Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, Blick in die Tenne

Description

‘Blick in die Tenne’ (‘View at the Threshing Floor’)
Signed 1943.
Displayed at the Great German Art Exhibition 1944 room 35.
With original GDK-sticker at the backside.
The painting was confiscated in 1945 by the US Army and stored in de Central Collecting Point of Munich, with the Property Card Number 29313 (also written on the backside).

In total four works by Schwarte-Hellweg were stored in de CCP Munich; one of them was previously stored in the salt mines of Altaussee, the Nazi repository for stolen art and for parts of Hitler’s personal collection contemporary German art (National Archives: Property Card Number 12839 Aussee 7659).

The threshing floor is often the part of the farm connecting the living quarters of the farm with the place where the grain was threshed in winter. In the Bible, there are dozens of references to the ‘threshing floor’, some literal and some symbolic. Both the Old and New Testaments refer to the threshing floor as a symbol of judgment.

Backside of the painting: the original sticker of the GDK 1944.

Backsie of the painting: the number ‘29313’ under which the painting was registered at the Central Collecting Point in Munich.

Stored in the Central Collecting Point Munich
As a result of war circumstances, the painting assumably remained in the basement of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst after the 1944 exhibition. The GDK-1944 ended in February/ March 1945 and Munich was liberated in April 1945. Somewhat later US Army Captain W. Gilkey moved hundreds of works of art left in the Haus der Deutschen Kunst to the basement of the Führerbau, the ‘Gallery II’ of the Central Collection Point Munich.
According to the National Archives Catalog, ‘Blick in die Tenne’ left in September 1939 the Central Collecting Point in Munich.

25 April 1947. Report of Captain Gordon W. Gilkey
‘The building at the time of my search, contained a few crated pictures in the basement and several large war paintings which had been removed from their canvas stretchers, rolled up, camouflaged, and placed to resemble stage curtains. The 1944 exhibited works and unexhibited entries had been moved from the Haus der Deutschen Kunst to the basement of the Führerbau on Königplatz in Munich, and were in the process of being returned to the artists or owners. I called a temporary halt of this and looked at all the pictures even after assurances from German personnel in the building that it contained no war art. My search disclosed that about one out of every five proved to be a war picture. They had been hidden behind huge framed nudes and pastoral landscapes….’ (Report of Captain Gordon W. Gilkey, d.d. 25 April 1947, published in the book ‘The German War Artists’ by Paul Weber, 1979).

‘Blick in die Tenne’ by Schwarte-Hellweg, stored after WWII in the Central Collecting Point in Munich. Registered in the files of the National Archive Catalog (Property Card Number 29313/H.d. Kunst 973).

– condition	: II
– size	: 68 x 54 cm, excluding frame 57 x 42 cm.
– signed	: left, on top. Signed 1943.
– type	: oil on canvas

============================================ § ============================================

BIOGRAPHY: HANS SCHWARTE-HELLWEG

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Der Fahneneid‘ (‘Military Oath of the Naval Cadets’), GDK 1941 room 33. Painting in large format. Bought for 6.000 Reichsmarks by the Marine-Standortverwaltung Flensburg-Mürwik.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Die Lagebesprechung, -Generaladmiral Carls mit seinem Stab‘ (‘Military Conference, -General Admiral Carls with his staff‘), GDK 1942 room 13. On the background a map of Norway. Described and depicted in ‘Das Bild des Herrschers in Malerie und Grafik des Nationalsozialismus, by Tobias Ronge, 2010.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Abend am Bord’ (‘Evening on Board’), GDK 1943 room 33, sold for 10.000 Reichsmark. Size 190 x 250 cm. Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk’, 1943, and on HDK-postcards. Sold by a French auction house in 2013.

‘Abend an Bord’ and ‘Eichenlaubträger Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze’, both GDK works by Schwarte-Hellweg, published in ‘Hitlerova Sbirka’, 2009, by Jiri Kuchar.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Eichenlaubträger Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze’ (‘Captain Leutnant Herbert Schultze, German submarine commander and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves’). GDK 1943 room 13. Bought by Adolf Hitler for 5.000 Reichsmark.

The National Archives in the US records four works by Schwarte-Hellweg stored in the Central Collecting Point Munich, plus a folder from the Haus of German Art with two ‘military/ Nazi prints’ by Schwarte-Hellweg, assumably depictions of GDK works. Both prints left the CCP-Munich on 6 July 1946, and were displayed at the ‘Exhibition of German War Art’ at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 6 December 1946.

