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On their webpage at https://www.salzburg.gv.at/kultur_/Seiten/galerie-datenbank-einfuehrung.aspx the Salzburger Landessamlungen have set out the history of their collection and of their provenance research. As a result of their work since 1987, 174 objects have been identified as of questionable origin, placed in a searchable database and they are seeking information on them. The text on their webpage is currently only in German. Below is an English translation.

English translation

The state of Salzburg has been checking the origin of disputed art objects in its state collections since 1987. On behalf of the State of Salzburg, the Salzburg State Archives edited and published the inventory of acquisitions between 1942 and 1944 in order to clarify the acquisition processes and the legal situation at the time.

The publication The Inventory Book of the Salzburg State Gallery 1942-1944 is the disclosure of the acquisitions of art objects by the Reichsgau Salzburg during the years of the Second World War and the documentation of the legacy that the Salzburg State Collections Residenzgalerie and Rupertinum took over from it and still keep today.

Since almost all of the original files in the Landesgalerie are still missing despite an intensive search, the provenance of the art objects could only be determined in individual cases.

The publication of the inventory book in April 2000 has not brought any inquiries from previous owners or their heirs to date. The Internet version of the "Landesgalerie Salzburg 1942-1944" database thus represents another attempt by the State of Salzburg to give former owners of state-owned objects the opportunity for restitution.

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Genesis

The "Landesgalerie Salzburg 1942-1944" database was created in 2000 by Governor Dr. Franz Schausberger and commissioned by Head of Department Dr. Othmar Raus. Supervision is provided by the Office of the Salzburg Provincial Government, Department of Culture and Sport.

It is primarily based on data and results from the publication Koller, Fritz: The Inventory Book of the Salzburg State Gallery 1942-1944.-Salzburg 2000. State archivist Koller primarily used documents from the Salzburg State Archives, the archive of the Residenz Gallery, the private archives of the Welz Gallery, the archive of the Federal Monuments Office Vienna, the National Archives Washington, as well as relevant results of French research.

The Salzburg State Archives, the Salzburg State Collections and the Salzburg Museum Carolino Augusteum made a significant contribution by making visual material available.

The results of ongoing provenance research, in particular materials from the archive of the Salzburg Museum Carolino Augusteum and the archive of the Federal Monuments Office on the holdings of the former State Gallery that are still in Salzburg, were also taken into account.

Since the research work has not yet been completed, this database is still provisional. More results will be published in a later version. An English edition is in preparation.

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Content and search:

The database is based on the inventory book published by Koller.

All 174 objects still available in Salzburg are displayed if no entry is made in the search field and "Search" is clicked.

You can print out the search result via "Print view".

A search is possible according to the following criteria.

All fields: Standard
setting Inventory no.: Inventory number of the state gallery
Artist: Artist name, e.g. B.: Rudolf von Alt, or: Italian, 18th century.
Provenance: Almost all of the objects contained in the database have gaps in their provenance or are of unclear origin
Technology: e.g. B.: Oil/canvas, watercolor
Work: The title given to an object in the inventory book

The following additional information on the work of art is given:

Date of creation: Date of creation of the work of art
Dimensions: Dimensions of the work of art in cm or in mm
Technique: e.g. B: Oil/canvas, engraving, watercolour/paper
Location 2000: Current location of the artworks in the Residenzgalerie Salzburg
(RGinv. no.), in the Rupertinum, Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg (RU inv. no.), in the Salzburg Museum
Carolino Augusteum (SMCA) and in property management at the Office of the Salzburg
Provincial Government (property management)

The spelling of the artists follows today's standard and sometimes differs from the spelling in the inventory book

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The State Gallery:

The Landesgalerie Salzburg was founded on February 13, 1942 by Gauleiter Gustav A. Scheel. It was the public art collection of the Reichsgau Salzburg and as such is completely separate from the Salzburg Residenz Gallery of the State of Salzburg and the private Welz Gallery in Salzburg. Friedrich Welz was responsible for setting it up from 1940 to 1942 and headed it from 1942 to 1944. From May 8, 1944 to December 31, 1945, its holdings were part of the Salzburg Museum Association as a picture gallery. Until the end of the war, the head of the association was Prof. Bruno Grimschitz, director of the Austrian Gallery in Vienna.

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Origin and restitution of the works of the Landesgalerie

The State Gallery's collections included 488 art objects, including 459 pictures and 29 sculptures. Welz had bought around 310 of these objects from the Paris art trade, and he had acquired around 170 domestically through purchase, exchange or donation. 174 former State Gallery art objects are still in Salzburg today. Legal title is held for all acquisitions by the Landesgalerie, but in many cases there are rightly considerable moral concerns about the integrity of the sources of supply and the previous transactions. In 1947, all pictures of French origin that could be found in Salzburg were brought back to France by the French occupation forces. Of the domestic acquisitions, seven were returned to the heirs of Nazi victims in 1947/50 and one in 1965. Other claims were not made and are not known to this day. It cannot be ruled out that the lack of further claims is due to a lack of information.

