Art News

Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation announces acquisition of two watercolours by Wilhelm Lehmbruck

BERLIN.- The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation recently transferred legal possession of the watercolours ‘Susanna’ (1914) and ‘Mutter und Kind’ (1918) by Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881-1919) to Dr. Margit Frenk, heir to the estate of the art critic and collector Paul Westheim. The works were then subsequently re-acquired by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Paul Westheim (1886-1963) was a famous Berlin art critic, editor of the monthly periodical ‘Das Kunstblatt’, which was founded in 1917, and patron of modern art. In his lifetime he had close ties with the National Gallery. During the Weimar Republic, he placed his private collection at the disposal of the National Gallery for use in its exhibitions. He presented Pechstein’s ‘Portrait of Lotte Pechstein’ to the gallery in 1911. That work, now lost, was subsequently confiscated by the Nazi authorities as part of their ‘Degenerate Art’ campaign. Westheim knew the artist Wilhelm Lehmbruck well. After Lehmbruck committed sui