Source: Moderne Villen und Landhäuser, ed. H. de Fries, Berlin 1925
Pioneers of Berlin Modernism
The Buchthals were bold. They brought the avant-garde to Berlin’s Westend district and had what can only be described as an “expressionist manifesto” constructed as a family residence and a home for their collection of modern art. Today it is one of the few remaining traces of this Jewish couple’s life in Berlin.
Success in the fashion capital Berlin
Businessman Eugen Moritz Buchthal was born in 1878 in Berlin. From 1908 he was partner, and later joint owner, of a ladies’ ready-to-wear clothing factory. At the time, Seeler-Herrmann-Damenmäntel- und Kleiderfabrik & Co (later: Seeler & Cohn) on Gendarmenmarkt was one of the leading companies in the fashion capital Berlin.
Private collection
In 1909 Eugen Buchthal married Therese (Thea) Wolff. The couple had three children: Hugo (born in 1909), Anne Gerda (born in 1913) and Wolfgang Heinrich (born in 1922).
Avant-garde construction plans
Source: Moderne Villen und Landhäuser, ed. H. de Fries, Berlin 1925
Source: Moderne Villen und Landhäuser, ed. H. de Fries, Berlin 1925
The family settled in Westend, an exclusive neighborhood in Berlin. At first, they had an apartment in a residence in Bayernallee. In 1922 the Buchthals commissioned a young, up-and-coming architectural studio to build a two-story villa in nearby Lindenallee.
The architects had already made their mark with some extraordinary designs, but this was their first construction project.
Source: Moderne Villen und Landhäuser, ed. H. de Fries, Berlin 1925
A ‘UFO’ in Westend
Once complete, House Buchthal was a Gesamtkunstwerk, or synthesis of artistic forms, from its layout to its exterior to its furniture. At the time, its radical, expressionist form meant it looked like something from another planet. In 1925 an architecture critic declared that the house “emphasizes its modernity somewhat zealously. […] Both the solution for the outer corners and the interior rooms warrant discussion.”
RIBA Collections
‘New Objectivity’: a practical solution
However, this architectural gem was evidently neither practical nor large enough for the Buchthals, a family of five. In 1929, just a few years after they had moved in, they had the house transformed into a New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) style, again showing they were in tune with contemporary artistic trends.
Collectors of Modern Art
Reproduction from the exhibition catalog: Zweite Ausstellung Deutscher Nach-Impressionistischer Kunst aus Berliner Privatbesitz , Nationalgalerie 1928, p. 51.
The Buchthals did not only commission avant-garde architectural projects; they were also avid collectors of contemporary art. They owned prints and paintings, particularly by Expressionist artists including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Müller, Max Pechstein, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde, Käthe Kollwitz, Lyonel Feininger, Franz Marc, Edvard Munch, and others.
The Buchthals had one of the most outstanding art collections in 1930s Berlin.
Privatbesitz © Nachlass Katerina Wilczynski
Privatbesitz © Nachlass Katerina Wilczynski
Privatbesitz © Nachlass Katerina Wilczynski
Privatbesitz © Nachlass Katerina Wilczynski
A “chaotic” guest makes memories
The Buchthals often purchased their works from artists directly, with whom they also maintained friendships. They would host artists such as Max Beckmann or Arnold Schönberg at their home.
The artist Katerina (Käte) Wilczynski received support from the Buchthals and lived with them for a time. She captured the family’s life in sketches accompanied by witty captions. Today these are among the few surviving pictures of the family.
On 29 June 1928 Eugen Buchthal signed to confirm the return of several paintings. These included Erich Heckel’s painting Schleuse (Sluice) (or Brücke (Bridge)) from 1913, shown here as a black-and-white photo from the archive of the Nationalgalerie.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zentralarchiv © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024
The Buchthals loaned two pictures to the exhibition in tribute to Otto Müller in the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) at the Nationalgalerie; one of which was a self-portrait of the artist (second picture from left). On September 1, Thea Buchthal signed to confirm the return of the works.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zentralarchiv
Loans to the Nationalgalerie
Between 1928 and 1932 Berlin’s Nationalgalerie (National Gallery) repeatedly had stellar works from the Buchthal collection on display. They not only appeared in the exhibition catalogs; articles written at the time also referred to the artworks and their donors.
Persecuted and expelled
Thea Buchthal making a statutory declaration on October 15, 1956 (Entschädigungsakten, Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten, Abt. I Entschädigungsbehörde / Denazification files, Regional Office for Citizens’ and Regulatory Affairs, Dept. 1 Denazification Authority)
As a Jewish family, the Buchthals were persecuted by the National Socialists from 1933. Eugen’s health deteriorated as a result of the persistent discrimination and in 1937 he suffered a heart attack.
In 1934 the couple’s eldest son Hugo emigrated to London, where he worked at the renowned Warburg Library. Anna Gerda left Germany in 1936, also for London. Thea and Eugen likewise made plans to emigrate with their youngest son.
Sale of possessions
In January 1936 Eugen Buchthal transferred a large number of prints from his collection to the Nierendorf gallery in Berlin. The sale of the prints meant that the collection as an integral whole was lost irretrievably.
In the same year the Buchthals also sold their villa in Berlin-Westend. The buyer was Dr Bruno Bruhn, director general of the industrial conglomerate Krupp AG. The Buchthals were allowed to keep living on the top floor of the property until they emigrated in 1938.
Emigration
On March 11, 1938, Eugen Buchthal’s 60th birthday, he and his wife Thea emigrated to London. A few months later the German authorities ordered them to pay substantial sums to cover the “Reich Flight Tax” (Reichsfluchtsteuer) and the “Levy on Jewish Assets” (Judenvermögensabgabe).
Eugen Buchthal was initially able to work with the London representative of his Berlin company, although the pay was extremely low. Later the German headquarters of the company ordered his dismissal.
Eugen and Thea Buchthal survived the war in London. Eugen died on October 6, 1954, and Thea some years later.
There are few remaining traces of their former life in Berlin. Little is known about the whereabouts of the art collection. Today Buchthal House is a listed building and a reminder of the Buchthals, whose progressive approach to art makes them synonymous with Berlin Modernism.
Restitution
🔍 Move the mouse over the image to zoom in
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zentralarchiv, I/NG 964, fol. 13 🔍 Move the mouse over the image to zoom in
Works from the Buchthal collection in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
In 1936 the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) purchased sixteen prints from the Buchthal collection from the Nierendorf gallery. In 1937 a portion of them were labelled ‘degenerate’ and confiscated by the National Socialist authorities. There are no further traces of these works.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Anders. Public Domain Mark 1.0 🔍 Über das Bild mit der Maus fahren, um zu vergrößern
Restitution and Repurchase
After the confiscation, nine works from the Buchthal collection remained in the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin. These were prints by Erich Heckel, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde, Otto Müller, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. In 2017 the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), to which the Kupferstichkabinett belongs , restituted the nine works to the rightful heirs.
The Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz was able to purchase one of the prints, the etching Fehmarnhäuser mit großem Baum (Houses on Fehrmarn with a Large Tree) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner for the Kupferstichkabinett.
bpk / Städel Museum © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024
Additional Restitutions
The Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main and the City of Cologne also restituted prints from the Buchthal collection to the heirs in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The colored woodcut Fränzi liegend (Fränzi Reclining) by Erich Heckel was repurchased for the Städel.
The Lost Art database of the Deutsches Zentrum für Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation) contains 141 search requests under the keyword ‘Buchthal, Eugen Moritz and Therese (Thea)'.
