Bildnis Lola Leder

1920

not on display

Max Liebermann1847 Berlin – 1935 Berlin

Lola Lea Leder, née Bernstein (Tarnow/Galicia 1892 - Berlin 1977), was married to the textile merchant David Leder (Jassy/Romania 1888 - London 1947). After the First World War, the Leder family moved from Chemnitz to Berlin. The couple was also portrayed by Lovis Corinth in 1922 (Insel Hombroich Foundation). The eldest son Rudolf was the writer Stephan Hermlin (Chemnitz 1915 - Berlin 1997).
This portrait is the first of several Liebermann painted after Lola Leder (see Matthias Eberle: Max Liebermann 1847-1935. catalogue raisonné of paintings and oil studies, vol. II: 1900-1935 (Munich 1996), nos. 1921/9 and 10, 1922/11-14). A preparatory chalk drawing (auction Sotheby's, London 27.XI.1980, lot 122) and a head study in oil (Matthias Eberle: Max Liebermann 1847-1935. catalogue raisonné of paintings and oil studies, vol. II: 1900-1935 (Munich 1996), no. 1920/9) have survived.In: Kunsthaus Zürich. Gesamtkatalog der Gemälde und Skulpturen, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft (ed.), edited by Christian Klemm, Franziska Lentzsch, Gian Casper Bott et al., Ostfildern, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2007.

Also known as

Portrait of Lola Leder

Medium

Oil on cardboard

Dimensions

image: 75 x 50 cm

Inventory number

1949/0018

Credit line

Kunsthaus Zürich, 1949

Signature

bezeichnet oben rechts: M Lieberman 1920

Inscriptions

Catalogue raisonné

Eberle II.1920/10

Accession year

1949

Provenance

Max Liebermann (*1847 Berlin, +1935 Berlin) (Künstler/-in)
[Verbleib unbekannt?]
spätestens ab 1923 – höchstens bis 1.3.1947, David Leder (*1888 Iaşi, +1947 London) (Sammler/-in), BerlinKat. Kunsthaus Zürich 1923 Liebermann, S. 9; Nr. 96.
frühestens ab 1935 – höchstens bis 7.1949, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Museum), Tel Aviv, LeihgabeBeate Schreiber, Bettina Leder (24. Mai 2023). Die Kunstsammlung von David und Lola Leder. RETOUR 🠔. https://doi.org/10.58079/toho (04.05.2026): Das Liebermann-Porträt war ab Mitte 1935 als Leihgabe im Museum in Tel Aviv. Im Juli 1949 kamen diese Werke in Zürich an. Am 10. August 1949 bot sie dieses aus Tel Aviv zurückgesandte Liebermann-Porträt dem Kunsthaus Zürich zum Kauf an.
spätestens ab 1.3.1947 – 2.12.1949, Lola Leder (*1892, +1977 Berlin) (Sammler/-in), NachlassZKG/KHZ, Inventarbuch Slg.; Brief Lola Leder an Wilhelm Wartmann, 10.08.1949, Archiv ZKG/KHZ, Eingehende Korrespondenz, 10.30.30.148; Sitzungsprotokoll des Vorstands, 02.12.1949, Archiv ZKG/KHZ, 10.30.10.13.
ab 2.12.1949, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), Zürich, Kauf, 3000 CHFWie oben Fussnote 4.

Literature (provenance)

- Ausstellung Max Liebermann, Juni-Juli 1923, Ausst.-Kat. Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, 1923, S. 9; Nr. 96. - Beate Schreiber/Bettina Leder: Die Kunstsammlung von David und Lola Leder, [24.05.2023], in: [RETOUR 🠔 Freier Blog für Provenienzforschende] https://retour.hypotheses.org/2811 (aufgerufen 05. May 2026).

About the provenance

This portrait is of Lola Leder. She and her husband, the merchant David Leder, were painted by the artist Max Liebermann on a number of occasions. The pair collected Impressionist and Classical Modernist works, notably by artists such as Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth. From 1933 onwards, the Leder family were persecuted as Jews in Nazi Germany. Lola and David fled to London in July 1939. In 1943, their son Rudolf fled France for Switzerland with his daughter. There, he was arrested and interned in a labour camp for emigrants. His daughter Andrée Therese was taken in by a Swiss family and received maintenance payments from her grandparents in London. After Lola and David left for England, their possessions were seized in Berlin. They had previously sent the Max Liebermann portrait along with other artworks and books on loan to the Tel Aviv Museum. These artworks were returned to Lola after the Second World War. In 1949, she sold the portrait of herself to the Kunsthaus Zürich. At her request, the proceeds went to her granddaughter’s foster mother. The portrait was owned without interruption by the Leder family, and was not sold by Lola until after the Second World War had ended. State of research 21.04.2026 Do you have questions, criticism, suggestions, and further information? Please send us a message to provenienzforschung(at)kunsthaus.ch.

Literature (general)

- Kunsthaus Zürich. Gesamtkatalog der Gemälde und Skulpturen, hrsg. von Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft et al., Sammlungskatalog, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2007, S. 266. - Matthias Eberle: Max Liebermann 1847-1935. Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde und Ölstudien, Bd. II: 1900-1935, München: Hirmer, 1996, No. 1920/10.

Object type

painting

Classification

C 1[3] painting 19th century Europe

Keywords