: Sammlung Marc Rosenberg: Versteigerung 4. November 1929. Hermann Ball/Paul Graupe, Berlin 1929.
  • Gemälde und Zeichnungen des 19. Jahrhunderts aus einer bekannten schlesischen Privatsammlung und aus verschiedenem Privatbesitz. Katalog zur Auktion am 23. März 1935, Auktionshaus Paul Graupe, Berlin 1935.

Literature

  • Patrick Golenia, Kristina Kratz-Kessemeier, Isabelle le Masne de Chermont: Paul Graupe (1881-1953). Ein Berliner Kunsthändler zwischen Republik, Nationalsozialismus und Exil. Böhlau, Köln 2016, ISBN 978-3-412-22515-5
  • Paul Graupe (1881-1953), Antiquar und Kunsthändler. In: Aus dem Antiquariat Bd. NF 14, 2016, Nr. 2, S. 103–105
  • Anja Heuß: Paul Graupe (1881-1953). Ein Berliner Kunsthändler zwischen Republik, Nationalsozialismus und Exil. Rezension, in: Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken (IfB), PDF.

References

  1. ↑ BBerghausen. "Paul Graupe – Antiquar, Auktionator und Emigrant – Archivspiegel des Berlin-Brandenburgischen Wirtschaftsarchivs" (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  2. ↑ Fischer, Ernst; Fussel, Stephan; Borsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels; Historische Kommission (2012). Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert / Bd. 2, Die, Weimarer Republik 1918-1933 / Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Frankfurt am Main. Historische Kommission Tl. 2 / im Auftrag der Historischen Kommission hrsg. von Ernst Fischer und Stephan Füssel (in German). Berlin [etc.: De Gruyter. pp. Bd. 2: Die Weimarer Republik: 1918–1933. De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, S. 418. ISBN 978-3-598-24809-2. OCLC 797965795.
  3. ↑ BBerghausen. "Paul Graupe – Antiquar, Auktionator und Emigrant – Archivspiegel des Berlin-Brandenburgischen Wirtschaftsarchivs" (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  4. ↑ Ball [Hrsg, Paul Graupe <Firma> [Hrsg ]; Hermann (1930). Sammlung Dr. Leopold Seligmann, Köln: [Voranzeige]; [Versteigerung ... am 28. und 29. April 1930]. Berlin: Ball, Graupe. doi:10.11588/diglit.45172.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ "Hermann Ball, Paul Graupe (Firm)".
  6. ↑ "Paul Graupe (1881-1953). Ein Berliner Kunsthändler zwischen Republik, Nationalsozialismus und Exil (A Berlin art dealer caught between the Republic, National Socialism and Exile)". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  7. ↑ Golenia u. a.: Paul Graupe (1881-1953), 2016, S. 125.
  8. ↑ "Alsberg, Max | Lexikon Provenienzforschung". www.lexikon-provenienzforschung.org. Retrieved 2022-02-16. While the majority of Alsberg's extensive collection of valuable sculptures, ceramics, furniture, paintings and tapestries (212 lots altogether) were auctioned in January 1934 by the auctioneer Paul Graupe, who was himself later to be persecuted, other household items were auctioned with the approval of the Devisenstelle (Foreign Exchange Office) by the Berlin auctioneers Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus and Auktionshaus Goldschmidt & Co
  9. ↑ "Findings from the bindings: An overview of Nazi-Era spoliation research at the British Library Entdeckungen in den Einbänden: Ein Überblick über die NS-Provenienzforschung an der British Library". In 2013, the British Library received a restitution claim for Davis 768, the Biccherna Panel, a fifteenth century painted wooden panel attributed to the workshop of Guido Cozzarelli (1450–1517). The panel was designed to encase tax records in the treasury of the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Acquired at auction in 1930, the panel had been in the gallery stock of a Jewish owned firm, A.S. Drey, Munich.4 The firm was forced to liquidate their assets in order to leave Germany,5 and the gallery stock was sold at auction at Paul Graupe, Berlin, June 17th through 18th, 1936. The Biccherna Panel sold as lot 49.
  10. ↑ Graupe [Hrsg, Paul (1934). Kunstbesitz Prof. Max Alsberg, Berlin: Gemälde und Kunstgewerbe aus einer bekannten süddeutschen Privatsammlung ; verschiedener Berliner Privatbesitz ; Versteigerung 29./30. Jan. 1934 (Katalog Nr. 131). Berlin. doi:10.11588/diglit.6198.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ↑ Golenia, Patrick; Graupe, Paul; Kratz-Kessemeier, Kristina; Le Masne de Chermont, Isabelle; Savoy, Benedicte (2016). Paul Graupe (1881-1953) : ein Berliner Kunsthändler zwischen Republik, Nationalsozialismus und Exil. Köln: Böhlau Verlag. p. 98. ISBN 978-3-412-22515-5. OCLC 1122589383.
  12. ↑ COMMISSARIAT Isabelle le Masne de Chermont. ""À qui appartenaient ces tableaux ?" Spoliations, restitutions et recherche de provenance : le sort des œuvres d'art revenues d'Allemagne après la guerre Exposition du 25 juin au 26 octobre 2008" (PDF). Par ailleurs, deux œuvres de la vente de 1932 figurent également dans une vente organisée par Paul Graupe à Berlin le 23 mars 1935 : La Poésie, de Corot, et un dessin de Van Gogh. Cette vente a fait l'objet d'une attention toute particulière puisque des recherches récentes ont montré qu'elle comprenait des œuvres de la collection de Max Silberberg. Le dessin de Van Gogh, L'Olivette, a été restitué aux ayants droit Silberberg
