Pyramids at Gizeh

Purchased from the artist by Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, stock no. 5223/4, February 11, 1930-March 2, 1931 [1];

Purchased from Galerie Paul Cassirer by Max Glaeser (1871-1932), Eselsfürth, Germany, March 2, 1931-1932 [2];

Possibly by inheritance to his wife, Anna Glaeser (née Opp, 1864-1944), Eselsfürth, Germany, 1932 [3];

With Galerie Buck, Mannheim, Germany, by February 1, 1937 [4];

Purchased from Galerie Buck by Bertha Sanders (1887-1976), February 1, 1937-March 1937 [5];

Purchased from Sanders by George Gershwin (né Jacob Gershowitz, 1898-1937), Beverly Hills, CA, March-July 1937 [6];

By inheritance to his brother, Ira Gershwin (né Israel Gershowitz, 1896-1983), Beverly Hills, CA, July 1937-1939;

To his mother, Rose Gershwin (née Rose Bruskin, 1875-1947), New York, 1939-1947 [7];

Her bequest to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, no. 238.1950, October 11, 1950-December 16, 1954 [8];

Deaccessioned by The Museum of Modern Art and purchased, through Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, stock no. 17035, by The Friends of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1954 [9];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1954.

NOTES:

[1] Galerie Paul Cassirer Archive, stock card #5223, according to Walter Feilchenfeldt, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, October 12, 2021, NAMA curatorial files. According to Johann Winkler and Katharina Erling, Oskar Kokoschka: die Gemälde, 1906-1929 (Salzburg: Verlag Galerie Welz, 1995), 144 , the painting had been on commission to Cassirer since December 19, 1929. Cassirer lent it to the exhibition Oskar Kokoschka: das Gesammelte Werk, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, January 18-March 1, 1931.

[2] Galerie Paul Cassirer Archive, stock card #5223, see note 1.

[3] Glaeser offered to sell his paintings collection to the Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern in 1931 for 100,000 Marks, far less than its 250,000 Marks value. Director Hermann Graf requested a loan of the sale amount from the city of Kaiserlautern, but the request was denied and Glaeser sold some of his paintings to other museums. Anna Glaeser inherited the remainder of her husband’s art collection in 1932. It is unclear if Max Glaeser sold the painting or if it was inherited by Anna. See Daniela Christmann, Die Moderne in der Pfalz: Künstlerische Beitrage, Künstlervereinigungen und Kunstförderung in den zwanziger Jahren (Heidelberg: Kehrer Verlag, 1999), 281, and Andrea Baresel-Brand, Alfred Flechtheim: Raubkunst und Restitution (De Gruyter, 2015), 206-207.

[4] Max or Anna Glaeser may have sold or placed the painting on consignment with Galerie Buck, as Mannheim is only forty miles from the Glaeser’s home in Eselsfürth.

[5] Purchase receipts, Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, copies in NAMA curatorial files. Many thanks to Michael Owen, Consulting Historian and Archivist, Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts, for sharing this information.

[6] Bertha Sanders was the sister of Sigmund Sanders, a New York music conductor. In a letter to Mabel Schirmer dated March 19, 1937, George Gershwin wrote: "I recently bought 2 paintings. One by Kockoshka [sic] the Austrian & the other "Black Venus" by John Carroll.” George and Ira Gershwin Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

[7] According to Michael Owen, Consulting Historian and Archivist, Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, September 7, 2021, NAMA curatorial files.

[8] According to The Museum of Modern Art, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, July 20, 2021, NAMA curatorial files.

[9] According to MOMA Registration records, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, January 22, 2021, NAMA curatorial files. The painting was on consignment with Curt Valentin from December 2, 1954.