Exhibition of German War Art at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 6 December 1946.
At the War Art exhibition in the Städelmuseum, organized by U.S. Army Captain Gordon W. Gilkey, 103 German art works were shown. These 103 works were selected by Gilkey from the art collection he had found in:
– Schloss Ringberg near Tegernsee (works from the Luftgaukommando VI in Münster);
– the Salt plant in Bad Aussee (and St. Agatha, Austria);
– Schloss Oberfrauenau (in basement and in woodcutters hut);
– the Haus der Deutschen Kunst;
– the Führerbau basement (CCP Munich);
– the Kelmheim Befreiungshalle (works from the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’):
– the Reichs Chancellery.

General Joseph T. McNarney reviewing the exhibition of German War Art at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt on 6 December 1946. McNarney standing in front of Bergen’s work: ‘Battle of the Denmark Strait, 24 May 1941’ (GDK 1944).

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Der Schwimmer Ulli Schroeder‘ (‘The Swimmer Ulrich Schröder, world champion 100 meter backstroke students in 1939, German champion in 1940, 1942 and 1943). GDK 1943 room 9. Size 150x 70 cm.

Left: Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Porträt Admiral G.‘. Portrait of Admiral Günther Guse (1886 Stettin – 1953 in POW-camp Vladimir in the Soviet Union), recipient of the German Cross in Silver. GDK 1943 room 6. Size 80 x 60 cm.
Right: photo of Admiral Guse, date unknown.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Speerwerfer’ (‘Javelin Thrower’), displayed at the exhibition ‘Kunstausstellung Hilfswerk für Deutsche bildende Künst in der NS-Volkswohlfahrt’, 1938. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg, ‘Standing female nude’, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1934. Size 71 x 46 cm. Sold in 2015 by an auction house in the UK.

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg
Hans Schwarte-Hellweg was born in 1908 in Mahrisch-Ostrau, which was then part of the Austrian Empire (nowadays Czechia). He went to the Vienna Art Academy from 1924-1928. He settled in Vienna, made study trips to Naples and Paris, and went in 1935 to Berlin where he took part in major art exhibitions. Around 1940 he moved back to Vienna, after 1948 to Zell am Moos, and finally, after 1953, he lived in Vöcklabruck.
Schwarte-Hellweg won the first price in december 1936 at the art competition ‘Der Maler und sein Modell‘, organized in Berlin by Terra Film, one of the largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. His winning painting was again displayed in July 1937 at the exhibition ‘Preissträger stellen sich vor‘ (‘Award Winners present themselves’), organized by the Reichskammer der Bildende Künste in Berlin. Described in ‘Preisträger stellen sich vor, Der Maler und sein Modell’, by Dr. Werner Rittich, in the ‘Völkischer Beobachter‘, 26 November 1937.
In 1938 Schwarte-Helweg was represented at the exhibition ‘Kunstausstellung Hilfswerk für Deutsche bildende Künst in der NS-Volkswohlfahrt’, Berlin (‘Javelin Thrower’); a year later at the same exhibition with ‘Head of a Girl‘ and ‘Countryside near Vienna‘.
In 1940/41, at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, he displayed i.a. ‘Portrait of a Marine Officer’ and ‘Portrait of a Sailor’.
In 1942 he participated at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’ in the Nationalgalerie with three works.
Schwarte-Hellweg took part in the Great German Art Exhibitions with 13 works, including:

‘Der Fahneneid‘ (‘Military Oath of the Naval Cadets’), GDK 1941. Bought for 6.000 Reichsmarks by the Marine-Standortverwaltung Flensburg-Mürwik;
‘Die Lagebesprechung, -Generaladmiral Carls mit seinem Stab‘ (‘Military Conference, -General Admiral Carls with his staff‘), GDK 1942;
‘Porträt Admiral G.‘. Portrait of Admiral Günther Guse (1886 Stettin – 1953 in POW-camp Vladimir in the Soviet Union), recipient of the German Cross in Silver. GDK 1943;
‘Eichenlaubträger Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze’ (‘Captain Leutnant Herbert Schultze, German submarine commander and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves’). GDK 1943. Bought by Adolf Hitler for 5.000 Reichsmark;
‘Abend am Bord’ (‘Evening on Board’), GDK 1943, sold for 10.000 Reichsmark;
‘Head of a Girl’, GDK 1944, bought by Martin Bormann (later stored in the salt mines of Altaussee*).

