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Description
‘Frauenportrait’ (‘Ladies Portrait’)
This painting presumably served as original model for the alugraph ‘In Memoriam’, depicted in the map ‘Sepp Hilz, Acht handsignierte Original-Alugraphien’, 1956.
Sepp Hilz, ‘In Memoriam’, alugraph, created around 1956. in possession of the Städtische Galerie Rosenheim. Depicted in the exhibition catalog ‘Vermacht -verfallen-verdrängt, Kunst und Nationalsozialismus’, 2017.
| – condition | : III |
| – size | : 36 x 30 cm, unframed |
| – signed | : right, on top |
| – type | : oil on canvas |
| – msic. I | : cleaning and framing on request |
| – misc. II | : acquired from the artist; thence by descent |
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BIOGRAPHY: SEPP HILZ
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Die rote Halskette’ (‘The red necklace’), portrait of the young Liselotte Prams. Created 1942. GDK 1942, room 35. Bought by Hitler for 5.000 RM. Depicted on the cover of the magazine ‘Frauen Warte’, January, 1943.
Right: ‘Die rote Halskette’ is in the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Displayed on loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg.
Size 68,5 x 65 cm, unframed 31,5 x 28,5 cm. Photo 2014.
‘Die Wetterhexe’ and ‘Die Kübelträgerin’
At the end of WWII ‘Die Weterhexe’ and ‘Die Kürbelträgerin’ were, with 44 other paintings and 30 statues from Hitler’s private contemporary art collection -and other stolen art collections- hidden by the National Socialists in the Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), near Linz in the Czech Republic. After the war, valuable art, such as pieces from the Mannheimer- and Rothschild collections, were confiscated by the U.S. Army and taken to the Munich Central Collection Point in an effort to return them to their original owners. Many less valuable works, like contemporary German Nazi-art works, were left behind after the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia and ended up scattered across the country.
In 2012 sixteen paintings by German artists -that Adolf Hitler personally purchased during WWII- were found in various Czech institutions. Seven were discovered in the Zákupy Chateau, the site where items from confiscated castles, chateaus and private houses were gathered after the war. Seven other canvases were found at the convent of Premonstratensian Sisters in Doksany, near Prague. Two paintings were found at the Military Institute in Prague and at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. ‘Die Wetterhexe’ was found in Doksany; ‘Die Kürbelträgerin’ was found in the Zákupy Chateau. All the sixteen paintings are now in the possession of the ‘Czech National Institute for the Protection and Conservation of Monuments and Sites’. They will remain in the Czech Republic.
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Die Wetterhexe’ (‘Weatherwitch’). GDK 1942, room 4. Bought by Hitler for 35,000 RM.
Right: ‘Die Wetterhexe’ discovered in 2012 in the convent of Premonstratensian Sisters in Doksany, Czech Republic.
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Die Kübelträgerin’ (‘The Bucket Carrier’). GDK 1943, room 15. Bought by Adolf Hitler for 20.000 RM.
Right: ‘Die Kübelträgerin’ discovered in the Zákupy Chateau in the Czech Republic (at the right three works of the ‘Vier Tageszeiten’, by Willy Kriegel).
Sepp Hilz, postcards, ‘Bäuerliche Trilogie’ (‘Farmers Trilogy’). GDK 1941, room 15. Bought by Adolf Wagner, Gauleiter of München-Oberbayern, for 66.000 RM.
Left: ‘Die Mägde’ (‘The Maids’).
Right: ‘Das Füllhorn’ (‘The Horn of Plenty’); depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Also depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst der Gegenwart’, Breslau, 1943.
Under: ‘Die Knechte’ (‘Servants’).
Left: Sepp Hilz, postcard, ‘Bäuerliche Venus’ (‘Farmer-woman Venus’). GDK 1939, room 15. Bought by Joseph Goebbels for 15,000 RM.
Right: Sepp Hilz in his studio with model Annerl Meierhanser, while painting ‘Bäuerliche Venus’ (1939). Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk’, 1939.
‘Malpauze im Atelier Sepp Hilz’, Bad Aibling, June, 1943. Break in the Atelier, with them model Annerl Meierhanser. Depicted in ‘Im Zauber der Farbe‘, 1943.
Sepp Hilz, ‘Müder Alte’ (‘Tired old Man’), created 1942, postcard. GDK 1943, room 10. Bought by Hermann Göring for 30.000 Reichsmark. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, August, 1943. In the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Oil on wood, size 119 x 100 cm. The model -the old man- was named Kasper Bacher from Deggendorf.
The work ‘Müder Alte’ was part of the Hermann Göring Collection. Görings entire art collection comprised some 4,263 paintings, sculptures and tapestries. He planned to display them in an art gallery, the ‘Norddeutsche Galerie’, which should be founded after the war. The Norddeutsche Gallery was to be erected as an annex to Karinhall in the big forest of the Schorfheide, near Berlin.
