Wilhelm Arntz papers, 1898-1986

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Summary

Creators:

Abstract:

Comprehensive research collection on twentieth century art, especially German Expressionism, compiled by the art expert Wilhelm Friedrich Arntz. A vast portion of the collection consists of research files on individual artists. Of particular interest are files concerning the so-called degenerate art campaign by the Nazis and the recovery of confiscated artwork after World War II. Extensive material documents Arntz's professional activities.

Extent:

159 Linear Feet (295 boxes)

Language:

German and Collection material is in German.

Preferred citation:

Wilhelm Arntz papers, 1896-1986, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 840001.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa840001

Background

Scope and content:

The Wilhelm Arntz papers constitute a comprehensive research archive on twentieth-century art compiled by the German lawyer, art expert and archivist Wilhelm Friedrich Arntz (1903-1985).

The majority of the collection consists of research files on individual artists. More then 80 linear feet of material, the bulk dating from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s, details individual artworks, auction sales, bibliograhical references, and press coverage of a vast number of artists, predominantly German Expressionists, also numerous emerging and established contemporary artists from Western and Eastern European countries, the United States, and other countries.

The main portion consists of catalog sheets for artworks by individual artists. In many cases, the collection of sheets, in extent and bibliographic detail, amounts to a catalogue raisonée. Another large group of material comprises press articles on current exhibitions, publications, auction sales, and events concerning individual artists.

A portion of the archive documents Arntz's interest in tracing the Nazi government's campaign against modernist art and the efforts to recover looted artworks after the war. Included are letters from artists, correspondence between Nazi officials and their collaborators, numerous lists of confiscated artworks, as well as documents issued by government authorities in postwar Germany. Most documents are typed transcripts or photographs of original documents; only a few original documents are present. Also included are photographs from the 1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich.

The research files are augmented by a vast number of images of artworks collected by Arntz in his effort to compile a comprehensive visual documentation of artwork by 20th-century artists. The series is comprised of circa 70 linear feet of photographs, illustrated printed matter, magazine clippings, and also numerous color transparencies and negatives, and a few glass negatives.

Circa five linear feet of material document Arntz's professional activities. Correspondence with artists, scholars, collectors, and publishing houses details his involvement as a consultant and expert on 20th century art. Numerous files provide insight into his expertise and engagement as a lawyer in cases concerning forgeries, copyright, tax, and insurance.

Since the original arrangement of the material is not known, this finding aid follows largely the order established when the collection was first processed in 1986-1987.

Biographical / historical:

Wilhelm Friedrich Arntz (1903-1985) was a German lawyer, art expert and independent researcher of twentieth century art. He was also one of the early collectors of German Expressionism. Parallel to collecting artworks, he aquired publications on 20th century art and compiled a wealth of archival material, including newspaper clippings, correspondence of artists, art historians and dealers, and ephemeral items such as invitations to exhibition openings.

Trained as a lawyer, Arntz began his professional career as political editor for the newspaper Frankurter Generalanzeiger, but he lost his job in 1933 after the Nazis came to power. He was hired as a foreign correspondent for the HUCK-Verband, a major German newspaper trust in London in the 1930s.

Shortly after the war Arntz worked as head of the department of cultural affaires (Kulturreferat) in Stuttgart. In 1947, together with Robert Norman Ketterer he founded the auction house Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett where he worked until 1955-1956 as a consultant and expert on 20th century art. Subsequently, he worked until 1978 for the auction house Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne. At the same time, he served as an expert on forgery in various legal proceedings, such as the Malskat-case in 1954-1955 in Lübeck or the civil action on a false Lautrec attribution in Munich in 1970. As a lawyer he was also involved in cases concerning property law and restitution of artwork confiscated by the Nazis, as well as insurance, tax matters, copyright law, and protection of cultural patrimony.

During World War II, Arntz lost most of his library and archive, the greater portion of which he was able to rebuild after 1945. He enlarged his collection with copies or transcripts of official statements, reports and letters by high ranking National Socialists and post-war authorities on the so-called degenerate art campaign.

Arntz's collection, known as the Kunstarchiv Arntz, kept in his private home in Haag, in Bavaria, served as the source of information for his various professional activities. With certain limitations, he made his library and archival material available to the public and allowed students and colleagues to conduct research in his home.

Acquisition information:

The collection was acquired in 1985.

Processing information:

The collection was first processed in 1986-1987 by Ute Wachsmann-Linnan who also wrote an inventory. Isabella Zuralski reprocessed the collection in 2007-2008 and completed the finding aid in 2009.

Arrangement:

Organized in five series: Series I. Correspondence, 1912-1985 Series II. Expertise and appraisal, 1913-1984 Series III. Publications by Arntz, 1934-1983 Series IV. Research files, 1896-1986 Series V. Images of artworks, undated.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Art treasures in war -- Germany
Art thefts -- Germany
National socialism and art
Art thefts -- France
World War, 1939-1945 -- Confiscations and contributions -- Germany
Art treasures in war -- France
Lost works of art -- Germany
Lost works of art -- France
World War, 1939-1945 -- Confiscations and contributions -- France
Art museums -- Destruction and pillage -- Germany
Art museums -- Destruction and pillage -- France
Art and state -- Germany
Art insurance -- Germany
Art, Modern -- 20th century
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Collectors and collecting -- Germany
Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
Art -- Private collections -- Germany
Art -- Forgeries
Artists -- Germany -- Correspondence
Entartete Kunst
Expressionism (Art)
Art historians -- Archives
Transcripts
Obituaries
Legal documents
Inventories
Color photographs
Clippings (information artifacts)
Dye diffusion transfer prints
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Names:: Deutsche Zentralverwaltung für Volksbildung in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone
Verlag Das Beste GmbH
Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett
Privatinitiative Kunst
Kunsthaus Lempertz
Kommission zur Verwertung der eingezogenen Produkte entarteter Kunst
Ernst Barlach Gesellschaft
Galerie Fischer
Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die Besetzten Gebiete
Deutscher Werkbund
Kunstarchiv Arntz
Marc, Franz, 1880-1916
Macke, August, 1887-1914
Mueller, Otto, 1874-1930
Modigliani, Amedeo, 1884-1920
Nolde, Emil, 1867-1956
Müller-Wulckow, Walter, 1886-1964
Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973
Pechstein, Max, 1881-1955
Rohlfs, Christian, 1849-1938
Reutti, Kurt
Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl, 1884-1976
Schlemmer, Oskar, 1888-1943
Strauss, Ottmar
Schwitters, Kurt, 1887-1948
Weber, Andreas Paul, 1893-1980
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
Bill, Max, 1908-1994
Beckmann, Max, 1884-1950
Baumeister, Willi, 1889-1955
Barlach, Ernst, 1870-1938
Bünemann, Hermann
Borst, Hugo, 1881-1967
Bonnard, Pierre, 1867-1947
Chillida, Eduardo, 1924-2002
Chagall, Marc, 1887-1985
Franklin
Grieshaber, Helmut A. P., 1909-1981
Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989
Hofer, Carl, 1878-1955
Hundertwasser, Friedensreich, 1928-2000
Hajek, Otto Herbert, 1927-2005
Heckel, Erich, 1883-1970
Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig, 1880-1938
Janssen, Horst, 1929-1995
Jawlensky, Alexej von, 1864-1941
Kubin, Alfred, 1877-1959
Liebermann, Max, 1847-1935
Klee, Paul, 1879-1940
Kokoschka, Oskar, 1886-1980
Beuys, Joseph
Places:: Germany -- Cultural policy -- History -- 20th century

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.