Alexander Vömel,
Born(1897-09-23)23 September 1897
Emmishofen, Switzerland
Died25 June 1985(1985-06-25) (aged 87)
Düsseldorf, West Germany
NationalityGerman
OccupationGallery owner

Alexander Vömel, or Voemel (23 September 1897 – 20 June 1985), was a German gallery owner and Nazi party member who took over the gallery of the Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim when it was Aryanized in 1933.[1][2]

Early life

Galerie Vömel, Orangeriestraße 6 (2020)

Vömel was the son of the Protestant pastor Alexander Vömel (1863–1949) from Frankfurt and Elisabeth, née Bartels (1863–1922). He was born in Emmishofen.[3] After a grammar school in Konstanz, he attended a private military school in Frankfurt in 1916. In the First World War he fought as an officer and was wounded. Early on he became a member of the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, a monarchist, far right veterans association.

After apprenticing as a bookseller, from 1920 to 1922 in Frankfurt at "Reitz & Kölher" at Schillerstraße 15, he began working for Alfred Flechtheim in December 1922. In 1924, Alex Vömel was sent for six months to Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler's gallery in Paris and in 1926 he became managing director.[4]

In 1927, Vömel married Martha Suermondt (1897–1976), née Compes and widow of the art collector Edwin Suermondt, whose collection later traded under the name "Sammlung Suermondt-Vömel".

Nazi-era 1933–1945

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they immediately targeted, Vömel's employer, the Jewish modernist art dealer Alfred Flechtheim for persecution. In one of the first Aryanizations in Nazi Germany, Flechtheim was forced out of his gallery and Vömel, who joined the Nazi party, took over.[5] Vömel changed the name of Flechtheim's Dusseldolf gallery to "Galerie Alex Vömel", writing to "his special friend and art dealer Christoph Bernoulli in Basel that he was making great alterations to the gallery, and 'when it's all over the Düssledorf gallery will be changed to Galerie Alex Vömel from March 30.' "[6]

The Aryanization controversy

How exactly the seizure of Flechtheim's property and its transfer to Vömel occurred has been a matter of debate in numerous lawsuits.[7][8] Art historians testifying for the families of Jewish victims have said that Vomel Aryanized Flechtheim's gallery, seized property for himself and sold artworks that belonged to Flechtheim as his own, while Alfred Flechtheim died in poverty as a refugee in London.[9][10]

While admitting that Vömel took over Flechtheim's gallery and joined the Nazi Party, art historians testifying on behalf of museums have described Vömel's role was to help Flechtheim and to support modern artists. The German Lost Art Foundation has written that Vömel "was wrongly regarded as the ariseur of the Flechtheim Gallery, whose liquidator was Alfred Schulte, who was commissioned by Flechtheim."[11]

Post war activities

In 1946 Vömel restarted the gallery, initially on the first floor above the Franzen porcelain shop at Königsallee 42. On 10 October 1950 Vömel attempted to claim artworks by Carl Barthe, Paul Klee, Juan Gris, Karl Hofer, Pablo Picasso and other artists that he had seen mentioned in a newspaper article from the occupation authorities, however William Daniels, head of the Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point, dismissed the claim, stating, "We regret to have to inform you that no paintings or drawings of the artists mentioned in your letter nor bronze sculptures by Renée Sintenis or any ivory sculptures originating from the Kongo are at present held in the Wiesbaden Collecting Point, apart from those few of known origin which could not have come from your country house at Düren".[12][13][14]

Vömel died in 1985 in Düsseldorf.[3]

In 1953, his son Edwin (born 1928) entered the gallery business. In 1969 the gallery opened in the then newly built Kö-Center. After his father's death, Edwin moved the gallery to Orangeriestraße 6 (Carlstadt) in 1996.[15]

In 2014–2015, a German Lost Art Foundation research project investigated the provenance of the paintings and sculptures acquired between 1933 and 1945 for the Städtische Kunstsammlung Chemnitz and the "Kunsthütte zu Chemnitz" art association—predecessors to the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, and Vömel was one of the "relevant" people under study.[16]

Nazi-looted art and restitutions

Vömel's name has appeared in numerous claims for Nazi-looted art.[17]

