Archive Newsletter No. 17

December 2025

Following Christian Fuhrmeister’s Archive Newsletter The Kunstverein München during the Nazi Era. What to Ask? How to Research?, Leona Koldehoff turns her attention to the period around 1950. The term “around” is used here as a precise preposition. As a method of approximation, it enables engagement with a historically specific yet unstable temporal configuration. “Around 1950” here refers to a period shaped by the aftermath of the World War II, institutional restructuring, and the contingencies of artistic and social networks across shifts in political systems. And it is within this indeterminate temporal configuration that Leona Koldehoff reconstructs the institutional framework and exhibition program of the Kunstverein München, tracing the complex interchange between actors, spaces, and artistic positions.

Art and Continuities at Kunstverein München around 1950

by Leona Koldehoff

There is a gap in Kunstverein München’s archives for the period from 1920 to 1970. Thus, records in other archives and libraries, such as the Munich City Archive (Stadtarchiv München), the Bavarian State Archives (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv), and the Monacensia, become important resources for reconstructing the art association’s activities in the period after 1945. Collecting and reviewing various archival materials is the starting point for answering questions about which people and events shaped the association’s activities after the end of World War II. How can archival materials such as correspondence, minutes, notes, and photographs be used to tell the history of the Kunstverein and its political, artistic, and civic networks after 1945?

1945–1947: Period of Personnel Reconfiguration at the Kunstverein

A thick folder in the Munich City Archive, held together by a narrow white ribbon, contains correspondence and invitations that the Kunstverein sent to the city's cultural office between 1931 and 1945.[1] The last sheet in the folder is a letter from Erwin Pixis to Karl Scharnagl dated July 2, 1945. Erwin Pixis was director of Kunstverein München from 1905 to 1945, and during the Nazi era he played a decisive role in bringing the association’s statutes and exhibition program into line with Nazi ideology.[2] In his letter to Karl Scharnagl, who was mayor of Munich until 1933 and again after 1945, Pixis offers the Kunstverein’s cooperation in rebuilding the city's cultural life and claims that the association had not been influenced by Nazi ideology. Pixis writes: “You can safely take a chance on us, because we have a ‘weiße Weste’ (clean record) and have come through the 1000 years completely unified.”[3] The motif of the “weiße Weste” is found in many texts where perpetrators deny their actions during the Nazi era.[4] Shortly before, in April 1945, all registered associations in the US occupation zone had been banned and had to reapply for a license from the US Army.[5]

In April 1947, lawyer Eberhard Kuchtner invited members to the so-called re-founding general assembly of the art association.[6] The invitation, the minutes, and a list of signatures of the 56 people present are included in the so-called “Protokollbuch”, an association’s log book, which can be viewed in the Monacensia library.[7] If one flips back a few pages before these materials from 1947, one finds the minutes of the general meetings from 1943 and the association’s statutes from 1936, which contain an explicitly anti-Semitic passage.[8] The first page of the 1947 minutes refers to the licensing process, the accountability report for the years 1943 to 1946, and the decision on new statutes. Even though all three of these points would require explicit discussion of the Kunstverein’s past activities, its board, and members during the Nazi era, the minutes do not classify this period ideologically.[9] The second page of the minutes names the new members of the board and the so-called “Rat der Herren” (Council of Gentlemen). The board consisted of Eberhard Kuchtner as first chair, Anton Sappel as second chair, and Hans Doß as treasurer. The Council of Gentlemen was composed of the five so-called “Kunstmaler” (artistic painters) Karl Ewald Olszewski as chairman of the council, Hermann Böcker, Paul W. Ehrhardt, Ernst Haider, and Hans Müller-Schnuttenbach, as well as two other individuals.[10] Four of the five artists had demonstrably participated in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) at Haus der Kunst and the Münchner Kunstausstellung (Munich Art Exhibition) at the Maximilianeum during the Nazi era.[11] The Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (1937–1944) was the most important art exhibition in the so-called Third Reich and stood under Adolf Hitler’s direct patronage.[12] The Münchener Kunstausstellung at the Maximilianeum was the most important art exhibition in Munich.[13] In addition, the painters from the Council of Gentlemen participated in other exhibitions during the Nazi era. During the period of personnel reconfiguration that started in 1947, the four artists who had participated in major exhibitions during the Nazi era were able to continue their careers after 1945 in prominent representative positions as members of the Council of Gentlemen. Further research is needed to reconstruct the professional biographies of the three board members Eberhard Kuchtner, Anton Sappel, and Hans Doß during this time period.[14] The questions of how the board and the Council of Gentlemen worked together, and who made which decisions also remain open.

