Alfred Hess Collection

Alfred Hess, born in 1879 to Jewish parents, was one of the most passionate collectors of German Expressionist art. When he died at the age of 52, he had acquired a very large and important collection that included many artworks by Kirchner, Marc, Macke, and Heckel, all recognized members of the artist associations "Die Brücke" and "Blauen Reiter".

Hess' extensive commitment to art included supporting the establishment of the Modern Art Department in the Museum of Erfurt, today's Angermuseum, by regularly acquiring and donating images of his "protégés" in order to make them available to the public free of charge. However, in 1937, these works were partly defamed and confiscated as "degenerate." At the time of his death in 1931, his art collection, which consisted of approximately 4,000 works, was left to his son Hans Hess, who immigrated to France in June 1933 in order to avoid persecution by the Nazis. He has lived in exile in London since 1936. The collection remained in Germany in the care of his mother Thekla Hess, who tried to preserve it and exhibit the works in appropriate museums across the country and abroad. Immediately after the pogroms in November 9-10, 1938, Thekla Hess immigrated to England leaving the majority of the paintings to the German Reich. As a result of Nazi persecution in 1935, both Thekla Hess and her son Hans, who was in exile, suffered serious financial difficulties. They were forced to sell works of art from the collection, much of it sent to the Berlin based art dealer Thannhauser, as well as the Cologne Kunstverein, where the pieces were either stored or sold.

On September 4, 1936, Andreas Hüneke, from the research centre "Degenerate Art" at the Free University Berlin, sent a shipment of seven paintings and a watercolour from Zurich to the Cologne Kunstverein, who had agreed to store the works for free. The "Berlin Street Scene" and "Three Nudes in the Forest" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were among these paintings. The fate of the works sent to the Cologne Kunstverein is largely unknown, with only six paintings having been returned to the Hess family in 1951. It is believed that the "Berlin Street Scene" and Kirchner's "Three Nudes in the Forest" were among other works sold by the Cologne Kunstverein between 1936 and 1945 to a collector in Cologne and passed on to his heirs.

"Sharing with dignity"

Spiegel, 18 May 2009

Kirchner in public again after 70 years

On May 27, 2009, VAN HAM received the 1912 painting "Three Nudes in the Forest" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner for auction, where it sold for an outstanding 1.1 million euros. The Kirchner painting, listed in the catalogue raisonné under number 263 in Gordon, had been considered lost for 70 years until it was identified in 2009. The Hess family made no claims of restitution, when, after decades in private ownership, the Kirchner painting was brought to auction. Rarely does a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner from this period appear, making this auction a historic moment for the German art market.

"Concerning Eisenbeis' impeccable approach ... not only his auction house will have to be measured in future cases."

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14 February 2009

In the subsequent negotiations between the consignor and the Holocaust Claims Processing Office in New York, which represents Max Stern's heirs, Van Ham took on the central role as mediator. Van Ham's great tact in communication and its transparent and liberal approach to this issue enabled a successful restitution, through which the Achenbach painting is now back in the possession of Max Stern's estate at Concordia University in Montreal.

"Without intuition there is no solution"

Stuttgarter Zeitung, 28 April 2009

"A collector bid 1.1 million euros ... for Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's painting 'Three Nudes in the Forest', making this painting from the former Hess collection the most expensive work of the season in the German auction scene."

Handelsblatt, 29 May 2009