 |
 |
 |
|||
Description
‘Brief am Morgen’ (‘Letter in the Morning’)
Biography: Oskar Martin Amorbach
The Third Reich version of Johannes Vermeer’s work ‘Brieflesendes Mädchen am offenen Fenster’.
— displayed at the exhibition ‘Art in the Third Reich, Seduction and Distraction’, November 2023 – March 2024, Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands —
Displayed at the Great German Art Exhibition in 1944, room 15.
Monumental painting, size 178 x 152 cm.
Depicted in the ‘Illustrierter Beobachter’, August 24, 1944.
With letter signed by the wife of the artist, Friederike Martin (Frieda Emma) confirming that the painting was exhibited in the GDK.
Also with a letter from the artist, d.d. 5 January 1948, confirming that he sold the painting in 1947.
Stored in the Central Collecting Point Munich
As a result of war circumstances, the painting likely 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 Deutchen Kunst to the basement of the Führerbau, the ‘Gallery II’ of the Central Collection Point Munich. The number 28785 at the back is the CCP-Mü-Nr.28785, conform the archives of the Haus der deutschen Kunst and the Bundesarchiv.
In 1947 Oskar Martin-Amorbach managed to get the painting back from the CCP-Munich, and sold it.
25 April 1947. Report of Capitain 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 Capitain Gordon W. Gilkey, d.d. 25 April 1947, published in the book ‘The German War Artists’ by Paul Weber, 1979).
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Brief am Morgen’ depicted in the ‘Illustrierter Beobachter’, August 24, 1944.
The Third Reich version of Johannes Vermeer’s work ‘Brieflesendes Mädchen am offenen Fenster’.
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Amorbach, was likely inspired by Johannes Vermeer’s work ‘Brieflesendes Mädchen am offenen Fenster’ (‘Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window´). The Dutch Golden Age painter completed this painting in 1657-1659; in possession of the Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden. Size 83 x 64,5 cm. Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk, October 1940’. After World War II, the painting was briefly in possession of the Soviet Union. Apparently well-preserved, the painting may have been altered after the painter’s death.
Letter signed by the wife of the artist, Friederike Martin (Frieda Emma) confirming that ‘Brief am Morgen’ was exhibited at the GDK.
Letter from the artist, d.d. 5 January 1948, confirming that he sold ‘Brief am Morgen’ in 1947.
Document B323/630 in the Bundesarchiv, showing the registration of the painting ‘Brief am Morgen’ in the Central Collecting Point München (number 028785).
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Amorbach, displayed at the exhibition ‘Art in the Third Reich, Seduction and Distraction’, November 2023 – March 2024, Museum Arnhem, The Netherlands.
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the exhibition catalog Art in the Third Reich by Jelle Bouwhuis and Almar Seinen 2023.
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the Dutch newspaper ‘Parool’, 11 November 2023.
On German TV (ZDF/ 12 December 2023). ZDF Museum Arnhem (at 24.58 min.)
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Amorbach, depicted in fine arts magazine ‘Tableau’, number 4, winter 2023.
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Amorbach, depicted in the Dutch newspaper ‘NRC’, 23 November 2023.
‘Brief am Morgen’ by Amorbach, printed on postcards issued by Museum Armhem, November 2023.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : unframed 178 x 152 cm |
| – signed | : left, under |
| – type | : oil on canvas |
============================================ § ============================================