Max Meirowsky Explained

Max Meirowsky (born 17 February 1866 in Guttstadt; died 1 December 1949 in Geneva) was a German-Jewish industrialist and art collector persecuted by the Nazis.

Life

Max Meirowsky, the older brother of the dermatologist Emil Meirowsky (1876-1960),[1] came to Cologne from East Prussia. In 1894 he founded a company near Porz to produce insulating material (mica, monazite and feldspar) for the emerging electrical and motor industries. The company flourished, and in 1910 was transformed into a family corporation, Meirowsky AG, in which Max's brother Emil also participated.

He lived in Lindenthal, Cologne, in a house constructed by architect Ludwig Bopp in 1910-11.[2] In 1917 Meirowsky anonymously donated 1.2 million gold marks to the city of Cologne, in the hope of advancing research into improving children's nutrition, however the mayor Konrad Adenauer wanted to use the money to "attract a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute to his city".[3] Meirowsky raised the donation to three million gold market in 1919, but war, inflation and other problems hampered plans.

He married Amélie Paula Feldsieger, née Felsch. They divorced on October 28, 1938.[4]

Art Collector

Meirowsky's art collection included works by van Gogh, Renoir,[5] Monet, Gauguin,[6] Pissarro and Hodler.[7] [8] He had a fine collection of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, including Van Gogh’s "Portrait of Camille Roulin" (1888) (now in the Museo de Arte, São Paulo).[9] In 1913 he purchased Van Gogh's Wheatstacks, a painting that would pass through many hands, including another Jewish art collector, Alexandrine de Rothschild (1884-1965), before suddenly resurfacing at Christie’s New York "following complex behind-the-scenes deal" in 2021.[9] [10]

In 1912 Meirowsky was honored, along with others, for his promotion of the Sonderbund International Art Exhibition in Cologne[11] [12] In 1929, Meirowsky contributed art works to another exhibition organized by Alfred Flechtheim.[13]

Nazi persecution, loss and exile

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Max's brother Emil, who had become a professor of dermatology at the University of Cologne in 1921, was fired from his position at the university because Jewish.[14] Like other Jewish doctors, his licence to practice medicine was revoked, because he was Jewish, in 1936. In 1939 Emil escaped to the United States via England. However Emil's daughter, Lisamaria (1904-1942) who had graduated with a double doctorate in medicine, did not escape. Despite efforts to convert to Christianity, she was deported to Auschwitz and murdered because of her Jewish origins. "Apart from her dissertation there are no other traces of her existence".

In 1938 Max's company, Meirowsky AG, was Aryanized by the Nazis. His property Waldstraße 22/28 in Berlin-Reinickendorf was subject to a forced sale to Norddeutsche Dornier-Werke Wismar in 1938.[15]

To finance his flight, he was forced to sell his art collection at a "Jewish auction" on November 18, 1938, at the Berlin auction house H. W. Lange.[16] A version of Ferdinand Hodler's Lied aus der Ferne from 1914 was also sold for 2800 Reichsmark.[17]

The Aryanized company, now with no Jewish owners, became Dielektra AG in 1941. [18] Sold in 1982 it joined the Siemens group in 1990.[19] Until January 2006 Dielekra AG operated as a limited liability company (GmbH).[20]

Some of the paintings that were once in Max Meirowsky's art collection can be seen in Brigitte Monti's Max Meirowsky: Industriel, Collectionneur, Emigrant pages 65–81.[21]

In November 2021, a Van Gogh painting that had belonged to Meirowsky, Meules de blé (1888), sold for $35 million at a Christies' auction after a three party restitution agreement involving the heirs of Max Meirowsky, Alexandrine de Rothschild, and representatives for Cox’s estate.[22] [23] [24] [25]

