Forain_478437_FINAL PRINT COPY_2016-01-08

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ObjectrecordexcerptforLostArtID:478437
Jean-LouisForain
Portraitdefemme(Portraitofawomanwithhat,inprofile),1881
Oilonpanel,35x26.3cm
onrecto,lowerleft,signed“j.l.forain1881”
onverso,upperright,inscribedinred:“Dr.G.”;printedlabel:“Ventedu24au28Juin1942/Halldu
Savoy,Nice(A.-M.)/Cabinetd'unAmateurParisien/No.176[handwritten]duCatalogue/Dirigée
par Me J.-J. Terris, Commissaire-Priseur/ 3 Rue Provana, à Nice (A.-M.)/ 22 [handwritten] / avec le
concoursdeMeBussilet,Commissaire-PriseuràLYON/assistésdeM.E.MARTINI,expertd’ArtAncien
et Moderne / Villa Bellevue, SAINT-LAURENT-DU-VAR (A.-M.)”; on same label, at left: ”REPRODUIT
AUCATALOGUE”andtworedstamps;below,inscribedinwhitechalk:“35x26”
on frame, at right, inscribed in white chalk:“2409” [?]; lower centre, a fragment of a handwritten
label:“22”;lowerleft,fragmentofanewspaperclippingwiththeheadline:“Dernièresjournéesdela
vente Dorville / 2 MILLIONS 200.000 FRANCS / pour 95 dessins et aquarelles / Constantin Guys”;
upperleft,inscribedinwhitechalk:“DG/9”;inblue:“…oirElia[remainderillegible]inwhitechalk:
DG/9[?];fragmentsofpaperatupperleft
Provenance:
ArmandDorville,Paris
Sale:Venteauxenchèresducabinetd’unamateurparisien.HallduSavoy,Nice,24–27June1942,
no.176,pl.XLVII
LéopoldDreyfus,Nice,acquiredattheabovesale
(…)
Bylatest28April1944:withRaphaëlGerard,Paris(perCorneliusGurlittPapers)
BylatestSeptember1953:HildebrandGurlitt,Dusseldorf(perCorneliusGurlittPapers)
BydescenttoCorneliusGurlitt,Munich/Salzburg
From6May2014:EstateofCorneliusGurlitt
26October2015(interimresults)
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ObjectrecordexcerptforLostArtID:478437
Bibliographicalreferences:
Venteauxenchèresducabinetd’unamateurparisien,Auct.cat.,HallduSavoy,Nice,24–27June
1942.[lot176,asPortraitdejeunefemmeprésentéedeprofil,pl.XLVII]
Primarysources:
ArchivesdépartementalesdesAlpes-Maritimes:
Procès-verbaldelaventevolontaireno.66sousl’autoritédeMeTerris,commissaire-priseurdans
leHallduSavoy,Nice,24June1942
BusinessrecordsHildebrandGurlitt–possiblereferences:
Salesledger1937–?:
17November1943[no.1882aVII]
23December1943[no.1882aVII]
CorneliusGurlittPapers,Salzburg:
Photographs,no.12.1_F12156[n.d.]
ListRaphaëlGerard,referenceno.inprocess,[28April1944],[itemno.22]
ListofartworkswithRaphaëlGerard,referenceno.inprocess,[c.September1953],[itemno.22]
NationalArchives,CollegePark,Maryland(NARA):
M1944, Roberts Commission, Looting: France: Personnel, Report of the Commission de
Récuperation,27August1945
www.fold3.com/image/273365527andsubsequentpages(29November2015)
MinistèredesAffairesétrangères,Archivesdiplomatiques,Paris:
OfficedesBiensetIntérêtsPrivés(OBIP),CRA62,619
SeizureInventory[Sicherstellungsverzeichnis],2012,no.SV(Part2)/087
Furthersourcesconsulted:
Kunstler,Charles.Forain.Paris:Rieder,1931.
Exhibit Twenty-One: Forain. Exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Institute, Williamstown,
Massachusetts,March1963.
Browse,Lillian.Forain:ThePainter1852–1931.London:PaulElek,1978.
Fondation de l’Hermitage, ed. Jean-Louis Forain: Les années impressionnistes et postimpressionnistes.Lausanne:self-publ.,1995.
