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Description
‘Spanishes Castell im Mondlicht’ (‘Spanish Castle in Moonlight’)
Watercolour.
In the tradition of the nineteen-century salon, a number of paintings had been sold twice (works could hung for five months in the GDK, before they were taken off the wall). The artists subsequently had to produce a copy of their works. The organization of the GDK demanded, with regard to the gigantic halls of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, large canvases. Private buyers often asked for smaller copies.
Left: ‘Spanish Castle in Moonlight’, GDK 1939 room 15, oil-version. Sold for 7,000 Reichsmark to a private individual.
Right: ‘Spanish Castle in Moonlight’ on a postcard.
In the 1930s and 1940s postcards were an important medium that brought the art from the exhibitions to a larger public. The official ‘Haus der Deutsche Kunst’ postcards were produced by, unsurprisingly, Heinrich Hoffman’s company. Müller-Wischin’s ‘Spanish Castle in Moonlight’ was also printed on postcards.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Spanishes Castell im Mondlicht’, the GDK-version depicted in ‘Das Bild’, Heft 10-12, 1939.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 50 x 42 cm, unframed 31 x 23 cm |
| – signed | : right, under |
| – type | : watercolour |
| – misc. | : professional reframed |
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BIOGRAPHY: ANTON MÜLLER WISCHIN
Left: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Südfrüchte’. GDK 1942, room 14. This painting was bought by Adolf Hitler for 8.000 RM. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, 1942.
Right: Joseph Goebbels, at opening of the GDK 1942 (room 14). At the background, right, ‘Südfrüchte’, by Anton Müller Wischin.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Spanien’ (‘Spain’). GDK 1943, room 18. Bought by Hitler for 17.000 RM.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Schloss am Meer’ (‘Castle at the Lake’), GDK 1940 room 14. Bought by Joseph Goebbels for 5,000 Reichsmark. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’, October 1940.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Richard Strauss’. In 1936 he painted Richard Strauss, for wich he was rewarded the Lenbach Price; the portrait was bought by the Lenbachhaus in München. In 2015 the Lenbach Haus gave it on loan to the City Hall of Marquartstein, where Müller-Wischen lived for 43 years.
Left: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Bergmajestät’ (‘Majesty of the mountains’). Displayed at the Grosse Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Glaspalast, 1925. Photo depicted in the official exhibition cataloge.
Right: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Bergmajestät’. The painting is in the possession of the Heimatmuseum Weissenhorn.
Left: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Die Stadt’ (‘The City’). Displayed at the Grosse Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Glaspalast, 1921.
Right: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Still ruht sich der See’ (‘Silence of the Lake’). Displayed at the Münchener Kunstausstellung 1941, Maximilianeum.
Left: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Blumenstrauss‘ (‘The Bouquet‘). Displayed at the Munich Art Exhibition in the Maximilianstrasse, organised by the Münchener Künstler Genossenschaft (Munich Art Association) in 1938.
Right: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Wolkiger Herbstag’ (‘Claudy autumn Day’). Displayed at the Grosse Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Glaspalast, 1919.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Maurisches Kastell‘ (‘Moorish Castle‘). Displayed in the exhibition ‘Münchener Kunstausstellung‘, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, 1932.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Johannisnacht’ (‘St. John’s Night’). Displayed at the ‘Herbstausstellung der Gaudiensstelle München-Oberbayern der NS-Kulturgemeinde Blut und Boden’, 1935. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’.
Anton Müller-Wischin in the Neue Reichskanzlei
Left: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Pastorale’ (‘Rustic’), GDK 1938 room 15. Bought by Hitler for 5.000 Reichsmark and placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’).
Right: Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Sturm’ (‘Storm’), GDK 1938 room 32. Bought by Hitler for 6.000 Reichsmark and placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’).
Both paintings are on the 144-List, see below.
The ‘144- list’ with 144 paintings, sculptures and graphic works which were bought by Hitler in 1938; they were transported to Berlin and placed in the Neue Reichskanzlei under construction, which was completed in January 1939. The list of 144 works is not exhaustive. Hitler did buy more works at the GDK in 1938, and in later years, which were also placed in the Reichskanzlei.
At page 5 are listed the two works by Müller-Wischin, ‘Pastorale’ and ‘Sturm’.
What happened to the art Hitler purchased at the Great German Art Exhibitions?
With his insatiable passion for collecting art, Hitler was the most important purchaser of works from the GDKs. Every year, several times, he visited the Haus der Deustchen Kunst. From 1937 to 1944 he bought in total 1316 works at the GDKs.
Hitler’s mass art purchases were mostly undertaken without a plan regarding the future location of the works. He only had a specific usage in mind from the start for a few of these works of art. The majority of the paintings and sculptures acquired at the GDKs faced an uncertain future. They were stored at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst until further notice (some were eventually taken to the Führerbau).
