Paintings hung at the Berghof.

[Johnnyrocket]

Wonder where the statue is now?

Johnny R.

[CPB]

http://www.amazon.com/Monuments-Men-Thi ... 458&sr=8-1

[Johnnyrocket]

http://www.amazon.com/Monuments-Men-Thi ... 458&sr=8-1

This looks like the next book I'm going to read...nice link to...thanks CPB or the great book tip.

Johnny R.

[CPB]

No problem. I stumbled upon it at a bookshop the other day - and it looked like a good read. Let us know how you get on.

Chris

[Annelie]

I have posted this before somewhere but I will try it here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8486092.stm

found this interesting!

book was one of 31 albums that formed a catalogue featuring art selected by Hitler for inclusion in a huge National Socialist museum of art, planned for the Austrian city of Linz.

The place had already been stripped bare by other American souvenir hunters, but in a cabinet Mr Pistone found a large photo album, full of immaculate black and white reproductions of paintings.

at least there is proof of what they had their eye on or had already acquired.

[Eingang]

Well, did anyone mention this link:

http://memory.loc.gov/phpdata/pageturne ... 8496&seq=1

You can download each picture very high resoluted under "TIF" left side top....

It´s the famous catalogue with his private art collection....

[Geoff Walden]

If only the catalog identified the works by title and author!

In addition to the works that we have discussed above, there is a portrait of Frederick the Great (which hung above the fireplace in Hitler's office, sometimes ... sometimes it was the Moltke portrait in that location), plus portraits of Hindenburg, Julius Schreck (misspelled "Streck"), Richard Wagner, Geli Raubal, and landscapes of Berchtesgaden with Watzmann, and the Koenigssee from the Malerwinkl (I have not seen any Berghof interior views that show any of these works, except Frederick).

There are also several artworks that do appear in interior views of the Berghof, that are not in the catalog. Does anyone know the date of this catalog?

[Johnnyrocket]

This painting was suppose to have been hung in Hitler's Berghof office. How true is this? I have never seen images of this painting hanging in the office area.

Informational link to the painting:
http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2 ... -shot.html

Johnny R

[Kunstler]

Well, did anyone mention this link:
http://memory.loc.gov/phpdata/pageturne ... 8496&seq=1
You can download each picture very high resoluted under "TIF" left side top....
It´s the famous catalogue with his private art collection....

Eingang thank you for posting that link, it is exactly the sort of thing that look for. At first it seems to be a catalogue of many of the works hung at the Berghof, and I recognise quite a few from small photo's by the 'pattern' of their composition. the old man and child for example was hung in the study, as was one of the landscapes.

The book contains also a Spitzweg that I have never seen, I wonder where that is now? Hitler owned a vast art collection, so this isn't a catalogue of his entire collection, and as pointed out there were things hung at the Berghof that also don't appear which may make this an early catalogue.

One thing I do find fascinating is the insight into Hitler's mind that such choices in art can give. There are many mountain scenes to reflect his obvious love of the mountains, and there are also several lonely, single figure compositions which may reflect on how he viewed himself. This idea may be further explored by the presence of the book worm painting - a man, alone with his books while deep in study. I remember in Kubischek's book he said of Hitler something like "Adolf and his books! You would not see him without a bundle of books beneath his arm"



There is one painting in particular that I find unusual and therefore raises my interest, and it is this one. This does not meet the technical ability required and admired by Hitler, it is painted so badly that it has already begun to crack even though it is dated 1939. This means that perhaps it had special meaning for him, or was a gift from someone he admired? Given Hitler's taste for highly finished works this one stands out like a sore thumb. The paintings 1939 date gives at least a ball park age for the book.

My guess is that this was perhaps an early catalogue of the art that was owned by Hitler, since this he expanded his collection hugely, including many Eduard Grutzners that don't show here. Fascinating to see, and once again thank you for posting the link.

[Artlover]

The small statue is "Kopftuchbindendes Mädchen" (Girl tying a scarf on her head) by Eugen Hencke. It was exhibited at GDK (Haus der Kunst) in 1938.

The ruin painting is "The temple of Janus" by Giovanni Paninni. See pics.

[CPB]

I discovered something interesting the other day, quite by chance, about Sofie Stork.

As you know, she was a kind of interior decorator in-residence at the Berghof. She painted a few of the tea sets there, designed lampshades (see previous post) and also the table cloths that appear in the terrace footage. Amongst other things.

And it turns out her family also ran a high-end angling store in Munich, certainly post-war and quite possibly during it. Check out this picture from their 1953 catalogue - signed by her, bottom-right hand side. There are also hand-drawn maps of how to find the store which she did - you can tell by the handwriting. It matches that which appears on the reverse of this plate.

Weird, eh.

[Annelie]

Weird, eh.

Why is it weird? Sounds all perfectly normal to me.
One has to make a living especially after the war.

BTW, you probably already know but hunting, fishing etc memorabilia go for big money
even if it is not painted by Sophie Stork but I bet anything she painted goes for
much more than others of similiar type.

[CPB]

Yeah, okay. I suppose 'interesting' would have been a better word choice.

The catalogue with the fish picture came up for auction recently and fetched about 4 euros. I guess not many people know, or care, who she was.

[Annelie]

Part of being an good auctioneer is that you make the crowd interested in what they are selling
and its too bad they didn't know who she was for it would have fectched far bigger prices but
maybe the recession has something to do with it.

Hope you bought it? Anyone associated with the era (of course the quality of the item sometimes has nothing to do with it) and Hitler is bound to bring a good price. Post war items bring less of course!

[Keir]

Just to add to the post about Robert Edsel's book The Monuments Men, he has his own site (http://www.monumentsmen.com/blog) which is pretty interesting with bios, documents, photos and events listed.
The two vintage photos below from his blog show the Munich Collecting Point on Meiserstrasse 10 (across from what had been the offices of the Fuehrer's deputy when it was the NSDAP Central Office) before repairs were made in June 1945 and how it appeared during this period. It was designated to primarily hold stolen loot, particularly from Hitler and Goering’s collections, and other works found in the Altaussee salt mine.The building itself is identical to the Fuehrerbau and fittingly today it is a museum for classical replicas.