CorrespondenceHildebrandGurlitt
CulturalPlunderbytheEinsatzstabReichsleiterRosenberg:DatabaseofArtObjectsattheJeude
Paume
Database“CentralCollectingPointMünchen”
Database“KunstsammlungHermannGöring”
GettyProvenanceIndex,GermanSalesCatalogs
Lootedart.com
LostArt
RépertoiredesBiensSpoliés
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ObjectrecordexcerptforLostArtID:478437
RijksbureauvoorKunsthistorischeDocumentatie
VerzeichnisnationalwertvollerKunstwerke(“Reichslistevon1938”)
WittLibrary
Note:
ThefirstknownownerofthisworkwasMaître ArmandDorville(1875–1941),anadvocateatthe
Paris Court of Appeal, who served as senator of Tarn-et-Garonne and was also a writer and an
amateur artist. Dorville descended from a prominent Jewish family; his father Léon Dorville
(1850–1927)wasthelong-servingpresidentoftheJewishcharitySociétélaBienfaisanceIsraélite.
ArmandDorvillewastheownerofanimportantcollectionofmodernFrenchworks,whichwere
keptathisresidenceinParis,at16,rueSéguier.
AftertheNaziinvasionofParis,DorvillefledtothesouthofFrance,takingsomeofhisartworks
withhim.Hediedin1941inCubjacintheDordogne.ArmandDorville’scollectionwassoldata
posthumous sale in mid-1942 at the Hall du Savoy in Nice, which was then still part of the
demilitarizedzone.Accordingtotheresultsofsaidsale,thisForainoilwasacquiredforthesumof
19,000francsbyLéopoldDreyfus,thenresidinginNice,26ruePastorelli.(Thenewspaperclipping
onversooftheframequotesahammerpriceof20,000francs.)
All property that Dorville had been forced to surrender in Paris was seized by the Nazis in
December1943.
Dorville’ssister,ValentineLion(c.1881–1944),hertwindaughtersDeniseFalkandMoniqueTabet
(1920–1944), and her infant granddaughter Marie France Tabet (1940–1944) were arrested in
Rhône-AlpesregioninSouth-EasternFranceinmid-March1944anddeportedfirsttoDrancy,and
toAuschwitz-Birkenauthereafter.Allweremurdered.
One drawing from the 1942 sale (Lionne accroupie by Eugène Delacroix, now at the Musée de
Louvre)islistedintheinventoryoftheMuséesNationauxRécupération(MNRno.REC148).The
Louvre also owns two paintings identified as a 1942 “bequest of Armand Dorville” (inv nos. RF
1943-6andRF1943-7);threepaintingsbyJeanBeraudidentifiedasabequestof1944nowatthe
MuséeCarnavalet(inv.Nos.CARP1731,1733,1737).
This work was one of over 70 works with the art dealer Raphaël Gérard in Paris in 1944. It is
unclearwhetheratthetimeGérardand/orGurlittownedorco-ownedtheseworks,whetherthey
hadbeenplacedoncommission,orindeedsimplydepositedwithGérard.Itisconspicuousthatan
inventory of works with Gérard was drawn up in the very late stages of the war; one possible
hypothesis is that Gurlitt placed for safekeeping with Gérard works that he had acquired in
occupied Paris, with the intention of moving these objects at a later date. This particular work
stronglysupportsthishypothesis.
In1953,someoftheseworkswereshippedtoGurlittinDusseldorf,whileothersremainedwith
Gérard until 1957 (at Gurlitt’s cost). The inscription “22” on verso refers to two inventories of
artworkswithGérard,onedated28April1944,theotherdatingfromaboutSeptember1953.This
work is respectively referred to herein as “FORAIN: Portrait de femme” (1944) and “”Forain,
Frauenporträt,Oel”(1953).
ThepersonalpapersfoundinCorneliusGurlitt’sSalzburghomeincludeacollectionofabout2,400
photographsofartworks.Photographno.12.1_F12156isareproductionofthiswork.
Disclaimer:
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artworkdescribedinthisreport.Thisreportdoesnotpurporttomakepronouncementsonany
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thecontentsandthepublicationofthisreport.
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liabilitywillbeacceptedfortheaccuracyoftheusedsources;thefacts,andconclusionscontained
therein; the exhaustiveness of research and evaluation of the available source material; any
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subjectofthereportandhowtheywerederived;theauthenticityoftheartwork,itsattribution
toaparticularartist,oritsmonetaryvalue;and/orconclusionsdrawnbythirdpartiesbasedon
thisreport.
Thisreportisbasedonthesourcesavailableatthetimeitwaswritten.Itisaninterimreportthat
may be revised and updated, should additional relevant material be discovered. The Taskforce
Schwabing Art Trove welcomes any information that may augment or clarify the provenance of
thiswork.
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