Bildnis Elsa Glaser

1913

on display

Edvard Munch1863 Løiten (Hedmark) – 1944 Ekely (Oslo)

Painted in 1913 in Grimsröd in Jelöya, an estate near Moss, which Munch had rented for two years. Else Glaser (née Kolker, 1878-1932) worked as a translator of French literature. Her husband Curt Glaser (1872-1943) was director of the Art Library of the University of Berlin and was in charge of the Department of Modern Prints at the Königliches Kupferstichkabinett. In 1914 he wrote the first monograph on Munch, which was published by Bruno Cassirer in 1917. He already helped Wartmann with the first Munch exhibition in Zurich. In 1933 he had to leave Germany due to persecution; four paintings from his extensive Munch collection were brought to the Kunsthaus.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, aktualisiert 2022.

Also known as

Portrait of Elsa Glaser

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

image: 120.5 x 85 cm

Inventory number

1946/0001

Credit line

Kunsthaus Zürich, 1946

Signature

inscr. u. r.: E. Munch / 1913; b. l.: E. Munch

Inscriptions

verso auf Rahmen o. l. in Blau: 622N [hs, auf der linken Seite stehend]; r. daneben: 58 [ms]; r. daneben in Blau: 305 [hs]; r. daneben in Blau: P C x 43 [hs]; r. daneben blaue Etikette: ZKG 0442 [hs]; r. daneben Etikette: 626 [ms]; darüber Etikette: Robert Haberling, Berlin G. m.b. H. 1368 Verpackungsspedition [ms]; r. daneben in Blau: R 26 [hs]; r. daneben runder Aufkleber in leuchtend Rot [unbeschriftet]; l. u. Etikette: 790 [oder] 796 [ms]; u. M. in Blau: Glaser XXX [hs, auf dem Kopf stehend]; auf Keilrahmen o. l. in Bleistift: 305 [hs]; o. l. KHZ-Etikette [ms]; o. M. in Rot: K 5 [hs]; daneben: 42 [hs, eingekreist]; o. M. Zollstempel [durchgestrichen]; o. r. in Schwarz: RH 7105 [hs]; l. M. Zollstempel; u. l. in Blau: R[est …] 159 [?, hs, auf der rechten Seite stehend]; u. l. KHZ-Etikette [ms und hs]; auf der Leinwand l. M. Zollstempel

Catalogue raisonné

Woll III.1027.1066

Accession year

1946

Provenance

Edvard Munch (*1863 Løiten (Hedmark), +1944 Ekely (Oslo)) (Künstler/-in)
1913 – 23.11.1943, Curt Glaser (*1879 Leipzig, +1943 Lake Placid, NY) (Sammler/-in), Berlin/AsconaWoll (Vol. III) 2009, S. 1027, Nr. 1066.
23.11.1943 – 1946, Maria Glaser-Ash (*1901, +1981), New York, NY, NachlassWie oben Fussnote 2.
1946, Charles Albert de Burlet (*1882 Rotterdam, +1956 Basel) (Vermittler/in), BaselWie oben Fussnote 2; ZKG/KHZ Inventarbuch Sammlung.
ab 1946, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), Zürich, KaufWie oben Fussnote 4.

Provenance category

no indications of being looted art

Provenance category (FOC)

B – The provenance from 1933 to 1945 has not been unambiguously clarified; gaps in the ownership history remain. According to current research, there is no evidence of Nazi-looted art. There are no implications of Nazi-looted art and / or conspicuous circumstances.

Literature (provenance)

- Gerd Woll: Edvard Munch. Complete Paintings. Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. III, London: Thames & Hudson, 2009, S. 1027, Nr. 1066.

About the provenance

Maria Glaser sold the Edvard Munch painting «Bildnis Elsa Glaser» to the Kunsthaus Zürich from New York in 1946, along with «Hafen von Lübeck». Both works came from the collection of the art historian Curt Glaser, who was persecuted on account of his Jewish origin and was suspended from his post as Director of the State Art Library Berlin in 1933. The couple fled temporarily to Switzerland, and from 1935 onwards deposited paintings for safekeeping at the Kunsthaus. However, the war prevented these from being shipped to the US in 1941. In that year and in 1943, Glaser therefore offered some works for sale to the Kunsthaus. He died of tuberculosis in New York in 1943. The sales Glaser made prior to 1945 («Musik auf der Karl Johan Strasse» and «Bildnis Albert Kollmann») are considered to have been made outside the area of Nazi control as ‘flight assets’, and are currently being investigated more closely. The sales made in 1946 are not considered to involve cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution. State of research 19.09.2024 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. 593. - Edvard Munch. Portretter, hrsg. von Arne Eggum, Ausst.-Kat. Munch-museet, Oslo: Labyrinth Press, 1994, No. 96, S. 185. - Edvard Munch in Chemnitz, hrsg. von Ingrid Mössinger/Beate Ritter/Kerstin Drechsel, Ausst.-Kat. Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Köln: Wienand, 1999, No. 40, S. 78, 240, 258 f. (ill.). - Edvard Munch in Chemnitz, hrsg. von Ingrid Mössinger et al., Ausst.-Kat. Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Köln: Wienand, 1999, S. 78 (ill.). - Edvard Munch, l'io e gli altri, hrsg. von Giorgio Cortenova, Ausst.-Kat. Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Milano: Electa, 2001, No. 36, S. 127 (ill.). - Arbeitsgruppe Munch des Kunsthistorischen Seminars der Universität Zürich/Prof. Dr. Emil Maurer: Edvard Munch im Kunsthaus Zürich (Sammlungsheft 6), Sammlungskatalog Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, 1977, S. 69-76 [Text: Yvonne Höfliger]. - Gerd Woll: Edvard Munch. Complete Paintings. Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. III, London: Thames & Hudson, 2009, No. 1066, S. 1027.

Object type

painting

Classification

D 1[2] art 20th century worldwide

Keywords