Gurlitt Art Collection: Images of the FOCUS Magazine 'Exclusive'

First page of FOCUS article

The second half of the front page spread

Jacobiene Kuijpers (ARCA '13) kindly scanned images of the FOCUS article that broke the news of the 'discovery' of the Hildebrand-Cornelius Gurlitt art collection. Sascha Gleckler, an American living in Berlin, reviewed the article, translating from German to English. Ms. Gleckler, who took an art law class while earning her degree from Stanford Law, said that until this week she had not been aware of the weekly publication FOCUS but that the investigation on the Gurlitt collection lead the evening news on television last Sunday in Berlin. "How did this remain a secret while they were researching these paintings?" Ms. Gleckler asked. "And how will they deal with what started as a tax issue and is now leading into issues about restitution for Holocaust looted art?"

The issue of this week's FOCUS carries a front page exlusive of "Der Nazi-Schatz", The Nazi Treasure, described as a sensational discovery after 70 years of 1500 lost works of art by artists including Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, and Dürer with a value that might be worth more than one billion euros. Credit at the end of the 11-page article (exclusive of advertising) is given to Markus Krischer and Thomas Roell. Here's a link to a German television interview with Mr. Krischer.

Third page

Fourth page

Focus-Research described how Cornelius Gurlitt's trips on the train with large amounts of cash aroused the suspicion of Bavarian custom authorities and lead to a search of his dirty and cluttered apartment in Munich and the discovery of about 1,500 artworks. The article includes a summary of the history of degenerate and confiscated art during the National Socialist era.

Fifth page

Sixth page

The article includes images of paintings by Franz Marc (fifth page) and a photo of the legendary Parisian art dealer Paul Rosenberg standing next to a painting by Matisse. On the sixth page is an image of Max Beckmann's 'Lion Tamer' (in German, "Löwenbändiger").

The seventh page includes a photo of Cornelius Gurlitt's residence and photos of artists on file.

Seventh page

Eighth page