Bildnis Elsa Glaser

1913

on display

Edvard Munch1863 Løten (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. runder Stempel in Blau: Zoll / II 30 [durchgestrichen in hs, in Kreis, Schweizer Zollstempel]; o. r. in Schwarz: RH 7105 [hs]; M. l. runder Stempel in Schwarz: [unleserlich, wohl Zollstempel]; u. l. in Blau: R[est …] 159 [?], [hs, auf der rechten Seite stehend]; u. l. KHZ-Etikette [ms und hs]; verso auf Leinwand M. l. runder Stempel in Schwarz: [unleserlich, wohl 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 Slg.
ab 1946, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), Zürich, Kauf, 6'000 CHFWie oben Fussnote 4.

Provenance category

not a cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution

Provenance category (FOC)

A – The provenance for the period from 1933 to 1945 can be reconstructed. This is not a case of Nazi-looted art.

Literature (provenance)

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

About the provenance

Munch’s portrait of Elsa Glaser came from the collection of the Berlin art historian Curt Glaser. Following the Nazi takeover of power in 1933, Glaser was persecuted as a Jew. He was removed from his post as Director of the State Art Library Berlin that same year. Together with his second wife Maria, he fled to Switzerland and later to the US. This and other paintings were held in storage at the Kunsthaus Zürich from 1935 onwards. However, efforts to ship the works to the US in 1941 were thwarted by the war. Glaser therefore sold the first two works by Munch (Music on Karl Johan Street and Portrait of Albert Kollmann) to the Kunsthaus in 1941 and 1943. These transactions may be linked to Nazi persecution and flight and are under investigation. His widow Maria Glaser did not sell the portrait of Elsa and a further work, The Harbour of Lübeck, to the Kunsthaus until 1946. 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