Hans Schwarte-Hellweg died in 1977 in Vienna.
The US Army Center of Military History holds two drawings by Schwarte-Hellweg: ‘Setting out of a Nation’, 1942, and ‘The Greater Sacrifice’, 1944, both pencil on paper.

* Altaussee
During World War II (1943–1945) the extensive complex of salt mines in Altaussee (Austria) served as a huge repository for art stolen by the Nazis, as well as for Hitler’s personal contemporary art collection. These artworks were accumulated under the alias Sonderauftrag Linz (Special Commission: Linz) by Adolf Hitler and were intended for the planned Führermuseum in Linz, Austria. At the end of the war the entire depot included around 6,500 paintings, as well as many statues, furniture, weapons, coins, and libraries. After the occupation of Altaussee on 8 May 1945 by an American infantry unit, the art depot was seized by the U.S. Army.
The Führermuseum, or ‘Linz art gallery’, was an unrealized art museum planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near his birthplace of Braunau. Its purpose was to display a selection of the art bought, confiscated or stolen by the Nazis from throughout Europe during World War II. The overall plan was to turn Linz into one of the greatest art centers of Europe, overshadowing Vienna. Hitler personally favored German and Austrian paintings from the 19th century, but the collection also contained many early German, Dutch, French, and Italian paintings. The collection, when it was whole, included 4,731 pieces, not just paintings but also tapestries, sculpture, furniture and porcelain. Beginning in February 1944, the artworks were relocated to the 14th-century Steinberg salt mines above the village of Altaussee, in which the holdings of various Viennese museums had earlier been transferred.
The collection hardly contained works of German contemporary art.

Central Collecting Point Munich
As a result of war circumstances, many art works remained in the basement of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, including several works from the 1944 GDK-exhibition. The GDK-1944 ended in February/ March 1945 and Munich was liberated in April 1945. Somewhat later US Army Captain W. Gilkey moved hundreds of works of art left in the Haus der Deutchen Kunst to the basement of the Führerbau, the ‘Gallery II’ of the Central Collection Point Munich.

25 April 1947. Report of Captain Gordon W. Gilkey
‘The building at the time of my search, contained a few crated pictures in the basement and several large war paintings which had been removed from their canvas stretchers, rolled up, camouflaged, and placed to resemble stage curtains. The 1944 exhibited works and unexhibited entries had been moved from the Haus der Deutschen Kunst to the basement of the Führerbau on Königplatz in Munich, and were in the process of being returned to the artists or owners. I called a temporary halt of this and looked at all the pictures even after assurances from German personnel in the building that it contained no war art. My search disclosed that about one out of every five proved to be a war picture. They had been hidden behind huge framed nudes and pastoral landscapes….’ (Report of Captain Gordon W. Gilkey, d.d. 25 April 1947, published in the book ‘The German War Artists’ by Paul Weber, 1979).

The National Archives in the US records the following works by Schwarte-Hellweg stored in the Central Collecting Point Munich:

‘Der Wonnebauer’ (‘The Gentleman Farmer‘), GDK 1944 room 16 (National Archives: Property Card Number 29021/H.d.Kunst 783). Donated in 1949 to the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen;
Abend über’m Land‘ (‘Landscape in the Evening‘), GDK 1944 room 32 (National Archives: Property Card Number 28900/H.d.Kunst 662). Donated in 1949 to the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen;
‘Blick in die Tenne‘ (‘View at the Threshing Floor’), GDK 1944 room 35 (National Archives: Property Card Number 29313/H. d. Kunst 973);
a folder from the Haus of German Art with two ‘military/ Nazi prints’ by Schwarte-Hellweg, assumably depictions of GDK works. Both prints left the CCP-Munich on 6 July 1946, and were displayed at the ‘Exhibition of German War Art’ at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 6 December 1946;
‘Mädchenkopf’, signed 1941, GDK 1944, bought by Martin Bormann. Previously stored in the salt mines of Altaussee, the Nazi repository for stolen art and for parts of Hitler’s personal collection contemporary German art (National Archives: Property Card Number 12839 Aussee 7659).