The composition depicting Olevano is one of the most significant landscapes created by Kanoldt. His family had connections to this Italian town, located near Rome. The artist’s father, the painter Edmund Friedrich Kanoldt, opposed the deforestation of the oak forests near the town. The picturesque locality, discovered for painting by the German landscape artist Joseph Anton Koch, was among the favorite motifs for artists traveling through Italy, including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Kanoldt also could not resist the beauty of this place; during his journey to Italy in 1924, he spent almost two months there. Numerous sketches created on-site served him later in the creation of finished canvases in his studio in Breslau. In addition to painted versions, Kanoldt also created lithographs presenting the town from various perspectives.
Ismar Littmann acquired the last in the series of Olevano views directly from the painter. After the Breslau collector’s suicide, the painting was sold at an auction at Max Perl’s salon in February 1935. One of the few works sold at that time was precisely the Olevano view, which ended up in the hands of the art dealer Karl Nierendorf. The reserve price proposed by Hans Littmann, the collector’s son, was not achieved during the auction. This serves as clear evidence of the forced sale of the artwork and the unlawful seizure of property. In light of the provisions of the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, which address the restitution of cultural property lost by Jews during World War II and Nazi repression, acquiring works of art significantly below their current market value constitutes an unlawful takeover of ownership.
In the 1950s, there were rarely uncomfortable questions asked about the provenance of works of art in the Meta Nierendorf gallery (and elsewhere). The “Olevano” landscape was sold from Meta Nierendorf to the collections of the Berlin National Gallery, where it remained until 2001. After its return to the heirs, the painting was purchased for the collections of the Staatlichen Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, the hometown of Alexander Kanoldt.
Painting Information:
oil on canvas, dimensions: 91 x 71 cm, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.
Literature: Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligen jüdischen Besitz, red. Ulf Häder, Magdeburg 2001.
