German City of Münster returns Pankok Painting to Jewish Heirs

Investigations have shown that the painting was "taken away from its owner due to persecution" during the Nazi regime. The return is based on the Washington Principles of 1998, which aim to find a fair and just solution for Nazi-looted art and to which the city of Münster is committed. "We are very happy that we were able to resolve the case quickly and would also like to thank the family affected for the good exchange," says Cornelia Wilkens, head of the cultural department. "The return of this painting is an important step towards historical reappraisal."

"Reading Man" by Bernhard Pankok is one of his early works. It shows a man lost in reading. Pankok's fellow student Wilhelm Köster sat as the model. The Münster City Museum bought the painting in 1992 from the Lempertz auction house in Cologne - without knowing its history.

Provenance researcher Kai Artinger from the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart was able to prove in his investigations that the work is looted art. The research was funded by the Office for Provenance Research and the German Lost Art Foundation. Artinger has been researching the origins of works of art in the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart since 2014 and discovered the background of the Pankok painting in Münster.

The painting goes back to the heirs of the collector Max Rosenfeld, who now live in the USA. Rosenfeld's younger son Paul Georg (1906-1988) emigrated with his family via the Netherlands to the USA in early December 1938. Max Rosenfeld's great-grandchildren now live there.

Main Image: Bernhard Pankok's portrait of Max Rosenfeld, 1939