[Rarebooks] FS: Mysterious Avant-Garde Photo Collection

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

TITLE: “Important Avant-Garde Photographs of the 1920s & 1930s. The Helene
Anderson Collection”

The catalog to an auction held in London by Sotheby's on May 2, 1997.

DISCUSSION: This was certainly an important sale, but it was not all it
seemed. On March 1, 1998, the magazine ArtCult reported-

"The fantastic Helene Anderson collection of photos which included works
by Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitsky, Haussmann and Rodchenko sold by
Sotheby's on May 2, 1998 in fact belonged to Kurt Kirchbach a member of
the German Nazi party in the 1930's. This was the most exciting sale of
photos in the history of the art market and Sotheby's catalogue mentioned
that Helene Anderson (1891-1970) had started her collection with
photographic works already assembled by her parents. Nobody knew who was
Helene Anderson who had gathered the most remarkable works of the first
third of this century between 1920 and 1932. The sale realised almost $3
million which was meant to be paid to Helene Anderson's son [but] the
Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung revealed in January 1998 that the sale was
a piece of trickery and that the real collector was Kurt Kirchbach.
Kirchbach, an industrialist from Dresden, started his collection at 38. At
that time, photos by Man Ray, Rodchenko or Moholy-Nagy were quite cheap
compared with today's prices. Kirchbach joined the Nazi party [and] from
then on he had to hide his collection which included so-called Bolshevik
and degenerate works. After the war, Kirchbach settled in Dusseldorf and
died in Friburg in 1967. His wife inherited the collection and died in a
retirement home in Basel, Switzerland, in 1995, a year before the
collection was back on the market. Helene Anderson, who was married to a
certain Emil Burdack, entered in possession of 221 photos out of the 600
assembled by Kirchbach which she received from Angelica Burdack who was in
charge of the Basel retirement home. Now the question is to determine
whether Mrs Kirchbach really donated the collection to Angelica Burdack
without the knowledge of her sole heir, a lawyer based in Zurich. The man
who has revealed the piece of trickery is Herbert Molderings, a
49-year-old art historian who published several books in the field of
modern photography. He sifted through newspapers and archives from the
1930's to discover who the real owner of the collection was. In organising
the sale, Sotheby's was apparently guilty of having dealt with that matter
without due consideration. Molderings accused the auction house of having
accepted without questioning the provenance of the collection, brought by
the son of Helene Anderson. Sotheby's answered that they were not
compelled to ask documents from vendors. Still, it remains to determine
how and when Helene Anderson and her son got hold of the collection and to
clear up the mystery regarding the 380 or so missing photos."

DESCRIPTION: Softcover. 8"x10.5", 104 pages, 221 lots, black & white
illustrations.

CONDITION NOTES: Minor soil, but otherwise clean and nice, with a tight
binding.

PRICE:  $80 -

SOME PICTURES =>
<http://www.joslinhall.com/newadd-10-15-13.html#anchor2>

 - - -


JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

Post Office Box 239
Northampton, Massachusetts 01061 USA
telephone (413) 247-5080

Our WEBSITE-
<http://www.joslinhall.com>

Our LATEST ADDITIONS-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/newadd-today.html>

Our LATEST CATALOG-
Books on Furniture
<http://www.joslinhall.com/Catalog_343.pdf>

Our BLOG-
<http://foggygates.blogspot.com/>

On TWITTER-
<https://twitter.com/joslinhall>

Our EMAIL LIST-
<http://joslinhall.com/mailman/listinfo/jhrbnews_joslinhall.com>

 ~ ~ ~

TERMS:
All payments must be in U.S. funds and negotiable through a U.S. bank; We
accept checks, money orders, American Express, Visa and Mastercard. Books
may be reserved pending payment; Institutions may be billed; Standard
courtesies to institutions and the trade; Postage charges are $5.00 for
the first book, and $2.00 for each additional book. Shipments outside the
U.S. will be billed at cost. We accept returns if we are notified within
ten days of your receipt of the books-please ask for full instructions and
terms. Massachusetts residents must add 5% state sales tax.

As members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America we are
committed to upholding high professional standards and making sure your
bookbuying experience is enjoyable.