August L. Mayer

August Liebmann Mayer (born in Griesheim, Germany on October 27, 1885 and died in Auschwitz, probably March 12, 1944) was a German curator, art historian and art collector specializing in Spanish Golden Age painting. He was fired from his job, his art collection was looted and he was murdered by Nazis because he was Jewish.

Biography

A disciple of the Swiss Heinrich Wölfflin (1864-1945), an eminent representative of the formalist movement, Mayer was the first to apply a modern methodology to the study of the history of Spanish art. Of Jewish origin, he died in the Auschwitz concentration camp, five days after being deported from Drancy.

Mayer's parents were the merchant Jonas Mayer and Bertha Mayer geb. Liebmann. Mayer studied archeology and Germanistik (German studies) in universities in Munich and Berlin, receiving his Ph.D in1907. His dissertation on Jusepe Ribera was published as a book. After traveling, Mayer took an unpaid position at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, eventually getting a job as curator in 1914. During WWI, Dr. Mayer served in an infantry unit, returning the art world when it ended.

In 1920, Mayer became Chief Curator at the Bavarian State Paintings Collection (Alte Pinakothek) and as Associate Professor at the University of Munich.  His expertise in Spanish art was widely recognized. [1]

Nazi Persecution

With the rise of the Nazis, Mayer came under constant attack, notably from Luitpold Dussler (1895 – 1976), an adjunct professor of art history at the Technische Hochschule in Munich, a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. He was forced to resign all his positions.[2]

On March 24, 1933, Dr. Mayer was detained, and over several months harassed and tortured, driving him to attempt suicide on June 15, 1933. He was released in July 1933 after a third suicide attempt. As was the case for Jews in Germany, he was subjected to financial fines and confiscatory taxes, his home in Tutzing was confiscated and he was forced to sell personal property, including works of art. [2]

He fled to France with his family in 1935, financially ruined but able to resume work in art. In 1939 he was arrested and released in France after friends intervened. In February 1944 while hiding in the south of France, Mayer was again arrested, this time in Nice. He was taken to Drancy where he was interned on February 13, 1944. On March 7, 1944 Dr. Mayer was deported on transport nr. 69 to Auschwitz where he perished on March 12, 1944.

The notorious Nazi SS art looter Bruno Lohse was investigated for his role in Mayer's death.[3]

Art Collection: Nazi looting and restitutions

Dr. Mayer had a substantial art collection which he was forced to sell or which was seized outright by Nazis. Attempts to locate and recover the looted art has been the subject of numerous press articles.[1][4][5][6]

References
  1. "August Liebmann Mayer". www.bsb-muenchen.de. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  2. "HCPO: Collectors - The Dr. August Liebmann Mayer Collection". Department of Financial Services. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  3. "Professor Jonathan Petropoulos on Göring's Man in Paris:The Story of a Nazi Art Plunderer. Interview". lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-02-06. Toward the end of his life, there were investigations into his wartime behaviour--including an investigation into whether he played a role in the murder of art historian August Liebmann-Meyer.
  4. "La France va restituer un tableau volé par les nazis". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  5. "Jewish Museum Aids in Nazi-Looted Art's Return". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  6. "Bayerisches Nationalmuseum gibt Raubkunst zurück". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2021-01-29.


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