The heirs of Vömel's former employer Alfred Flechtheim filed lawsuits to demand the restitution of artworks sold by Vömel after the Aryanization of Flechtheim's gallery.[18] On June 17, 2013, following the recommendation of the Advisory Panel, Oskar Kokoschka's portrait of the actress Tilla Durieux was restituted to Flechtheim's heirs by the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.[19][20] The Ludwig Museum also restituted drawings by Aristide Maillol, Ernst Barlach, Karl Hofer, Paul Modernsohn-Becker, and Wilhelm Morgner that had been sold by Vömel after the Aryanization of the Flechtheim Gallery.[21] In 2018 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation agreed to restitute Artillerymen (1915), a German Expressionist painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, to the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm returned a 1910 portrait of Marquis Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac by Oskar Kokoschka, which Vomel had sold when the Nazis expropriated the gallery and artwork between 1933 and 1934.[22] The Moderna Museet said: "Vomel, who joined the Nazi party early on, took advantage of his former employer's tragic situation."[23][24][25]

Lawsuits

  • Hulton v. Staatsgemaldesammlungen[26][27]

Publications

  • Alex Vömel in WorldCat
  • Alex Vömel, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Fritz Nathan: Freuden und Leiden eines Kunsthändlers. Düsseldorf 1964.

Literature

  • Andrea Bambi, Axel Drecoll: Alfred Flechtheim: Raubkunst und Restitution, De Gruyter, May 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-040497-5
  • Yvo Theumissen: Entartete Kunst und privates Ausstellungswesen. Die Galerie Alex Vömel in Düsseldorf, in: Verfolgung und Widerstand im Rheinland und in Westfalen 1933–1945, (Hrsg. v. Anselm Faust), Köln/Stuttgart/Berlin, 1992, S. 234–244
  • Roswitha Neu-Kock: Alfred Flechtheim, Alexander Vömel und die Verhältnisse in Düsseldorf 1930 bis 1934, in: Kunst sammeln, Kunst handeln. Beiträge des internationalen Symposiums in Wien (Hrsg. v. Eva Blimlinger und Monika Mayer), Wien 2012, S. 155–166
  • Susan Ronald, Hitler's art thief : Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the looting of Europe's treasures
  • Jonathan Petropoulos, Bridges from the Reich : the importance of émigré art dealers as reflected in the case studies of Curt Valentin and Otto Kallir-Nirenstein

