UPDATE: Please help by signing the petition here; it asks for disclosure of the impact on the Old Masters and a concrete plan for their display in a different building. It does not oppose expanded galleries for modern art.
You may recall that in late 2010, the German collectors, Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch (pictured below in 2009, at an exhibition of some of their collection), signed an agreement with the state of Berlin to bequeath their internationally renowned collection of modern art to the city. It now appears, however, that the conditions were too stringent — and will result in the emptying of the great Berlin Gemaeldegalerie, which houses the State Museums’ world-class old master paintings collection, and its conversion into a museum that would showcase the Pietzsch collection and related works. The Old Masters, mainly, would go into storage — paintings by Durer, Titian, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Rembrandt, on and on.
Everyone should be appalled by this development — and many in Germany are. They need international support, however, and Jeffrey F. Hamburger, the Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture at Harvard University, is helping to galvanize dissent here. He is seeking signatures from American art historians and museum curators to a protest letter. More on this later.
It is true that the Pietzsch Collection is outstanding. It comprises Surrealist works from Paris and Abstract Expressionist works by the New York School – paintings by Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux and Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Barnett Newmann, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. among others. At the time of the agreement, it consisted of about 150 paintings, drawings and sculptures, with an estimated value of €120 million. Announcing the deal, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage, said:
Today’s agreement is a decisive step towards integrating the Pietzsch Collection into the National Gallery’s collection at the National Museums in Berlin. I am convinced that the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage will find the space to exhibit the works in the way Heiner and Ulla Pietzsch see fit.
[Boldface mine.]
The couple wanted their treasure to go to “the National Gallery in particular,” Heiner Pietzsch said at the time. The announcement referenced above also said this:
The agreement will only come into effect under the condition that Berlin city council places the collection, in its entirety, in the hands of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage as a permanent loan, and that the Foundation guarantees that parts of the collection are placed on permanent display within its own collection of modern art. [Again, boldface mine.]
On June 12, the German government allocated €10 million to renovate the Gemaeldegalerie to accommodate the Pietzsch collection. But the Old Master collection would have to go – some will be moved to the Bode Museum for display amongst sculpture of the same eras, but much more will, under this plan, go into storage until at least 2018, and probably longer, when it is hoped that a new museum space would be built alongside the Bode.
Many fear that, given the financial outlook, such an expansion will not occur by 2018, and all those wonderful pictures would be locked away in storage for a long, long time.
This plan should not stand. I’ll have more information on how to protest it soon.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Getty Images via Zimbio
Judith, is this a joke? What happened, has Obama taken over the Gemaeldegalerie and done one of his signature ‘basic transformations’??? Time to decline the donation. Period. Either that or install it in a circus tent for the summer tourist season. This is a joke, Right?
Obviously, this is not a joke. But I don’t think your reference to Obama is fair or germane. I should edit it out, but I will let it go this time. Not again.
This is the equivalent of putting the Uffizi contents in storage.
I will most certainly sign a petition. Could you let me know how to do so?
Thank you so much.
Cecily Langdale
Yes, I am trying to find out how best people can protest, and will let you know as soon as I hear back from Jeffrey.
To Josh Reynolds, your reference to Obama is in poorer taste I could ever have imagined. I look forward to ignoring your future postings.
This reminds me of the Barnes Foundation situation. There are innate problems in endowments that come with stringent conditions – because they can never endure. Better to nip this one in the bud.
One admires public-spirited generosity but ultimately donors must yield to the will of curators. It is they, and they alone, that should determine which works are hung and where. Things can be rotated, and perhaps this doesn’t happen often enough. I also see how Modern and contemporary art are ‘pushing out’ Old Masters. I wonder if a large donation of Old Master pictures would ‘push out’ Modern and contemporary art? I fear not. I see this as yet another ‘attack’ on Old Masters! (this maybe overstated but I see it in the UK especially). One only has to see the current hang at Tate Britain to see this invidious practice in action. Again one is assured that it is only a temporary measure, but really how long is temporary?
This is dreadful. The Gemaeldegalerie in Berlin is one of the greatest museums in the world and also, unfortunately, one of the least visited. .On any given day you can be alone in the galleries – which for us, art historians and museum curators, is bliss but the situation has contributed to belittle the importance of the gallery in Berlin’s cultural life. There are many reasons for this neglect, not least the dreadful entrance to the gallery, unimpressive, almost unmarked in a “forum” that looks like a suburban shopping mall. I cannot believe the collection will go into storage. At least, it should be put on loan in other museums in Germany, and believe me, the US museums will be happy to help — but this must not happen. We must all protest. Please give us the names of officials whose offices should be deluged with letters, e-mails, tweets, and old-fashioned faxes.
I heard of this plan in Berlin when i was visiting in January this year. I visited all the museums involved. Berli does need another building but can’t afford it for some time. HOWEVER They could show many of the old masters in the Museum Island galleries. Quite a bit on display in them is not great to be honest. Just some intelligent rehanging and it could be great. Also people are not going to the old gallery as its not on the island so people aren’t much seeing the old masters anyway. Oh to have such a problem….Australia doesn’t! It doesn’t have such works…well a few but not like Berlin.
I agree the Obama comment is silly and cheap.
WHy don’t these people pay for their own building? It is doubly atrocious that so-called protectors and conservators of art in the museum or gpvernment pander to the fashion of the moment. And it is atrocious that centuries of great, not to mention meaningful art, are tossed for any reason, including, ostensibly, lack of space. Let this outrageous couple build at their own expense a memorial to themselves and their egocentricity. This is absolutely no way to accept anything posturing as a gift to culture.
P.S. The Obama crack is silly but way besides the point. Wake up folks!
Appalling situation. This must not be allowed to happen. Please let us know what we can do and if there will be a peition we can sign.
Yes, I will — Jeffrey Hamburger is putting something together re: a petition online, but it may be next week until it’s up and running.
As an art historian, I am deeply saddened by the possibility of the Old Masters Collection being displaced from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Museums should not be subjected to the whims of fashion, and though I recognize the need to draw new people in by offering new perspectives on art, it is also essential that the public can keep having access to art of all periods.