About the European Art Market and the First World War: Art, Capital, and the Decline of the Collecting Class, 1910-1925

‘On a cold German winter night, renowned figures, their identities only
exchanged through hushed murmurs and fleeting gestures, were spotted stepping out of passing cars. An observer remarked that the ambience of an opera house premiere of Richard Strauss, who was coincidentally also in attendance, enveloped those present. They all gathered for an important art auction: on 4 December 1917, the collection of Richard von Kaufmann went under the gavel. In another year, the grand assembly of European art connoisseurs would have certainly graced the occasion, considering Kaufmann’s was one of the most celebrated collections of European art to ever be presented for sale. Yet, on the day in which the Russian government had initiated negotiations for a separate peace with the Central Empires, the war continued casting a sombre pall over this anticipated gathering and branding former business colleagues and befriended art enthusiasts as enemies’.