Baldin Collection

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Cypresses in Starry Night (F 1540, JH 1732) by Vincent van Gogh (1889).[1] The only known pen and ink study of The Starry Night and one of the most famous pieces in the "Baldin Collection".[2][3]

The Baldin Collection is a group of 364

Rubens, Titian and other famous artists. Historically part of the collection at the Kunsthalle Bremen, the Baldin group came from a much larger cache of artworks stored by the Germans in a Brandenburg castle to protect it from air raids. In 1945 the castle was occupied by the Red Army and the storage vaults were looted, mainly by Russian soldiers but also by the local German population. The works Baldin took were then hidden at a Soviet Research Institute for many years. In 1991 the collection was moved to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg
where its existence was revealed to the world in 1992. It remains there today.

Since then the Baldin Collection has been regarded as looted art and is the subject of fierce debate among experts, between Germany and Russia, and among politicians inside Russia itself. While Victor Baldin did steal the works, he is also credited with having saved them from destruction. For decades he appealed to senior officials, including Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, to get them returned to Germany. In 1989 Baldin even traveled to Bremen, West Germany, to reveal the existence of the secret collection to the Kunsthalle. In the 1990s the government of Boris Yeltsin finally agreed to return the works, but subsequent Russian governments have blocked such plans. Today the Collection has been called "of singular importance to the entire issue of trophy art" by the Russians[4] and a "cause célèbre of German-Russian Restitution Politics" by those who support its return.[5]

History

Kunsthalle Bremen Collection

The Kunsthalle in Bremen, Germany

At the outbreak of

Washington Crossing the Delaware, which because of its size could not be moved. After this damage, the Kunsthalle collections were moved to more secure storage in various bank vaults underneath Bremen. In 1943, as bombing intensified, Bremen's mayor decreed that the museum's collections be moved to safety outside the city. The collection was divided up between four castles in Germany. A set of 50 paintings, 1715 drawings and 3000 prints were moved to Schloss Karnzow, the hunting lodge of Count von Königsmarck, near the small town of Kyritz north of Berlin in the Province of Brandenburg.[6]

Karnzow Castle and Victor Baldin, 1945

Frauenbad by Albrecht Dürer (1496). Not part of the Baldin Collection itself, but taken by the same military unit from the same storage vaults at Karnzow Castle[7]

After Germany's defeat,

Toulouse-Lautrec, and Titian.[8][9][10][11]

Baldin became determined to save what he could. He later said "I started in on the beautiful things, then I saw it was all beautiful."

van Gogh of his famous 1889 painting, The Starry Night.[3] As the Soviet Army withdrew, the cellars were left open and what little remained of the collection was lost to local looters and the weather.[6]

Baldin's actions and motives are still debated today. He did indeed cut the drawings from their mounts, put them into a suitcase, carried them to the Soviet Union, and hid them in his apartment. However, while at the castle, Baldin also wrote down descriptions of every work he saw, copied the German signatures and labels, and later carefully documented their provenance. He also begged for an official military transport so the collection could be handled more securely, but none were available, and his request was denied.[12] As a result, it is generally agreed that Baldin's efforts rescued priceless masterpieces from outright destruction. In addition, because of his specialized art knowledge, what would become known as the "Baldin Collection" became the most important part of the Kunsthalle collection remaining from Schloss Karnzow.[citation needed]

In contrast to Baldin's efforts, works looted by Baldin's comrades from Karnzow have been found as far afield as

United States Customs in an incident of black market trading.[7][13] Today over 1,500 items from the Kunsthalle collection that were stored at Karnzow remain missing.[2]

Postwar period, 1946–1990

After their return home, some of the officers who had participated in the looting at Karnzow donated their pieces to museums around the Soviet Union. In 1948 Baldin deposited his at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture in Moscow, where the masterpieces became a Soviet state secret.[5] Baldin worked as an art restorer at the museum and eventually became its general director in 1963, a post he held for 25 years.[citation needed]

Baldin then tried for decades to give the stolen art back to Germany. He took the courageous steps of writing to Soviet leader

Raisa Gorbachev – all to no avail.[10] In 1989, during the period of increased transparency in the Soviet Union known as perestroika, Baldin took another unprecedented step. He traveled to Bremen, West Germany, and met with the director of the Kunsthalle, Dr Siegfried Salzmann. The director was shocked to learn that important parts of the long lost collection had survived. With hands shaking, he read the list of the missing masterpieces that Baldin had prepared years before. Baldin had put pencil marks next to those works he had personally rescued. He has since been called the "hero of the story."[citation needed
]