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Holdings of the Landesgalerie 1942-1945:

Total state gallery objects:

488

Objects from France:

318

Domestic items:

170

Whereabouts of the objects:

Total number of objects in the gallery:

488

Whereabouts known:

380

Returned to France:
Returned (not including France):
Existing in Salzburg:

198
8
174

Whereabouts unknown:

108

Whereabouts of the French objects:

Objects of French origin:

318

whereabouts known:

217

Returned to France: Available
in Salzburg:
Of which in the Residence Gallery:

198
19
19

whereabouts unknown:

101

Whereabouts of domestic objects:

170 objects of domestic origin:

170

whereabouts known:

163

Returned to Nazi victims or heirs
(1947-1965):

available in Salzburg:

of which in the Residenz Gallery:

of which in the Rupertinum:

of which in the property management:

of which in the Salzburg Carolino Augusteum Museum:

8


155

107

44

3

1

whereabouts unknown:

7

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Which works of art are part of the database?

At present, 174 art objects - some with unclear, the others with unclear or incomplete provenance - are part of the Internet database. Of these, 155 objects are of domestic origin and 19 are of French origin.

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Which holdings of the Salzburg State Collections are missing from the database?

The database is missing:

The objects restituted after World War II (206 in number)

The Missing Objects (108 in number)

Objects acquired after World War II

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Sources:

The database is based on the information in the publication Koller, Fritz: Das Inventarbuch der Landesgalerie Salzburg 1942-1944 (The Inventory Book of the State Gallery Salzburg 1942-1944).-Salzburg 2000, the directory of the State Gallery objects mentioned in publications compiled by Ulrike Klingenschmid (Koller, p. 542-548), Salzburg als Motiv. Die Graphiksammlung der Residenzgalerie Salzburg (Salzburg as Motive. The graphics collection of the Residenzgalerie Salzburg).-Salzburg 1988, Schenkung von Friedrich Welz für die Salzburger Landessammlungen Rupertinum (Donations of Friedrich Welz for the Salzburg State Collections Rupertinum).-Salzburg 1983, Residenzgalerie mit Sammlung Czernin und Sammlung Schönborn-Buchheim (The Residenzgalerie with the Czernin Collection and Schönborn-Buchheim).-Salzburg Collection 1980 and archival research by Gerhard Plasser.

In the inventory book, Koller processes two inventory books from the State Gallery (SLA 926/1 and 926/2) that are available in the Salzburg State Archives. Further copies can be found in Vienna, BDA (Restitution Kt. 49, Welz), Washington, NARA, (HS 926/13 NARA II, RG 260, Box 64, Entry 1 and in Paris, a list arranged according to documents (copy: SLA HS 926/18)

Estimated values ​​usually result from notes in the inventory book Manuscript II.

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Searched sources:

In 1944, the office manager of the Landesgalerie, Martha Osthoff, drew up the following list of files:

"List of books and files kept at the Picture Gallery
3 inventory books "G", identical (including paintings and sculptures), 1 piece for St. Gilgen, 1 piece for the St. Peter office, 1 piece previously for U- Dept. IId
1 inventory book containing reproductions (just started)
1 cash book
1 delivery book for payment orders
1 inventory register for "G"
1 diary about daily occurrences
1 large Leitz folder for ongoing correspondence, special processes in separate files, etc.:
Copies of payment orders
invoices
Bank notifications
Sales receipts
Dispatch notifications
Exhibition material
Manuscripts
Invoice receipts (for publishers)
Orders of the Zweckverband
Monitoring lists
Framework inventory (unattached)
Inventory of the furnishings (unattached)
Address index
An inventory index still has to be introduced.

Salzburg, July 12, 1944"[1]

In 1949, according to the transfer protocol from January 26, signatories: "Vernon R Kennedy, Chief Property Control and Restitution Branch, Dr. Paul Horner, Head of Department VIIIc of the Salzburg State Government, Prof. Rigobert Funke, Director of the Municipal Museum":

"Business records, photos and personal files belonging to Mr. Frederick Welz:

8 Office books
1 Office book, blanc
11 Envelopes with photos of paintings and other art objects
15 folders with correspondenc
1 Box with letters and bills
2 Folders, account-extracts"[2]

[1] SMCA, museum files, folder Landesgalerie/Akten 1944, MZ, 7.

[2] BDA, Restitution, box 49, Welz 1947-1952, fol. 1-148, here fol. 24, 25; See Kerschbaumer, Gert: Master of Confusion. The business of the art dealer Welz.-Vienna 2000, p. 182.

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Source
https://www.salzburg.gv.at/kultur_/Seiten/galerie-datenbank-einfuehrung.aspx link updated February 2022

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