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cohan, William D. (2011-11-17). "MoMA's Problematic Provenances". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-08. Retrieved 2021-04-23. In March 1933, an art dealer named Alexander Vömel confiscated Flechtheim's Düsseldorf gallery. "Vömel was a member of the SA (Sturm Abteilung, or Brown Shirts)—the violent Nazi paramilitary organization," Petropoulos wrote in a report he filed in the Grosz lawsuit. "Vömel's takeover of Flechtheim's Dusseldorf gallery should be viewed as a kind of 'Aryanization.'
  2. ↑ "Lost Art Internet Database - Beteiligte Privatpersonen und Körperschaften am NS-Kulturgutraub - Vömel, Alexander (Alex)". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  3. 1 2 "Alexander Vömel". www.familienbuch-euregio.eu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  4. ↑ "Alfred Flechtheim–Alfred Flechtheim: Galerien G.m.b.H". alfredflechtheim.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  5. ↑ Koldehoff, Stefan (2009). Die Bilder sind unter uns : das Geschäft mit der NS-Raubkunst (1. Aufl ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. p. 42. ISBN 978-3-8218-5844-9. OCLC 444696279. Alex Vömel war Geschäftsführer der legendären Galerie Alfred Flechtheim an der Düsseldorfer Königsallee gewesen. Unmittelbar nach Hitlers Machtübernahme "arisierte" er das jüdische Unternehmen und informierte schon im März 1933 darüber seine Kunden: "Ich habe die Ehre, Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass ich unter der Firma Galerie Alex Vömel in den bisherigen Räumen der Galerie Flechtheim in Düsseldorf eine Kunsthandlung errichtet habe. Zehn Monate später, nur knapp ein Jahr nach der Machtübernahme der Nationalsozialisten, war Vömel bereits Mitglied der SA. Keines der Werke, die Charlotte Weidler ihm in Kommission gegeben hatte, sah Westheim jemals wieder.
  6. ↑ Susan., Ronald (31 January 2017). Hitler's art thief : Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the looting of Europe's treasures. ISBN 978-1-250-09667-8. OCLC 982186911. Flechtheim's predicament proved fortuitous for Buchholz, Valentin, Vömel and even Gurlitt. Vömel, manager of Flechtheim's Düsseldorf gallery, wrote to his special friend and art dealer Christoph Bernoulli in Basel that he was making great alterations to the gallery, and "when it's all over the Düsseldorf gallery will be changed to Galerie Alex Vömel from March 30. 17 Vömel had, however, rather jumped the proverbial gun. By sending the invitation to his new, improved Alfred Flechtheim Gallery to Flechtheim himself, the fugitive owner arranged to have his remaining stock swiftly transferred to Buchholz for safekeeping. 18 Of course, nothing would be safe.
  7. ↑ Kaplan, Isaac (2016-12-07). "Heirs of Major Jewish Art Dealer Sue Bavaria over $20 Million of Nazi-Looted Art". Artsy. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  8. ↑ Jeuthe, Gesa (2015-05-19). Die Galerie Alex Vömel ab 1933 – Eine "Tarnung" der Galerie Alfred Flechtheim? (in German). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. pp. 107–116. doi:10.1515/9783110404975-015. ISBN 978-3-11-040497-5. Gesa Jeuthe. Die Galerie Alex Vömel ab 1933 – Eine „Tarnung" der Galerie Alfred Flechtheim? Die Gründung der Galerie Alex Vömel 1933 in den ehemaligen Geschäftsräumen der Galerie Alfred Flechtheim in der Königsallee 34 in Düsseldorf wird in der Forschung bislang kontrovers beurteilt. In mehreren Studien wurde der Vorgang als „Arisierung" bezeichnet.1 Besonders drastisch bewertet Ralph Jentsch die Situation der Düsseldorfer Galeriegeschichte. Für ihn ist Flechtheims langjähriger Mitarbeiter „über Nacht" zu einem „strammen SA-Mann" geworden, der die politische Situation zu seinen Gunsten ausnutzte und seinen früheren Arbeitgeber hinterging.2
  9. ↑ "Bridges from the Reich" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-23. But Vömel became a member of the National Socialists' Sturmabteilung (or S.A.) and »Aryanized« Alfred Flechtheim's Düsseldorf Gallery in March 1933.8: I think it fair to regard Vömel as »questionable«. We know very little about Vömel, an important dealer of modern art who plied his trade throughout the Third Reich and in the postwar period. Vömel did offer an account of his career in a 1964 lecture in Düsseldorf, but he said nothing about his SA membership or his role in »Aryanizing« his mentor's business.9
  10. ↑ "MICHAEL R. HULTON and PENNY R. HULTON, Plaintiffs, - against - BAYERISCHE STAATSGEMÄLDESAMMLUNGEN, a/k/a THE BAVARIAN STATE PAINTINGS COLLECTIONS, and FREISTAAT BAYERN, a/k/a THE FREE STATE OF BAVARIA, a political subdivision of a foreign state" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-24. After 1933, Flechtheim's niece Rosa (Rosi) Hulisch (daughter of Betti Flechtheim's sister Clara), crippled with polio, was forced to watch the Aryanization of her uncle's business by Vömel. 88. By that time Vömel had already begun selling Flechtheim's collection, at least in part, through Christoph Bernoulli—a Swiss art dealer, now notorious as a profiteer from art and property left behind in desperation by Jews in Germany and eventually other occupied countries—converting for his own profit what clearly belonged to the owner of the gallery, not his traitorous assistant. 89. Flechtheim died in London on 9 March 1937 — lonely, brokenhearted, impoverished and in despair at the early age of 59 in exile after ineffective treatment for an injury from falling on some ice and after the amputation of his legs