Literature

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Meirowsky, Max Proveana . 2023-03-06 . www.proveana.de.
  2. Web site: Genava 64. 2021-10-18. Issuu. en.
  3. Jaenicke. Lothar. Lichtenthaler. Frieder W.. 2003. A Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cologne! Emil Fischer, Konrad Adenauer, and the Meirowsky Endowment. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 42. 7. 722–726. 10.1002/anie.200390201. 12596193 . 1521-3773.
  4. Web site: 2014-11-20 . Das Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn bittet um Hilfe . 2023-11-13 . www.berlin.de . de.
  5. Web site: Pierre-Auguste Renoir Reclining Nude. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20211018140815/https://www.pubhist.com/w31746. 2021-10-18.
  6. Web site: Fruits and Knife · Paul Gauguin · Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle. 2021-10-18. www.buehrle.ch.
  7. Web site: Ferdinand Hodler Ein schöner Abend am Genfersee, 1877. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20211018140629/https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/schweizer-kunst-swiss-art-zh1406/lot.17.html. 2021-10-18. Sothebys.
  8. Web site: Christie's offers van Gogh's 'Mueles de Blé' - Poised to set an auction record for a work on paper by the artist. 2021-10-18. artdaily.com.
  9. Web site: 2021-10-14. Stunning $30m Van Gogh watercolour resurfaces at Christie's New York following complex behind-the-scenes deal. 2021-10-18. The Art Newspaper - International art news and events.
  10. Web site: 2021-10-15. A Formerly Looted Van Gogh Is Being Auctioned Off by Christie's in November. 2021-10-18. Observer. en-US.
  11. Web site: Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler zu Cöln Database of Modern Exhibitions (DoME) European Paintings and Drawings 1905-1915. 2021-10-18. exhibitions.univie.ac.at.
  12. Book: Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler. Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler zu Cöln, 1912. 1912. Cöln a. Rhein : M. Dumont Schauberg. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Library.
  13. Web site: Alfred Flechtheim French Modernism. 2021-10-18. alfredflechtheim.com.
  14. Web site: Meirowsky, Emil Proveana . 2023-11-13 . www.proveana.de.
  15. Web site: Meirowsky, Max Proveana. 2021-10-18. www.proveana.de.
  16. Web site: Auktionshaus Hans W. Lange : Sammlung B., Wien, die Bestände der Firma Ziffer i.L., Berlin, Porzellan aus Sammlung R., Wien, [...], 18.-19.11.1938. Proveana]. 2021-10-18. www.proveana.de. en.
  17. News: Herzog. Samuel. Zweifel aus der Ferne NZZ. de. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 2021-10-18.
  18. Web site: Rheinische Industriekultur . 2023-11-13 . www.rheinische-industriekultur.com.
  19. Web site: Monti. Brigitte. Max Meirowsky: Industriel, collectionneur, émigrant. 15 February 2018 .
  20. Web site: Lost Art Internet Database - Jüdische Sammler und Kunsthändler (Opfer nationalsozialistischer Verfolgung und Enteignung) - Meirowsky (Meirowski), Dr. Max. 2021-10-18. www.lostart.de.
  21. Web site: Genava 64. 2021-10-18. Issuu. 15 February 2018 . en.
  22. Web site: Villa. Angelica. 2021-11-12. Van Gogh, Warhol Bring Christie's Modern Art Sales to $751.9 M.: 'You Won't Find Another One of These Soon'. 2021-11-12. ARTnews.com. en-US.
  23. Web site: Record pulvérisé aux enchères pour deux tableaux de Van Gogh peints en Provence. 2021-11-12. France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. fr.
  24. Web site: 2021-10-15. A Formerly Looted Van Gogh Is Being Auctioned Off by Christie's in November. 2021-11-12. Observer. en-US.
  25. Web site: Young. Michelle. 2021-11-10. After Disappearing for Decades, a van Gogh Watercolor Sold Under Duress and Then Stolen by Nazis May Fetch $30M. 2021-11-12. Hyperallergic. en-US.
  26. Web site: Genava 64. 2021-10-18. Issuu. 15 February 2018 . en.

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