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August 27,
2021, updated 28-08-2021. Introduction | The work | Hitler's easel? Auction policies | Address auction house
To top of page. A "Hitler" with Altenberg seal? Lot 761: "Attributed Adolf Hitler Artwork within Jacob Altenberg marked...." Sold for £18,000.
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Description by auctioneer: "Attributed Adolf Hitler Artwork within Jacob Altenberg marked Frame with dealer’s label. The watercolour depicts a scene of Franziskaner Church in Vienna with A Hitler to bottom right corner, undated, painting measures 20x26.5cm approx, blank to reverse. Altenberg, an Austrian businessman and picture frame dealer was in regular contact with a young Adolf Hitler in Vienna and bought several of his paintings between 1909-1913. The paintings were used by Altenberg as additions to the more attractive design of the frames he offered which were easier to sell with a filler than when offered blank. This particular painting originally came from a Munich family with a senior member of the NSDAP party and early days SA ‘Sturmabteilung’ in Bavaria. Via inner party contacts, the painting was offered at a time when the Fuhrer was already quite popular within the party but before reaching the ultimate authority over the country. Purportedly, the frame broke after WWII, it made space to hide the paintings signature and has since remained the same. Comments by Droog Magazine:
1. A Hitler work with this title is not mentioned in Price and was not registered by the NSDAP Hauptarchiv in the 1930s. 2. The signature doesn’t look like any signature on believed to be authentic Hitler watercolors. 3. The
Altenberg seal, even though it
might be an authentic one (but
is it?), was never before seen
at the back of believed to be
authentic Hitler
“watercolors”. Anno 2021 many
authentic Altenberg seal can
be found on frames once
produced by the Altenberg
company.
Authentic
Altenberg seal on
non-Hitler related
objects, in circulation in
2021 (click to enlarge).
Take notice that on these
the address of the factory
(Fabric) is
mentioned, which is absent
on the seal on the
Mullock´s "Hitler".
5. The
story on the frame is very
strange. How would a
broken and repaired frame
suddenly 'make room' to
cover the image? On the
contrary, more space would
be created if a part is no
longer possible to make.
What the auctioneer states
about this makes no sense.
6. The
auction house’s history of
trading in fake Hitlers is
another alarm bell. Conclusion: all this makes us think that this work is a fake. It is upgraded with an probably authentic Altenberg seal by somebody who studied our articles on the Hitler forgery industry. But he (she? it?) didn’t study these enough, otherwise he would have known that this Altenberg seal brands the work as a fake.
Hitler als Bettler in Wien [Interview with Reinhold Hanisch]. Wiener Sonn- und Montags-Zeitung, Wien, 21. Augustus 1933, pages 7 und 8. NS 26 Hauptarchiv der NSDAP / 3 Adolf Hitler / 3.3 Künstlerisches Schaffen. Files NS 26 1-43a, 64 , 2599. Bundesarchiv Berlin.Billy
F. Price [= August Priesack and Peter Jahn]. Adolf
Hitler als Maler und Zeichner. Ein Werkkatalog der
Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen und
Architekturskizzen. Gallant Verlag, Zug, 1983. English version: Adolf Hitler. The unknown
artist, Billy F. Price Publishing Co., Houston TX,
1984. https://www.bartfmdroog.com/droog/niod/morgenstern-zegel.html#hrzen Photos of other Altenberg seals. Courtesy Catawiki, Marktplaats and:. http://legacy1.seier.at/contenido_43_beta/schildersammler/front_content.php?client=25&lang=14&idcat=419&idart=5101&m=&s= https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/wall-decorations/paintings/secessionist-scene-tyrol-brilliant-fauvist-painting-austria/id-f_4495523/ https://www.bukowskis.com/en/lots/1009734-unknown-artist-four-silk-paintings-20th-century Online Auction catalog Mullock's Auctions, 27-02-2021. https://www.mullocksauctions.co.uk/lot-749494-attributed_adolf_hitler_artwork_within_jacob_altenberg_marke.html https://www.mullocksauctions.co.uk/lot-749495-beechwood_easel_franz_drury_munich_attributed.html
To top of page.
Hitler's easel? Lot 762 at the same auction was an easel, attributed to Adolf Hitler. Sigh.
Description by auctioneer: "Beechwood Easel by Franz Drury of Munich attributed to being Adolf Hitler’s – Liberated by an Anglo American Liason Officer from the Brown House – Hitlers Bavarian HQ in 1945. Accompanied with a hand written letter dated July 1979 by the brother of the Officer ‘This is to inform that the easel…was taken by my brother, Captain GF Watman from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi HQ at Munich in 1945…when he was an Anglo American Liason Officer with the US Forces liberating Berlin. The item is the untouched artist’s easel that the young Adolf Hitler used when he was an art student. This was told to my brother by a Nazi party Woman curator of the Brown House Museum. She was discovered living in a basement and led the troops to where she and the SS had hidden the items from the museum from the liberating forces. She did this, according to my brother because she needed to provide for a young son she had given birth to. According to my brother there were many items in the museum basement including Hitler’s pistol, an ornate ring and photographs of him. All were taken by the US Forces. My brother took the easel and mailed it back to himself on Forces post. It arrived safely!!’, with the maker’s plaque to the easel, measures 117cm approx. Guide price £4000 - £6000. Not sold.” Comment by Droog Magazine: Hitler never was an art student. He
wanted to become one, in Vienna, 1907. Nobody ever
mentioned Hitler working on an easel.
There was no museum in the Braune Haus (Brown House) in Munich. And even if there had been, it would certainly not have housed Hitler's gun. Hitler used it to kill himself on April 30, 1945, in an encircled Berlin. Munich was occupied by American forces that same day. So much for the story on the easel. To top of page.
"The Auctioneers act as agents
only. Each
lot, as set out in the Catalogue or as divided
or joined with any Lot or Lots at the Sale at
the sole discretion of the Auctioneers, is sold
with all faults, imperfections and errors of
descriptions, and neither the Vendors nor the
Auctioneers are responsible for the
authenticity, attribution, genuineness, origin,
authorship, date, age, period, condition of
quality of any lot. Source: https://www.mullocksauctions.co.uk/terms-conditions
Mullock’s Ltd To top of page. © Compilation Jaap van den Born and Bart FM Droog, 2021. Photos courtesy Mullock's Auctions. |
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