  13. ↑ Tarsis, Irina; says, Esq (2014-01-14). "Sotheby's to auction restituted Pissarro's "Boulevard Montmartre"". Center for Art Law. Retrieved 2022-02-16. By 1935, Max Silberberg had become victim to the Third Reich's antiemetic laws. After his company was Aryanised and sold and his home was acquired by the SS, Silberberg was compelled to consign most of his collection at a series of auctions at Paul Graupe's auction house in Berlin in 1935 and 1936 (including Boulevard Montmartre). While Silberberg's son, Alfred, fled to England after brief internment at Buchenwald, Max Silberberg and his wife were eventually deported to Theresienstadt and then Auschwitz in 1942, where they both perished.
  14. ↑ "Galerie van Diemen & Co". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  15. ↑ "German Lost Art Foundation - Project finder - Hall of Mirrors from the Budge residence and the Budge art collection (dolls' house)". www.kulturgutverluste.de. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  16. ↑ "Yale Bulletin and Calendar". archives.news.yale.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  17. ↑ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-02-15. Lange, Hans W. Berlin/Zoelendorff, Kleiststrasse 6. Successor to the Jewish dealer Paul Graupe, now in the US. Director of the important Berlin auction house which bears his name. Prominent in purchases and auctions of works of art acquired in occupied countries. Close contact of Haberstock, Lohse, Dietrich and other key figures. Father, Hans Lange, resident of Alt Aussee, Austria, Rischendorf 64. Secretary Anita Kahn at same address. In Russian custody, in a Luftwaffe hospital, Berlin.
  18. ↑ "Spoliation et trafic. Le marché de l'art français sous l'Occupation allemande (1940-1944) Bonn, 29 novembre – 1er décembre 2017. Le stock de Paul Graupe à Paris pendant l'Occupation : séquestre, ventes et spoliations. Der Bestand des Kunsthändlers Paul Graupe in Paris während der Besatzung" (PDF).
  19. ↑ "A sculpture in Fritz Gutmann's collection (Gutmann III-B)". Restitutiecommissie. Retrieved 2022-02-13. The works that the Gutmann couple transferred to Paris in April 1939 were stored at art dealership Paul Graupe & Co. (hereafter referred to as: 'art dealership Graupe'), established at Place Vendôme 16 in Paris. Paul Graupe was a Jewish art dealer who had fled the Nazi regime in Germany in 1936 to settle in Paris. He ran the art dealership with his business partner Arthur Goldschmidt. A
  20. ↑ Chermont, Isabelle le Masne de (2014-12-12). "The Arthur Goldschmidt File in the Archive of the Direction de la Sûreté: French Police Archives Shed Light on Paul Graupe & Cie (Paris, 1937–1939)". Echoes of Exile. De Gruyter. pp. 75–84. doi:10.1515/9783110290653.75. ISBN 978-3-11-029065-3.
  21. ↑ "A sculpture in Fritz Gutmann's collection (Gutmann III-B)". Restitutiecommissie. Retrieved 2022-02-14. Paul Graupe was a Jewish art dealer who had fled the Nazi regime in Germany in 1936 to settle in Paris. He ran the art dealership with his business partner Arthur Goldschmidt.
  22. ↑ "Documents tell of attempts to smuggle Nazi-looted art into states". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  23. ↑ "Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-02-15. Graupe, Paul. New York, Hotel Navarro, 112 Central Park South. German-Jewish refugee dealer, resident in France from 1936 to 1939, and in Switzerland from May 1939 to December 1940, when he went to the US via Lisbon. Former partner of Arthur Goldschmidt and close contact of Wendland, against whom he has now instituted legal proceedings for the return of pictures owned jointly. Not positively implicated in any questionable transactions.
  24. ↑ Zornosa, Laura (2021-10-14). "Van Gogh Watercolor, Once Seized by Nazis, to be Sold at Auction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  25. ↑ "ONE COLLECTION, ONE PERSECUTION, ONE DECISION — BUT DIFFERENT IDEAS OF "JUST AND FAIR SOLUTIONS" — HURDLES IN DIFFERENT NATIONAL PROCESSES FOR HEIRS OF ART COLLECTIONS Holocaust_Era_Assets_Conference_Proceedings_2009" (PDF).
  26. ↑ "MEISSEN - PRESS RELEASE OF THE HEIRS OF HERBERT M. GUTMANN" (PDF).
  27. ↑ "Dr. Oetker compensates Jewish heirs for silver windmill cup in collection". lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-02-13. Emma and Henry Budge were wealthy Jewish art collectors who lived in Hamburg in a villa on the Alster Lake. After Emma Budge died a widow, their collection was shipped to Berlin, where it was sold at the auction house Paul Graupe in 1937. The proceeds were paid into an account blocked by the Nazis and her heirs never received the money.
  28. ↑ "Dr. Oetker compensates Jewish heirs for silver windmill cup in collection". 2017-05-23. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  29. ↑ ZI, Autor (8 September 2020). "Birgit Jooss über die "Hälfte eines Diptychons"" (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  30. ↑ "Graupe, Paul | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
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