1948–1952: Period of Spatial Reconfiguration: Exhibitions in the Städtische Galerie and Villa Zügel

Kunstverein München would not have its own exhibition space again until the mid-1950s, since the building at Galeriestraße 10 had been destroyed by a bombing raid in December 1944.[15] The first exhibition took place from December 19, 1947 to January 25, 1948 in the Städtische Galerie, today’s Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München.[16] From 1949 to 1952, the association organized exhibitions and events in the so-called Villa Zügel at Possartstraße 24 in Bogenhausen, which had been built in the 1920s for the painter Heinrich von Zügel, from 1895–1922 professor for painting at the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der Bildenden Künste) in Munich Heinrich von Zügel and his son Willy von Zügel also participated in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung and other exhibitions during the Nazi era. The exhibition program for 1949 has been preserved as a typescript.[18] The first exhibition was dedicated to Heinrich von Zügel. The listed group exhibitions Münchner Malerei von “Annodazumal” (Munich Painting from Back Then), Münchner Malerei von “HEUTE” (Munich Painting of Today), and Zeitgenössische Malerei (Contemporary Painting) presented artistic positions that were in line with the program of the Munich School—a conservative local art movement—or had been previously exhibited during the Nazi era.[19] In the spring of 1952, the Kunstverein ceased its exhibition activities at Villa Zügel.[20] The fact that the association was able to use the Villa Zügel as an exhibition venue in the postwar period can be seen as an indication that the Kunstverein’s connection in the bourgeois and artistic milieu continued uninterrupted by the change of political systems.

1953–1955: Opening of the New Building and First Exhibitions at Galeriestraße 4

On October 27, 1953 the Kunstverein opened its new premises at Galeriestraße 4, which are still in use to this day. In the early years from 1954 to 1956, freelance photojournalist Felicitas Timpe continuously photographed the exhibition openings.[21] Her photographs allow one to get an impression of the exhibition displays and social settings. The following section focuses on the interpersonal encounters during the openings.

In June 1954, the Kunstverein hosted the federal conference and exhibition of GEDOK – Gemeinschaften der Künstlerinnen und Kunstförderer e.V. (Associations of Women Artists and Art Patrons).[22] Twenty years earlier, in 1934, a conference of the federal association and an exhibition of GEDOK had already taken place in the Kunstverein’s former premises.[23] The exhibition Grafik – Malerei – Zeichnung (Prints – Paintings – Drawings, 1954) featured works by artists from various local GEDOK groups. A list accompanying the exhibition brochure lists the names of 121 artists.[24] Among others, the artists from Munich included the well-known painters Maria Caspar-Filser and Henny Protzen-Kundmüller, whose biographies had been influenced by National Socialism in very different ways, as Anke Gröner and Karin Althaus detail in the publication Kunst und Leben 1918 bis 1955.[25]

The photographs of the exhibition opening show the many artists in attendance. Of the key guests sitting in the front row during the opening, only Walther von Miller, then Munich’s Deputy Mayor and Officer of Cultural Affairs, has been identified so far. Another photograph shows Ernst Buchner smiling at photographer Felicitas Timpe as she takes the picture. During the Nazi era, Ernst Buchner was Director General of the Bavarian State Painting Collections (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen) and supported the implementation of Nazi cultural policy in this capacity. None of the artists present in the collection of photographs have been identified yet. Looking at the artists in the photographs raises questions about what kind of atmosphere they were meeting in. What were they talking about? What were their relationships with each other like at that time? Which private and professional experiences during the Nazi era connected them? And who doesn’t appear in the photographs? Did they talk about the artists who were members of GEDOK until 1933 but were murdered during the Nazi era? Who was missing?