  11. ↑ "Lost Art Internet Database - Beteiligte Privatpersonen und Körperschaften am NS-Kulturgutraub - Vömel, Alexander (Alex)". www.lostart.de. Archived from the original on 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2021-04-23. Buchhändler, 1922 Eintritt in die Galerie Flechtheim, Düsseldorf, 1923 Prokurist, 1927 Geschäftsführer, später Teilhaber, 1933 gründete eine eigene Galerie in den früheren Geschäftsräumen der Galerie Flechtheim, Hauptsitz Düsseldorf, Koenigsallee, Mitglied der SA und, 1937 der NSDAP, 1941 Beschlagnahme im Galeriebestand durch die Gestapo, galt fälschlich als Ariseur der Galerie Flechtheim, deren Liquidator der von Flechtheim beauftragte Alfred Schulte war, einschlägige Korrespondenz (Selbstäußerungen) sind bekannt. Neue Forschungsergebnisse haben gezeigt, dass die Position Vömels vielschichtig zu betrachten ist (vgl. Eintrag "Flechtheim, Alfred", Stand: 04-2011).
  12. ↑ "Page 3 Ardelia Hall Collection: Wiesbaden Administrative Records". Fold3. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  13. ↑ "Page 2 Ardelia Hall Collection: Wiesbaden Administrative Records". Fold3. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  14. ↑ "Page 1 Ardelia Hall Collection: Wiesbaden Administrative Records". Fold3. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  15. ↑ "Galerie Vömel". www.cinoa.org. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  16. ↑ "German Lost Art Foundation - Project finder". www.kulturgutverluste.de. Archived from the original on 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2021-05-04. The aim of the project was to systematically investigate the provenance of the paintings and sculptures acquired between 1933 and 1945 for the Städtische Kunstsammlung Chemnitz and the "Kunsthütte zu Chemnitz" art association—the predecessor institutions of the present-day Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. In the project, 194 works (174 paintings and 20 sculptures) were examined. The objects can be roughly divided into two groups:- Paintings and sculptures that the museum obtained from art dealers, private individuals and other people, or through donations from foundations and other institutions (59 works) - Paintings and sculptures that the museum obtained from art exhibitions and/or directly from artists (135 works) List of persons and institutions that are historically relevant to the project. The new National Socialist management of the Städtische Kunstsammlung under Wilhelm Rüdiger and his successor Josef Müller put an emphasis on German art of the 19th century. They removed the modern works, particularly the prestigious collection of Expressionist art. The sale and exchange of these between 1934 and 1938 enabled the museum to acquire works primarily by artists from the Romantic and Biedermeier periods. The art dealers with whom the museum worked were Wilhelm Grosshennig (Gerstenberger gallery), Chemnitz; Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf; Dr. W.A. Luz and Prof. G.J. Kern, Berlin; Meyer antiquarian art shop, Kühl gallery and Axt gallery, Dresden. It also worked with private foundations, private collectors and public institutions.
  17. ↑ artatlawadmin (2016-12-07). "Series on Art Restitution - Nazi Looted Art". Art@Law. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-04. Flechtheim's gallery and auction house had been forcibly shut by the Nazis in 1933 and the business then underwent liquidation. Later, the premises of the Flechtheim business, was taken over by Flechtheim's previous Managing Director, Alexander Vömel. Vömel is believed to have taken paintings from the Flechtheim business and Flechtheim's private collection alike (although it is not clear whether the Kokoschka was taken in that manner). In June 1934, Vömel sold the Kokoschka to the art collector Haubrich. Upon Haubrich's death, the painting and other items in Haubrich's estate were left to one of Cologne's most important museums, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum.
  18. ↑ artatlawadmin (2016-12-07). "Series on Art Restitution - Nazi Looted Art". Art@Law. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  19. ↑ Art Law (2016-12-07). "Series on Art Restitution - Nazi Looted Art". Art@Law. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02. The return of the artwork was the result of a recommendation made by the German Limbach Commission, which had reviewed the matter and arrived at the conclusion that the painting had been lost by Flechtheim in consequence of persecution by the Nazis, making it capable of restitution. Flechtheim's gallery and auction house had been forcibly shut by the Nazis in 1933 and the business then underwent liquidation. Later, the premises of the Flechtheim business, was taken over by Flechtheim's previous Managing Director, Alexander Vömel. Vömel is believed to have taken paintings from the Flechtheim business and Flechtheim's private collection alike (although it is not clear whether the Kokoschka was taken in that manner). In June 1934, Vömel sold the Kokoschka to the art collector Haubrich. Upon Haubrich's death, the painting and other items