Oskar Kokoschka, «Dover, Hafen», 1926, Kunstmuseum Basel. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 109, Richard Doetsch-Benziger Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_077_002), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Postponement of the exhibition on modern German painting by one year due to a death.
Letter from the assistant of the conservator [Mr. Egger], Basel, to Felix Stössinger, Berlin, Feb. 18, 1933, «Depositum Nell Walden», Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Special circumstances regarding import and exhibition of German collections?
Letter from Kunsthalle Basel [Mr. Egger] to Tekla Hess, [Ascona], July 26, 1933, «Depositum Tekla Hess», Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Oskar Kokoschka, «Herwarth Walden», 1910, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 106, Nell Walden Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_077_001), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Erich Heckel, «Elberfeld», 1912. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 15, Tekla Hess Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_083_009), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Wassily Kandinsky, «[Berührte Ecken]», 1932. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 59, Richard Doetsch-Benziger Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate Atelier Spreng (Spreng_084_001), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, «Berliner Strassenszene», 1913, New Gallery New York. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 60, Tekla Hess Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_084_002), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Franz Marc, «Grüne Kuh», 1911, private collection. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 130, Tekla Hess Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate Atelier Spreng (Spreng_086_001), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Franz Marc, «Traum [Elephanten]», 1913, Kunstmuseum Bern. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 125, Tekla Hess Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_086_002), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

August Macke, «Mit gelber Jacke», 1913, Museum Ulm. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 122, Nell Walden Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate Atelier Spreng (Spreng_102_001), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

Franz Marc, «Die gelbe Kuh», 1911, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1933, Kunsthalle Basel, cat. no. 123, Nell Walden Collection.
Photo negative from the associated partial estate of Atelier Spreng (Spreng_102_002), Archiv Basler Kunstverein / Kunsthalle Basel

 

Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz – A Brief Exhibition History

The long-time conservator of the Kunsthalle Basel, Wilhelm Barth planned an exhibition of modern painting for October 1932. This was not a matter of course at the time, as this art was «unfortunately still not fully recognized» at the time, as one lender noted in a letter to the curator [letter from Wilhelm Graf von Kielmansegg, Basel, to Wilhelm Barth, Basel, Sept. 26, 1932]. The loans for the exhibition were primarily supposed to come from the Basel private collections of Richard Doetsch-Benziger, Karl Im Obersteg, Emanuel Hoffmann, and Wilhelm Graf von Kielmansegg. However, the exhibition was postponed at short notice. The reason was that the collector Emanuel Hoffmann died after a fatal car accident, and a memorial exhibition was organized instead at the Kunsthalle Basel.

A year later, on October 7, 1933, the exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz opened at the Kunsthalle Basel. A lot had happened in the meantime, especially in Germany, where the National Socialists had come to power and enacted new laws that restricted the freedom and, ultimately, the security of entire populations.

Finally, the exhibition did not only show artworks from Basel collections. Approximately 40% of the art on display came from two collectors from Germany: Tekla Hess and Nell Walden. The artworks from these collections had been deposited at the Kunsthalle Basel, meaning that they remained in Basel beyond the exhibition for a longer period.

The identification of artworks and their lenders plays a crucial role in the comprehensive reassessment of the exhibition. While the catalog offers valuable details such as the artist, title, and occasionally the year of creation and technique, it provides only general information about the ownership, stating that the artworks originate from private collections in Germany and Basel without specific names being mentioned. However, the vital task of assigning the artworks to their respective lenders, which is crucial for provenance research, lies within the realm of archival research. Delving into letters and transport lists becomes imperative in this process. Through meticulous examination of these archival materials, a definitive connection between the artworks and their lenders can be established.

The photo archive of the Kunsthalle Basel does not fully document the exhibitions of the 1930s. In fact, it was long assumed that no photographic documentation of the exhibition Moderne deutsche Malerei aus Privatbesitz had survived. Only through the indexing of the associated partial estate of the Robert Spreng studio between 2021 and 2023, a total of ten photographs of artworks of this exhibition came to light.