Hall in the house of Max Meirowsky in Cologne-Lindenthal. With a tapestry by Fritz Erler (1909)

Max Meirowsky (born 17 February 1866 in Guttstadt; died 1 December 1949 in Geneva) was a German-Jewish industrialist and art collector persecuted by the Nazis.

Life

Max Meirowsky, the older brother of the dermatologist Emil Meirowsky (1876-1960),[1] came to Cologne from East Prussia. In 1894 he founded a company near Porz to produce insulating material (mica, monazite and feldspar) for the emerging electrical and motor industries. The company flourished, and in 1910 was transformed into a family corporation, Meirowsky AG, in which Max's brother Emil also participated.

He lived in Lindenthal, Cologne, in a house constructed by architect Ludwig Bopp in 1910-11.[2][3] In 1917 Meirowsky anonymously donated 1.2 million gold marks to the city of Cologne, in the hope of advancing research into improving children's nutrition, however the mayor Konrad Adenauer wanted to use the money to "attract a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute to his city".[4] Meirowsky raised the donation to three million gold market in 1919, but war, inflation and other problems hampered plans.[4]

He married Amélie Paula Feldsieger, née Felsch. They divorced on October 28, 1938.[5]

Art Collector

Meirowsky's art collection included works by van Gogh, Renoir,[6] Monet, Gauguin,[7] Pissarro and Hodler.[8][9] He had a fine collection of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, including Van Gogh’s "Portrait of Camille Roulin" (1888) (now in the Museo de Arte, São Paulo).[10] In 1913 he purchased Van Gogh's Wheatstacks, a painting that would pass through many hands, including another Jewish art collector, Alexandrine de Rothschild (1884-1965), before suddenly resurfacing at Christie’s New York "following complex behind-the-scenes deal" in 2021.[10][11]

In 1912 Meirowsky was honored, along with others, for his promotion of the Sonderbund International Art Exhibition in Cologne[12][13] In 1929, Meirowsky contributed art works to another exhibition organized by Alfred Flechtheim.[14]

Nazi persecution, loss and exile

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Max's brother Emil, who had become a professor of dermatology at the University of Cologne in 1921, was fired from his position at the university because Jewish.[15] Like other Jewish doctors, his licence to practice medicine was revoked, because he was Jewish, in 1936. In 1939 Emil escaped to the United States via England. However Emil's daughter, Lisamaria (1904-1942) who had graduated with a double doctorate in medicine, did not escape. Despite efforts to convert to Christianity, she was deported to Auschwitz and murdered because of her Jewish origins. "Apart from her dissertation there are no other traces of her existence".[4]

In 1938 Max's company, Meirowsky AG, was Aryanized by the Nazis. His property Waldstraße 22/28 in Berlin-Reinickendorf was subject to a forced sale to Norddeutsche Dornier-Werke Wismar in 1938.[16]

To finance his flight, he was forced to sell his art collection at a "Jewish auction" on November 18, 1938, at the Berlin auction house H. W. Lange.[17] A version of Ferdinand Hodler's Lied aus der Ferne from 1914 was also sold for 2800 Reichsmark.[18]

The Aryanized company, now with no Jewish owners, became Dielektra AG in 1941.[4] [19] Sold in 1982 it joined the Siemens group in 1990.[20] Until January 2006 Dielekra AG operated as a limited liability company (GmbH).[21]

Some of the paintings that were once in Max Meirowsky's art collection can be seen in Brigitte Monti's Max Meirowsky: Industriel, Collectionneur, Emigrant pages 65–81.[22]

In November 2021, a Van Gogh painting that had belonged to Meirowsky, Meules de blé (1888), sold for $35 million at a Christies' auction after a three party restitution agreement involving the heirs of Max Meirowsky, Alexandrine de Rothschild, and representatives for Cox’s estate.[23][24][25][26]

Literature

  • Lothar Jaenicke und Frieder W. Lichtenthaler: Ein Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Köln : Emil Fischer, Konrad Adenauer und die Meirowsky-Stiftung, in: Angewandte Chemie, Volume 115, Issue 7, 17. Februar 2003, S. 746–750.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Meirowsky, Max | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  2. ↑ Erler, Fritz (1909), Halle im Haus von Max Meirowsky in Köln-Lindenthal. Mit einem Gobelin von Fritz Erler, 1909, retrieved 2021-10-18
  3. ↑ "Genava 64". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Jaenicke, Lothar; Lichtenthaler, Frieder W. (2003). "A Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cologne! Emil Fischer, Konrad Adenauer, and the Meirowsky Endowment". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 42 (7): 722–726. doi:10.1002/anie.200390201. ISSN 1521-3773. PMID 12596193.
  5. ↑ "Das Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn bittet um Hilfe". www.berlin.de (in German). 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  6. ↑ "Pierre-Auguste Renoir Reclining Nude". Archived from the original on 2021-10-18.
  7. ↑ "Fruits and Knife · Paul Gauguin · Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle". www.buehrle.ch. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  8. ↑ "Ferdinand Hodler Ein schöner Abend am Genfersee, 1877". Sothebys. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18.
  9. ↑ "Christie's offers van Gogh's 'Mueles de Blé' - Poised to set an auction record for a work on paper by the artist". artdaily.com. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  10. 1 2 "Stunning $30m Van Gogh watercolour resurfaces at Christie's New York following complex behind-the-scenes deal". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2021-10-14. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  11. ↑ "A Formerly Looted Van Gogh Is Being Auctioned Off by Christie's in November". Observer. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  12. ↑ "Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler zu Cöln | Database of Modern Exhibitions (DoME) | European Paintings and Drawings 1905-1915". exhibitions.univie.ac.at. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  13. ↑ Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler (1912). Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler zu Cöln, 1912. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Library. Cöln a. Rhein : M. Dumont Schauberg.
  14. ↑ "Alfred Flechtheim French Modernism". alfredflechtheim.com. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  15. ↑ "Meirowsky, Emil | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  16. ↑ "Meirowsky, Max | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  17. ↑ "Auktionshaus Hans W. Lange <Berlin>: Sammlung B., Wien, die Bestände der Firma Ziffer i.L., Berlin, Porzellan aus Sammlung R., Wien, [...], 18.-19.11.1938. | Proveana". www.proveana.de. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  18. ↑ Herzog, Samuel. "Zweifel aus der Ferne | NZZ". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  19. ↑ "Rheinische Industriekultur". www.rheinische-industriekultur.com. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  20. ↑ Monti, Brigitte (15 February 2018). "Max Meirowsky: Industriel, collectionneur, émigrant".
  21. ↑ "Lost Art Internet Database - Jüdische Sammler und Kunsthändler (Opfer nationalsozialistischer Verfolgung und Enteignung) - Meirowsky (Meirowski), Dr. Max". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  22. ↑ "Genava 64". Issuu. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  23. ↑ Villa, Angelica (2021-11-12). "Van Gogh, Warhol Bring Christie's Modern Art Sales to $751.9 M.: 'You Won't Find Another One of These Soon'". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  24. ↑ "Record pulvérisé aux enchères pour deux tableaux de Van Gogh peints en Provence". France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  25. ↑ "A Formerly Looted Van Gogh Is Being Auctioned Off by Christie's in November". Observer. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  26. ↑ Young, Michelle (2021-11-10). "After Disappearing for Decades, a van Gogh Watercolor Sold Under Duress and Then Stolen by Nazis May Fetch $30M". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  1. ↑ "Genava 64". Issuu. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
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