Barbara Göpel Explained

Barbara Göpel, née Barbara Malwine Auguste Sperling (24 February 1922, Arnsberg – 26 September 2017, Munich) was a German art historian.[1]

Life

Her father Hans Sperling was a lawyer and came from Berlin.[2] Her mother Auguste Elisabeth was also from Berlin. In 1934, the Sperling family returned to Berlin.

Barbara worked in the Palais Beauharnais at the German embassy under Nazi Germany's ambassador to France Otto Abetz in Paris. In autumn 1943 Barbara met her future husband, Erhard Göpel, who, as the procurer of art objects for Hitler's Führermuseum Linz, was involved in looting art from Jewish art collections.[3] [4]

After the war, she worked in the secretariat of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

In 1950, she married the art historian Erhard Göpel.[5] Together they worked on the catalog of Max Beckmann's paintings.[6] After the death of her husband in 1966, she completed the catalog of the paintings in 1976 with the help of the Max Beckmann Society, which she co-founded in 1951.[7] [8] [9]

In her will, she bequeathed a collection of works by Max Beckmann to the Staatliche Museen Berlin, including the works Self-Portrait in a Bar (1942) and Portrait of Erhard Göpel (1944) as well as 46 drawings and 52 prints.[10]

In 2018, she donated a collection of Max Beckmann artworks to the Berlin State Museums,[11] which caused a controversy because of her husband Erhard Göpel's involvement in looting artwork from Holocaust victims.[12] [13] [14]

Publications

External links

[[Category:2017 deaths]] [[Category:1922 births]] [[Category:Art historians]]

Notes and References

  1. News: Kilb. Andreas. Beckmann-Sammlung in Berlin: Nachlass eines Kunsträubers. de. FAZ.NET. 22 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210522155954/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst/berlin-erbt-die-beckmann-sammlung-erhard-goepels-15492390.html. 22 May 2021. 0174-4909.
  2. Web site: Barbara Göpel S. Fischer Verlage. live. 24 May 2021. S. Fischer Verlage. de. Barbara Göpel, geb. Sperling, war seit ihrer Eheschließung im Jahre 1950 an der Arbeit ihres Mannes Erhard Göpel beteiligt: Sie vollendete den gemeinsam begonnenen Beckmann-Œuvrekatalog; mit Göpel gab sie »Leben und Meinungen des Malers Hans Purrmann« heraus.. https://web.archive.org/web/20210524182930/https://www.fischerverlage.de/herausgeber/barbara-goepel-1008090 . 24 May 2021 .
  3. Web site: RECONSTRUCTING THE RECORD OF NAZI CULTURAL PLUNDER A SURVEY OF THE DISPERSED ARCHIVES OF THE EINSATZSTAB REICHSLEITER ROSENBERG (ERR). live. Carton RA 105/34 Folder A25/483: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg III This folder contains dossiers on: Collection Adolphe Schloss ([1943], 1948–1952), details regarding seizure with Linz agent Erhard Göpel as the principal negotiator for the seizure, withinvolvement of Robert Scholz, head of Special Staff Fine Arts (Sonderstab Bildende Kunst), and Bruno Lohse of the ERR. https://web.archive.org/web/20200101082705/https://www.lootedart.com/web_images/pdf/errsurvey_total-111019.pdf . 1 January 2020 .
  4. Web site: Berlin. Staatliche Museen zu. Max Beckmann. The Barbara Göpel Bequest. live. 24 May 2021. www.smb.museum. en. Barbara Göpel was the widow of art historian Dr. Erhard Göpel, whose role under National Socialism appears to have been deeply ambivalent. From 1942 he participated in the Nazi-organised plunder of artworks through his involvement with the Sonderauftrag Linz (Special Commission: Linz). At the same time, however, Göpel protected his friend Max Beckmann from the National Socialists, who had labelled Beckmann “degenerate”. https://web.archive.org/web/20210127020824/https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/max-beckmann-the-barbara-goepel-bequest/ . 27 January 2021 .
  5. Web site: Widow of Hitler's art dealer, Erhard Göpel, bequeaths Max Beckmann works to Berlin. 24 May 2021. www.theartnewspaper.com. 21 February 2018 . en.
  6. Book: Göpel. Erhard. Max Beckmann Berichte eines Augenzeugen. Busch. Günter. Göpel. Barbara. 2017. 978-3-10-561658-1. German. 986221119.
  7. Göpel. Barbara. Lenz. Christian. 2019. Max Beckmann über seine Kunst und den Künstler allgemein. Max Beckmann / Herausgegeben von Christian Lenz Im Auftrag der Max Beckmann Gesellschaft.. German. 9–15. 1091680302.
  8. Lenz. Christian. 1977. Rezension von: Göpel, Erhard ; Göpel, Barbara: Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde. – Bern, 1976]. Kunstchronik / HRSG. Vom Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte.. German. 181–185. 0023-5474. 888439663.
  9. Roth. Moritz. 1976. Rezension von: Göpel, Erhard ; Göpel, Barbara: Max Beckmann: transzendente Sachlichkeit ; Max Beckmann, Katalog der Gemälde. – Bern, 1976]. Weltkunst.. German. 0043-261X. 888522071.
  10. Book: Petropoulos, Jonathan . Göring's man in Paris : the story of a Nazi art plunderer and his world. January 2021. 978-0-300-25192-0. 1230528211.
  11. Web site: Berlin. Staatliche Museen zu. Max Beckmann. The Barbara Göpel Bequest. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210127020824/https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/max-beckmann-the-barbara-goepel-bequest/. 27 January 2021. 24 May 2021. www.smb.museum. en. In March 2018 the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin received a significant bequest from the estate of art historian Barbara Malwine Auguste Göpel (1922–2017), consisting of two paintings, 46 drawings and 52 prints by Max Beckmann along with a painting by Hans Purrmann. The works have entered collections of the Nationalgalerie and the Kupferstichkabinett. This entire, historically significant bequest will now be presented to the public for the first time. The provenance of the works will also be a theme. They were acquired in the 1940s and 1950s by the art historian Dr. Erhard Göpel, Barbara Göpel’s husband, who died in 1966..
  12. Web site: Hickley. Catherine. Max Beckmann Bequest is a Bonus and Burden for Berlin Museums. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190501202649/https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=TFYR73258251. 1 May 2019. 22 May 2021. www.lootedart.com. Art and Object. The unexpected windfall, comprising 46 drawings, 52 prints and two paintings by Beckmann, came from Barbara Göpel, who died last year at the age of 95. Like her husband, she was an art historian specializing in Beckmann. Erhard Göpel, however, also served as a key member of the Linz Special Commission, the team of dealers who purchased–and looted–art across Europe for the “Führermuseum” that Adolf Hitler planned for his hometown of Linz but never built. Göpel played an important role in looting Jewish art collections in Nazi-occupied France. As the art historians Christian Fuhrmeister and Susanne Kienlechner wrote in a 2012 portrait, “he was neither a cold ideologist, nor a soulless businessman, but he was ambitious, adaptable and opportunistic enough to put his skills at the service of a criminal system.”.
  13. Web site: Widow of Hitler's art dealer, Erhard Göpel, bequeaths Max Beckmann works to Berlin. 22 May 2021. www.theartnewspaper.com. 21 February 2018 . en.
  14. Web site: Lost Art Internet Database – Beteiligte Privatpersonen und Körperschaften am NS-Kulturgutraub – Göpel, Dr. Erhard. 22 May 2021. www.lostart.de.

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