Below we describe the fate of a limited number of artworks which were – as an exception- given a special destination by Hitler:
1. 144 paintings, sculptures and graphic works were bought by Hitler in 1938; they were transported to Berlin and placed in the Neue Reichskanzlei under construction, which was completed in January 1939. The list of 144 works (in our possession) is not exhaustive. Hitler did buy more works at the GDK in 1938, and in later years, which were also placed in the Reichskanzlei.
2. In 1939 Hitler gave 10 works of art to the Jagdmuseum in Munich: works by Carl von Dombroswki, Ludwig Eugen, Felix Kupsch, Friedrich Reimann (5), Karl Wagner and Renz Waller.
3. A few pieces were used to decorate Hitler’s various offices and private residences; for example, Adolf Ziegler’s ‘Die Vier Elemente’ was famously placed over the fireplace in a salon of the Führerbau in Munich.
4. In April 1943 Hitler had 21 paintings from the GDK delivered to his Munich apartment in the Prinzregentenstrasse. This delivery included works by Anton Müller-Wischin, Franz Xaver Wolf, Freidrich Schüz, Hermann Urban, Ludwig Platzöder, Sep Happ and Sepp Meindl.
5. In 1939 Hitler bought two works, explicitly meant for his own personal use: ‘Beethoven’ by Josef Jurutka and ‘Bauernkrieg’ by Franz Xavier Wolf.
Anton Müller-Wischin, ‘Selfportrait‘, displayed at the ‘Sonderausstellung Anton Müller-Wischin‘, Frauenchiemsee, 2015.
Anton Müller-Wischin
Painter Anton Müller-Wischin (1865 – 1949) was self-taught. He was a teacher at the Volksschool in Staudach-Egerndach from 1892 to 1907, after which he started painting full time (on the advice of Franz von lembach). Within a short time he gained success and in 1925 he was granted the Bavaria Professor title. His works were displayed in the Glaspalast, in Berlin and in Düsseldorf. Friends of Müller-Wischin included Richard Strauss, Franz von Stuck, Julius Exter, Max Liebermann, Paul Klee and Constantin Gerhardinger.
His paintings depicted completely apolitical scenes and were very popular amongst all political parties. Müller-Wischin had two styles of painting: a) realistic landscape and flowers, very popular were his white or cream-coloured bunch of flowers (often roses)in tall or bell-shaped vases; b) expressive, colourful landscapes, dark forests and harvest fields with thundery clouds (as if the war were coming soon). There is often a spectacular iridescence: the red of the setting sun, a white or turquoise heaven, dark-coloured earth and woodland.
In 1936 he painted Richard Strauss, for wich he was rewarded the Lenbach Price; the portrait was bought by the Lenbachhaus in München. In 1942, although he was not a member of the NSDAP, he was given the highest Nationalsozialistische award: the Goethe Medallion.
Anton Müller-Wischin had an impressive number of 49 paintings hanging in the Great German Art Expositions (only three painters had more, with Franz Eichorst at the top with 57 paintings). His works were bought by Adolf Hitler (17), Joseph Goebbels (4), Joachim von Ribbentrop (4), Martin Bormann (2), Robert Ley and others for prices of up to 18.000 RM. ‘Pastorale’ (GDK 1938 room 15, bought by Hitler for 5.000 Reichsmark) and ‘Sturm’ (GDK 1938 room 32, bought by Hitler for 6.000 Reichsmark) were placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’). Both paintings are on the ‘144-List’.
In 1943 Hitler had 21 paintings from the GDK delivered to his Munich apartment in the Prinzregentestrasse. It is fair to assume that these works, which mainly comprised landscapes and still lifes by painters like Anton Müller-Wischin, Franz Xaver Wolf, Friedrich Schüz, Herman Urban, Ludwig Platzöder, Sepp Happ, Sepp Meindl and Willy ter Hell, were personal his favourites.
At the XXII Venice Biennale, 1940, Müller-Wischin displayed 10 of his works; previously, he had displayed his work ‘Il vecchio castello’ (‘The Old Castle’) at the XIV Biennale 1924 in Venice.
Anton Müller Wischin died at an age of 84 in Marquartstein.
Fourty works by Anton Müller-Wischin were displayed at the ‘Sonder’-exhibition in the Torhalle at Frauenchiemsee, October 2015 (on the occasion of his 150 birthday anniversary). Also in 2015, the Lenbach Haus gave the painting of Richard Strauss on loan to the City Hall of Marquartstein, where Müller-Wischen lived for 43 years.
In 2017, works by Müller-Wischin in the possession of the Städtischen Galerie Rosenheim, were displayed at the exhibition ‘Vermacht, Verfallen Verdrängt, -Kunst und Nationalsozialismus.