in Haubrich's estate were left to one of Cologne's most important museums, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. As part of a subsequent re-organisation of Cologne's museums, the Kokoschka finally ended up in the hands of the Museum Ludwig. In 2008, the Flechtheim heirs made a first request for restitution of the Kokoschka, claiming there was no evidence Flechtheim had ever received any proceeds of sale for the Kokoschka. The City of Cologne denied that argument. While it admitted that Flechtheim had been persecuted as a Jew, in this particular instance the sale of the Kokoschka was the result of Flechtheim's financial difficulties that originated before the relevant period in which the Nazis were in power. The parties therefore asked the Limbach Commission to consider the case and make a recommendation as to how to proceed. The Limbach Commission held that the case was not capable of being determined beyond doubt. However, the assumption had to be made that Flechtheim was forced to forego paintings in his collection because he was being persecuted by the Nazis. On that basis, the City of Cologne ultimately returned the Kokoschka to the Flechtheim heirs.
  20. ↑ "Nazi looted art cases remain unsolved mysteries | DW | 20.06.2013". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  21. ↑ "Museum Ludwig Bildliste RestitutionenFlechtheim/Glaser" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-10-24. Zeichnungen aus der Sammlung Haubrich im Museum Ludwig Köln, die an die Erben Alfred Flechtheims restituiert worden sind:Aristide Maillol, Kniender weiblicher Akt Um 1905Bleistift auf Papier,31,8 x 24,7 Zentimeter, Privatsammlung Alfred Flechtheim. 1934 Ankauf Josef Haubrich über Galerie Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf. 1946 Stiftung Haubrich. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2013 Foto: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln/Sabrina Walz Ernst Barlach Aus einem neuzeitlichen Totentanz 1916 Bleistift, Kohle auf Papier 32,7 x 24,5 Zentimeter Privatsammlung Alfred Flechtheim. 1934 Ankauf Josef Haubrich über Galerie Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf. 1946 Stiftung Haubrich. Foto: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln/Sabrina Walz Karl Hofer Stehender Mädchenakt 1923 Braune Tusche auf Papier 51 x 28,5 Zentimeter Privatsammlung Alfred Flechtheim. 1934 Ankauf Josef Haubrich über Galerie Alex Vömel, Düsseldorf. 1946 Stiftung Haubrich. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2013 Foto: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln/Sabrina Walz
  22. ↑ "Sotheby's to auction Kirchner and Kokoschka paintings returned to Jewish dealer's heirs. The paintings restituted to family of Alfred Flechtheim carry top estimates of $20m each" (PDF). After Hitler seized power, he became the subject of several hate articles in the Nazi press and running his galleries became impossible. 'I have to get away from here,' he wrote in a letter. 'I can't run a business any more here in Germany.' He fled first to Zurich, then Paris, and then London, where he died in 1937. His Dusseldorf gallery was liquidated and his private collection sold. The Kokoschka painting was sold by his former employee in Dusseldorf, Alex Vömel, a member of the Nazi party who profited from his employer's plight.
  23. ↑ "Guggenheim to return Kirchner painting to heirs of Jewish dealer". www.lootedart.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2021-05-02. Last month, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm returned a painting by Oskar Kokoschka, a 1910 portrait of Marquis Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac, to the Hultons. In 2013, the heirs secured the return of another 1910 Kokoschka, a portrait of the actress Tilla Durieux, from the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. They are currently seeking the restitution of works in other German museum collections.
  24. ↑ Pavlo, Walter. "Federal Lawsuit Seeks To Recover Art Lost During Nazi Occupation Of Netherlands". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02. In September, Moderna Museet Stockholm decided that a portrait by Austrian expressions artist Oskar Kokoshka would be returned to the family of Alfred Flechtheim. The museum bought the piece in 1934, a year after Alexander Vömel, an art dealer who was a member of the Nazi Party's brownshirts paramilitary group, confiscated Flechtheim's entire Dusseldorf gallery.
  25. ↑ AFP. "Sweden returns Nazi-looted Kokoschka painting to Jewish heir". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2021-05-04. 'The painting was taken from him because he was Jewish,' the Moderna Museet in Stockholm said in a statement, adding it had therefore 'decided to return the work to [his] heir.' Flechtheim's employee Alex Vomel sold the painting when the Nazis expropriated the gallery and artwork between 1933 and 1934. 'Vomel, who joined the Nazi party early on, took advantage of his former employer's tragic situation,' the museum said.
  26. ↑ "Hulton v. Staatsgemaldesammlungen, 346 F. Supp. 3d 546 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  27. ↑ "Case 1:16-cv-09360 Document 1 Filed 12/05/16 Page 1 of 51" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-24.
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