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Bauernbraut‘ (‘Peasant Bride‘). GDK 1940 room 15. Signed 1940, size 180 x 136 cm. Bought by Von Ribbentrop for 15.000 Reichsmark. Depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1941. In the possession of the Belvedere Museum, Vienna.
Right: Sepp Hilz in his studio with his model, 1935.
‘In der Kunstausstellung‘. At the Great German Art Exhibition, 1940. Depicted in ‘Im Zauber der Farbe‘, 1943 (it is unclear if the girl in front of the painting is the model).
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Die Eitelkeit’ (‘Vanity’). GDK 1940, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Model was again Annerl Meierhanser.
Right: Sepp Hilz, postcard. ‘Mädchen aus der Miesbacher Gegend’ (‘Girl from the Miesbach-region’). Displayed at the Münchener Kunstausstellung 1941, Maximilianeum.
Sepp Hilz, ‘Alte und Mächen‘ (‘Old Woman and Girl‘). GDK 1944 room 11; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Also depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasing Monatshefte‘, 1944. Bought by Adolf Hitler for 8.000 Reichsmark. In the posession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum. Size 47 x 39 cm.
Right: ‘Alte und Mädchen’, depicted in ‘Der Adler‘, 5 September 1944.
Sepp Hilz in the Neue Reichskanzlei: the 144-List
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Der Alte (‘The Old Man’), GDK 1938 room 24. Bought by Hitler for 2.400 Reichsmark and placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’).
Right: Sepp Hilz, ‘Nach Feierabend’ (‘After Work’). GDK 1938, room 16; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought by Hitler for 10.000 RM and placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’).
Displayed at the XXII Venice Biennale 1940 (‘Dopo cessato il lavoro’). Also depicted in ‘Österreichische Kunst’, 1938, Heft 7/8.
Both paintings are on the ‘144-list’.
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 4 are listed the two works by Sepp Hilz: ‘Nach feierabend’ and ‘Der Alte’.
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.
‘Ultimo giorno d’auttunno 1917’
Sepp Hilz, ‘Spätherbst 1917’ (‘Late-autumn 1917’). GDK 1939, room 15. Size: 300 x 180 cm. Bought by Hitler for 25.000 RM. In the possession of the German Historical Museum. Displayed at the XXII Venice Biennale 1940 (‘Ultimo giorni d’autunno 1917’).
Displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999.
‘Late-autumn 1917’ by Hilz at the Biennale 1940. At 17.33 min.
Sepp Hilz, ‘Eva’, created 1940. Size 93 x 201 cm. GDK 1944 room 11. Bought by Hilter for 45.000 Reichsmark. In the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999.
Left: Sepp Hilz, ‘Fischermädchen’ (‘Fishermaiden’). Depicted in ‘Die neue deutsche Malerei’, Deutscher Verlag, Berlin, 1941.
Right: another version of ‘Fishermädchen’. Oil on wood. Size 22 x 18 cm.
Sepp Hilz, ‘Betendes Bauernpaar’ (‘Praying Farmer-couple’). Displayed at the ‘Herbstausstellung der Gaudiensstelle München-Oberbayern der NS-Kulturgemeinde Blut und Boden’, 1935. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’.
Sepp Hilz, ‘Austragsbäurin’. Depicted is a retired woman farmer, living in distressed circumstances. Signed 1937. Size 96 x 102 cm. Offered by a German auction house in 2020.
Sepp Hilz
Sepp Hilz (1906–1925%) was the son of a painter and church restorer. From 1921 to 1927 he studied in Munich at the Kunstgewerbeschule and at the private school of graphic art of Prof. Moritz Heymanns. From 1930 on he painted mostly landscapes in the style of Wilhelm Leibl and thus he became known as a ‘Bauernmaler’ (farmer painter). Bavaria was his preferable theme, as well as farmers, fieldwork, farm-girls, small country-villages, and simple country folk resting after a day of hard work.
In 1938 he was awarded with the Lenbach Preis of the City of Munich. His painting ‘Nach Feierabend’ was exhibited in 1938 in the Haus der Kunst and it was bought by Hitler for 10,000 RM. A year later Hilz received, due to the intervention of Heinrich Hoffmann, 100,000 RM from Hitler to build himself a new studio at the Tegernsee. In 1939 Hilz displayed the famous ‘Baeuerliche Venus’, a farmer-woman nude from Bavaria which was purchased for 15,000 RM by Joseph Goebbels. Young men and soldiers were extremely enthusiastic about the painting and it quickly became an icon. Hilz received thousands of letters from men telling him about their interest in the model. A year later he used the same model, Annerl Meierhanser, for his painting ‘Die Eitelkeit’ for the GDK. In 1941 Hilz displayed the ‘Baeuerliche Trilogie’ (Farmers Trilogy) in the GDK. A year later ‘Wetterhexe’, (Weather-witch), was purchased by Hitler for 35,000 RM.
