Swiss foundation returns Hodler painting to Jewish heirs

The Zurich SKKG Foundation returns a Hodler painting Keystone-SDA

Ferdinand Hodler's painting Lake Thun with Blüemlisalp and Niesen is to be returned to the heirs of its Jewish former owner. The SKKG Foundation in Winterthur and the heirs have reached an agreement.

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Lake Thun with Blüemlisalp and Niesen (1876/1882) has belonged to the Zurich foundation’s collection since 1998, an independent commission reported on Monday.

Provenance research showed that the previous owner, Martha Adrianna Nathan, née Dreyfus (1874-1958), was forced to sell the painting because of persecution by the Nazi regime.

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The agreement reached last March also provides for the history of the former owner to be made accessible to the public. Of French origin and from the Dreyfus family of bankers in Frankfurt, Martha Adrianna Nathan became a naturalised Swiss citizen in 1875, along with her entire family. However, when she married Hugo Nathan, she lost her Swiss nationality and became a German citizen.

After the Nazis came to power in Berlin, Martha Nathan was persecuted as a Jew. In 1933, she regained French nationality on request and in 1937 fled Germany for France. Her exile brought her to Geneva in 1939, where she was able to settle.

However, after the occupation of France, Switzerland changed its practices, and French Jews could only obtain a residence permit subject to a deposit or guarantee.

Selling in Switzerland

Since 1938, Martha Nathan had been forced to sell works from her art collection to support herself. Lake Thun with Blüemlisalp and Niesen was sold in Switzerland in 1941. “Without the sale of the painting, she would not have been able to justify the resources required to renew her residence permit”, stated the commission.

The painting will be part of the “Jewish Collectors in Germany” exhibition in Hamburg from September. The SKKG foundation also plans to commemorate the history of Martha Nathan’s work and family in a publication.

Since summer 2022, the foundation has been tracing the provenance of the 6,000 works of art collected in Winterthur by the late real estate magnate Bruno Stefanini. They now belong to the SKKG, set up by his family, and are exhibited in some 60 institutions in Switzerland.

Translated from French by AI/mga

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