On July 15, 1955, Olaf Gulbransson’s solo exhibition opened and ran until August 28, 1955.[29] The occasion was Gulbransson being awarded the City of Munich's Art Prize for Painting and Graphic Arts.[30] Gulbransson had worked as a cartoonist for the satirical magazine Simplicissimus since 1902. Since 1923 he had worked at the School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Munich, from 1929 to 1938 he was professor for painting and graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts and he continued teaching despite his retirement until 1943.[31] During the Nazi era, Gulbransson had participated in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung and other exhibitions. A photograph by Felicitas Timpe shows a conversation during the exhibition opening on 15 July. One sees Eberhard Kuchtner, the first chair of the Kunstverein München, speaking with Josef Oberberger, Franziska Bilek, Lothar Kuppelmayr, and Olaf Gulbransson. The artist Josef Oberberger was a student of Gulbransson and worked at the School of Arts and Crafts from 1939 and as professor for painting and glass art from 1946 to 1974 at the Academy of Fine Arts.[33] The illustrator and cartoonist Franziska Bilek was also a student of Gulbransson and worked with him at Simplicissimus from 1936 to 1944.[34] The journalist and editor Lothar Kuppelmayr was Bilek's partner. The mood in the photograph appears relaxed, friendly, and approachable.

Conclusion

Based on archival materials, this newsletter has described the personal, spatial, and artistic constellations that shaped the Kunstverein’s postwar activities. By looking at the network of members of the executive committee and the Council of Gentlemen since 1947, as well as the Villa Zügel as an exhibition venue from 1949 to 1952, one can identify clear connections between the Kunstverein and certain individuals, exhibitions, and spaces that were part of the artistic network in Munich during the Nazi era. The fact that the Kunstverein was able to use the Villa Zügel as an exhibition venue for several years is emblematic of the way personal and spatial interconnections with the bourgeois milieu continued uninterrupted across the change of political systems. The GEDOK federal conference and exhibition in 1954 and the Olaf Gulbransson exhibition in 1955 can be seen as further examples of Nazi continuities, both internally and in exchanges with other associations.[35] A closer analysis of Felicitas Timpe’s photographs of the exhibition openings from 1954 to 1956 and the identification of individuals would provide further insight into the social constellations and exhibited works.[36]

Given other research on the Kunstverein’s postwar history—such as Adrian Djukić’s Archive Newsletter The Concept of Class at Kunstverein München
Part 4: From Art as a Weapon to the Saxophone as a Weapon against Art – Early 70s and 90s”—it becomes clear just how radical the institutional change in 1970 was. Around 1970, there was a shift from a reactionary to a progressive exhibition and event program.[37] The personnel and political developments that led to this change from the mid-1950s to the end of the 1960s require further archival research and conversations with contemporary witnesses.

What impact can this historical research have beyond the collection and interpretation of facts? One effect and a central concern of this text is to raise awareness of the diverse connections between personnel, artistic, and political contexts in art institutions—both in historical research and in the present. Here, it is also important to keep in mind the question of how public and private funding influence the work and orientation of institutions like Kunstvereine and museums, as well as research into their history. At present, critical engagement with the Nazi era and its impact on society is increasingly being called into question by right-wing extremist and right-wing populist actors and parties.[38] It is thus all the more important, both now and in the future, to network and exchange ideas in order to work together for a society based on democratic values and a critical examination of Germany's history.

Leona Koldehoff is a researcher in the arts and information science as well as a writer. Since 2025, she has managed the archive of the Kunstverein München. Her current research focuses on the history of the institution and its exhibition program in connection with contemporary history.

Copy Editing: Line Ebert

Proof Reading: Senta Gallant

Translation: Stanton Taylor (Good & Cheap Art Translators)

Many thanks to Maurin Dietrich, Adrian Djukić, Christian Fuhrmeister, Katrin Schumacher and Beo Tomek for the conversations as well as Angelika Betz and Dr. Cornelia Jahn (Image Archive of the Bavarian State Library) for the information on Felicitas Timpe's estate and providing the photographs.