In total 28 works by Hilz were displayed at the GDK’s. Hitler bought 17, Joseph Goebbels 3, Adolf Wagner 3, Hermann Göring 2, Albert Speer 1 and Joachim von Ribbentrop 1 for prices of up to 45.000 RM. ‘Nach Feierabend’, bought for 10.000 Reichsmark by Hitler, was placed in the Neue Reichszkanzlei (‘für die Inneneinrichtung des Erweiterungsbaues der Reichskanzlei’). The painting is on the ‘144-List’, just like ‘Der Alte’ by Sepp Hilz, GDK 1938, room 37.
The work ‘Müder Alte’ (GDK 1943 room 10) was part of the Hermann Göring Collection, and destinated for the ‘Norddeutsche Galerie’. This gallery was planned to be erected after the war as an annex to Karinhall in the big forest of the Schorfheide, north of Berlin.
In 1943, at an age of 36, Hilz was granted the title of Professor by Minster Joseph Goebbels. In the last phase of the war, Hitler put him on the Gottbegnadeten-Liste. Three works by Sepp Hilz were displayed at the XXII Venice Biennale 1940, including ‘Nach Feierabend’ (‘Dopo cessato il lavoro’ or ‘After Work’) and ‘Spätherbst 1917’ (‘Ultimo giorni d’autunno 1917’ or ‘Late-autumn 1917’).
After the war many of the works of Hilz, who was active with the restoration of damaged paintings in churches, were destroyed or stolen. Banned and out of favour due to his reputation as a former ‘Nazi-painter’, he gave up painting for good in 1956, eleven years before his death.
The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen currently owns ‘Müder Alte’. The Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin is in the possession of six works bought by Hitler: ‘Spätherbst 1917’ (GDK 1939, room 15), ‘Die rote Halskette’ (GDK 1942, room 35), ‘Alter Mann mit Haube’ (GDK 1942, room 35), ‘In der Dämmerung’ (GDK 1944, room 11), ‘Eva’ (GDK 1940, room 11) and ‘Alte und Mädchen’ (GDK 1944, room 11).
‘Spätherbst 1917’ (bought by Hitler for 25.000 Reichsmark) and ‘Eva’ (bought by Hilter for 45.000 Reichsmark) were displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999. In 2017, works by Sepp Hilz in the possession of the Städtischen Galerie Rosenheim, were displayed at the exhibition ‘Vermacht, Verfallen Verdrängt, -Kunst und Nationalsozialismus.
At the end of WWII ‘Die Weterhexe’ and ‘Die Kürbelträgerin’ were, with 44 other paintings and 30 statues from Hitler’s private contemporary art collection (and other stolen art collections), hidden by the National Socialists in the Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), near Linz in the Czech Republic. After the war, valuable art, such as pieces from the Mannheimer- and Rothschild collections, were confiscated by the U.S. Army and taken to the Munich Central Collection Point in an effort to return them to their original owners. Many less valuable works, like contemporary German Nazi-art works, were left behind after the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia and ended up scattered across the country. In 2012 sixteen paintings by German artists – that Adolf Hitler personally purchased during WWII – were found in various Czech institutions. Seven were discovered in the Zákupy Chateau in the Czech Republic. After the war the Zákupy Chateau was the site where items from confiscated castles, chateaus and private houses were gathered. Seven other artworks were found at the convent of Premonstratensian Sisters in Doksany, near Prague. Two others were found at the Military Institute in Prague and at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. ‘Die Wetterhexe’ was found in Doksany; ‘Die Kürbelträgerin’ was found in the Zákupy Chateau. The paintings are now in the possession of the ‘Czech National Institute for the Protection and Conservation of Monuments and Sites’. The will remain in the Czech Republic.
According to the magazine Spiegel of 15 September 1949, some official Third Reich art works were being exhibited in New York. The magazine reported: ‘Two million visitors in New York saw pictures that had formerly hung in the House of Art in Munich when it was still ‘brown’. Who brought them across the ocean is a mystery to officials from the US Collecting Point.’ It is not clear exactly which pictures were shown, but the article specifically mentioned Sepp Hilz’s Wetterhexe. Strange enough, the same Wetterhexe was unearthed from the Czech monastery in 2012; unless the in New York exhibited ‘Wetterhexe’ was a second version.
* As also stated in our General Terms and Conditions, German Art Gallery offers the depicted postcards for sale. Prices on request.