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INVENTORY OF THE G. CRAMER OUDE KUNST GALLERY RECORDS, 1901-1998, bulk 1938-1998
2001.M.5
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Title: G. Cramer Oude Kunst gallery records
Date (inclusive): 1901-1998, bulk 1938-1998
Number: 2001.M.5
Creator/Collector:
G. Cramer Oude Kunst
Physical Description:
387.81 linear feet
(930 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The records of G. Cramer Oude Kunst in The Hague in the Netherlands document the gallery's business since the early 1920s
until the late 1990s, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1938 to 1998. Of particular research value are Gustav Cramer's
WWII correspondence and sales receipts regarding his dealings with Nazi agents for Adolf Hitler's museum in Linz. The archive
may be the only uncensored dealer archive documenting the international art market in Nazi-occupied Europe. It comprises sixty
years of the gallery's correspondence and financial records. Also present is a portion of the photographic archive, including
circa 500 glass plate negatives, and sales catalogs. At this time, only the correspondence from 1936 through 1967 is processed
and available for access. The remainder of the collection is still in process and will be made available for research upon
completion.
Request Materials: To access physical materials on site, go to the
library catalog record for this collection and click "Request an Item." Click here for
access policy .
Language: Collection material is predominantly in
Dutch; Flemish, with some material in
English,
French, or
German.
Biographical / Historical Note
The gallery of the art dealers Gustav Cramer (1881-1961) and his son Hans Max Cramer (b. 1920) was one of the most renowned
and influential galleries dealing in old master paintings during the 20th century in Europe. The gallery was founded in Kassel
in the late 19th century by Gustav Cramer's grandfather, Max Cramer. In 1914 Gustav Cramer inherited the gallery. After World
War I Gustav Cramer moved to Berlin where for many years he worked at the renowned Van Diemen gallery, in charge of the old
masters section, or Alte Kunst. In 1933 he opened his own gallery in the Lennéstrasse in Berlin. In 1936, he was expelled
from the official artists' organization Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste (Reich Chamber of Visual Art). In 1938, in order
to escape the Nazi regime, the family moved to the Netherlands and opened the G. Cramer Oude Kunst gallery in Javastraat 38
in The Hague. Under the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands Gustav Cramer's son Hans Max Cramer became the official owner of
the gallery. While the son officially represented the gallery, the father continued to be in charge of business. After Gustav
Cramer's death in 1961, Hans Max Cramer continued his father's business.
During World War II Gustav Cramer dealt on consignment in fine and decorative arts, mainly with German dealers in Berlin.
He also engaged as an intermediary in transactions between Nazi agents collecting for Adolf Hitler's museum in Linz and Dutch
collectors and dealers who wanted their transactions with the Nazis to remain anonymous. After the war he continued to sell
decorative arts and old master paintings to a primarily Dutch and German clientele.
Between 1954 and 1959, the gallery eliminated decorative arts from its stock in order to focus on old master paintings. Records
from this period indicate that the firm also began to engage in business more regularly with numerous museums and private
collectors in the United States. In 1960 Hans Max Cramer changed the business strategy again and began selling paintings almost
exclusively on consignment, a concept for which he was criticized during the early 1960s. This approach turned out to be successful
at a time when many private collections were being sold and dispersed. Cramer was able to make substantial business deals
by representing some of the most important private collections in the Netherlands, including H.E. ten Cate, the Becker collection,
the C.J.K. van Aalst collection, the Sidney van den Bergh collection, and numerous others. The pool of clientele expanded
to include the world's most significant old master collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty
Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery, London, the National Gallery, Washington, the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, the Toledo Art Museum, and the collections of L.H. Gilbert, Armand Hammer, Norton Simon, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza,
and many others.
Hans Max Cramer studied at the prestigious Dutch school for art history, the Rijksinstituut voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
in The Hague. He was head of the study-room for Dutch and Flemish old masters, and wrote a great number of articles for the
Dutch encyclopaedia Winkler Prins. During the 1980s he curated the exhibition
Dutch Painting of the Golden Age from the Royal Picture Gallery, Mauritshuis and the Galleries of Hans M. Cramer and John
Hoogsteder
, held in The Hague in 1986. It was the first publicly sponsored exhibition curated by dealers.
A portion of the collection is open for access by qualified researchers. The rest of the collection is in process and will
be made available for research as processing and cataloging of each series are completed. At this time, access is available
only to correspondence in Series I from 1936 through 1967.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
G. Cramer Oude Kunst gallery records, 1901-1998,(bulk 1938-1998), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
2001.M.5
Acquired in 2001.
Alan Tomlinson processed the entire collection when it was acquired in 2001. In the fall of 2011 Isabella Zuralski began writing
the finding aid and additional processing. She adapted the biographical/historical note from a text by Louis Marchesano and
added information from online records of the Bundesamt für zentrale Dienste und offene Vermögensfragen and the Frick Collection.