Post-Soviet period, 1991–2000

In 1991, Baldin wrote to Russian President

St. Petersburg in a cover-up attempt.[8] As of 2012 it is still unclear if one of the most famous works in the collection, Cypresses in Starry Night (1889) by Van Gogh, is at the Hermitage or remains in Moscow.[2]

In legal proceedings and political debates during the following years it appeared that collection might return to its rightful owner.[14] In 2000, a group of 101 pieces from another part of Baldin's brigade, including Albrecht Duerers' 1494 watercolor View of a Rock Castle by a River, were returned to the Kunsthalle by Russia. This was followed by the simultaneous return of two artifacts of the Amber Room, bought and financed by a Bremen businessman to speed up the process.[15] Anatoly Vilkov, from the Russian ministry of culture, stated that "Russia has no right to keep the Baldin collection. We did not receive this right through a gift, since by law the collection did not belong to the donor Baldin."[16]

Latest disputes, 2003–present

Nikolai Gubenko in 2005

The potential return of the collection to Germany began to face increasing opposition from Russian nationalist leaders, including

Communist legislator and former Minister of Culture of the USSR, Nikolai Gubenko. Gubenko had been one of those involved in the 1991 transfer of the art to the Hermitage to hide it.[10] The State Duma, which included Gubenko as a member,[9] passed a non-binding resolution on 12 March 2003 asking President Vladimir Putin to prevent the Ministry of Culture from returning the Baldin Collection.[17]

Russian Minister of Culture,

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Sokolov, Russia's new Minister of Culture, then contradicted previous promises and stated that he opposed the return of the Baldin collection to Germany. As of 2010, it appeared that the collection would not be returning to Germany any time soon.[5]

Legacy

According to a 2005 interview with Baldin's widow Julia Siwakowa, it was always his wish that the looted art be returned to the Kunsthalle. Baldin's last will stated: "The collection belongs to humankind, not only Germany, and as the collection was located at the Kunsthalle Bremen, it must be returned to this place."[9] The history of Victor Baldin, the stolen paintings and their odyssey is featured in the 2007 book Victor Baldin – The Man with the Suitcase/Victor Baldin – Der Mann mit dem Koffer.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ David Brooks: Pen and Ink study of Starry Night The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Retrieved 3 June 2012
  2. ^ a b c The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute: Cypresses in Starry Night in the Lost Art digital collection. Archived 10 January 2013 at archive.today. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Richard Boudreaux: "Ex-Soviet Officer Tried to Return Art Found in Cellar", Los Angeles Times 20 March 1995, retrieved 3 June 2012.
  4. ^ Interview of Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, State Hermitage Museum Director: Interview in The Gazette 12 March 2003 Moscow English summary at the website of the State Hermitage Museum. Archived 6 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^
    S2CID 156663114
    .
  6. ^ a b Kunsthalle Bremen: Geschichte 1914–1945 online (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  7. ^ a b Jo Ann Lewis, "Duerer, Drawing a Hot Bath" in: The Washington Post, 26 October 1997, at G9
  8. ^ a b Kira Dolinina and Maia Stravinskaya: "Ministry of Culture Won't Give Back What Doesn't Belong to It". Kommersant. 22 February 2005. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b c d "Es ist sein letzter Wille". Die Welt. 22 February 2005 (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Judith Ingram: "Disputed German Art Opens in Moscow". The St. Petersburg Times Issue 856 (24) 1 April 2003 (in English) Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ a b Andrei Zolotov Jr.: "Shvydkoi Could Face Charges Over German Art Exchange". The St. Petersburg Times Issue 855 (23) 28 March 2003 (in English) Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Robert Hughes, Constance Richards, Rhea Schoenthal: "Spoils of War": Time, 3 April 1995 abstract online. Retrieved 2 June 2012
  13. ^ Constance Lowenthal, U.S. Customs Recovers Old Masters Drawings, IFAR Report, Oct. 1997, at 4
  14. ^ Jo Ann Lewis. "World War II German Art Hoard To Be Returned by Soviets; 360 Master Drawings Taken for Safekeeping" in: The Washington Post. 16 August 1990.
  15. ^ Peter Finn: "Bremen Basks in Return of Art Looted by Soviet Army" in: The Washington Post. 24 November 2000, A Section
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-3939429135
    (in German)
  17. ^ "Duma Calls for Go-Slow Approach on Trophy Art" Radio Free Europe Newsline 13 March 2003. Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Russian Minister of Culture: Return of 'Baldin Collection' to Germany is Legally Relevant". Pravda. 7 April 2003. Archived 26 August 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ "Die Liste beginnt mit Dürer". Die Welt. 22 March 2003 (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2012.

External links

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