Curt Valentin

Curt Valentin (5 October 1902, Hamburg, Germany – 19 August 1954, Forte dei Marmi, Italy) was a German-Jewish art dealer known for handling modern art, particularly sculpture, and works classified as "degenerate", seized from public museums or looted from private collectors by the Nazi regime in Germany. After 1927 Curt Valentin worked for Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin. In 1934, he worked at Karl Buchholz Gallery, Hamburg. In 1937, he emigrated to America, and opened a modern art gallery, Bucholz gallery, in New York City. He had permission to sell German art in America, from the Nazi authorities to help fund Hitler's war efforts. On June 30, 1939, Curt Valentin bid for art looted by the Nazis that was being auctioned at the Galerie Fischer in Lucerne on behalf of Alfred H. Barr Jr. who provided money donated to the Museum of Modern Art. In 1951 the gallery was renamed the Curt Valentin Gallery. His gallery operated from 1951, until a year after his death in 1954, and handled works by many notable artists including Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Marino Marini, Irving Kriesberg, and Jacques Lipchitz. Art restitution cases Numerous art restitution cases involve artworks which passed through Curt Valentin after being seized by the Nazis from museums or from private art collectors who were persecuted by the Nazis because of their Jewish heritage. Provenance research projects are ongoing around the world to clarify the origins of artworks sold by Valentin.