As of July 2012 she completed Series I. Correspondence from 1936 through 1967. The remainder of the collection is still in
process and will be made available for research upon completion.
Interview with Hans Cramer, 2004 April 1-2. Special Collections Accession no. 2004.M.26.
Scope and Content of Collection
At this time, access is available only to correspondence in Series I from 1936 through 1967. The rest of the collection is
being processed and will be made available for research in phases, as processing and cataloging of each series are completed.
The archive of the gallery G. Cramer Oude Kunst in The Hague in the Netherlands is a rich resource for the study of the international
market in old master paintings from the late 1930s through the end of the 20th century. It contains the gallery's complete
business records from 1938 to 1998. Of particular research value is the documentation of the activities under Nazi occupation
during WWII, especially correspondence and receipts regarding the gallery's dealings with Nazi agents for Adolf Hitler's museum
in Linz. It may be the only uncensored dealer archive documenting the international art market in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Series I consists of 345 boxes of correspondence with major art museums all over the world, but mainly in Europe, the United
States, and Canada, numerous art dealers, private collectors, auction houses, conservators, editors of art magazines, and
renowned art historians, and also with insurance agencies, transport firms, financial institutions, and lawyers. The letters
regard predominantly acquisition, shipment, conservation, and sale of paintings. Frequently they provide commentary on current
trends in the international art market, prices, aesthetics, and collecting. Also present are personal exchanges between various
members of the Cramer family and friends, especially extensive from the late 1930s until the late 1940s. A portion of the
correspondence in the postwar period, continuing well into the 1960s, deals with restitution issues and Nazi business dealings
for the museum in Linz.
Series II is the most extensive portion of the archive. It consists of 558 boxes housing the firm's complete financial records
dating from the 1920s until 1998. Included is one stock book from 1901. The most substantial portion is comprised of account
files and bank statements. Also present are tax records, sales reports, commission books, and insurance records.
Series III consists of 29 boxes predominantly of photographs of paintings and decorative arts, and photographs of the gallery.
Also present are photographs received from clients, and x-rays of paintings. This series comprises only a portion of the gallery's
vast photo archive, most of which was donated to the Rijksdienst voor Kunsthistorische Dokumentatie (RKD).
Series IV consists of 11 boxes with circa 500 glass plate negatives of art that passed through the gallery during the late
1950s and the 1960s.
Series V. consists of 19 boxes of miscellaneous papers documenting the firm's various professional activities, including dealings
with the Association of Art Dealers in the Netherlands, CINOA (International Confederation of Art and Antique Dealers'), the
Rotary Club, gallery sales catalogs, published catalogs of private collections, and press clippings.
Organized in five series:
Series I. Correspondence, 1936-1998;
Series II. Financial records, 1920-1998;
Series III. Photographs, undated;
Series IV. Glass plate negatives, undated;
Series V. Miscellaneous papers, 1940-1998.
Cramer, Gustav, 1881-1961
Cramer, Hans M.
G. Cramer Oude Kunst
Art dealers--Correspondence
Art historians--Correspondence
Art treasures in war--Netherlands
Art--Private collections
National socialism and art--Netherlands
World War, 1939-1945--Art and the war
Black-and-white photographs
Color photographs
Gelatin dry plate negatives
Photographs, Original
Radiographs
Allen Memorial Art Museum
Bloch, Vitale
Blunt, Anthony, 1907-1983
Cate, H. E. ten,
Cramer, Gustav, 1881-1961
Cramer, Hans M.
Cranbrook School (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
Detroit Institute of Arts
Dussler, Luitpold, 1895-1976
Erasmus, Kurt, b. 1880
Friedländer, Max J., 1867-1958
Gelder, J. G. van (Jan Gerrit), 1903-1980
Getty, J. Paul (Jean Paul), 1892-1976
Gilbert, L. H.
Grigaut, Paul L.
Grote-Hasenbalg, Werner, 1888-
Göpel, Erhard
Haberstock, Karl, 1878-1956
Hackenbroch, Yvonne
Hannema, D, (Dirk), 1895-1984,
Hartlaub, Gustav Friedrich, 1884-1963
Held, Julius S , (Julius Samuel), 1905-2002
Henschel , Hildegard, 1909-
Henschel, Oscar Robert, 1899 - 1982
Julius Böhler (Firm)
Kamphuisen, P. W. , (Pieter Wilhelmus), 1897-1961
Magriel, Paul David, 1906-
Müller-Hofstede, Cornelius
Parks, Robert O.
Planiscig, Leo, 1887-1952
Pope-Hennessy, John Wyndham, Sir, 1913-1994
Posse, Hans, b. 1879
Smith College. Museum of Art.
Stechow, Wolfgang, 1896-1974
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit.
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Hans Heinrich, Baron
Toledo Museum of Art
Wittmann, Otto, 1911-2001