Leo Lewin (born 1881 in Breslau; died 1965) was a German merchant, art collector and horse breeder who was persecuted by the Nazis due to being
Jewish.
Family
Lewin was the eldest of six children of the Breslau textile manufacturer Carl Lewin (1855-1926). The business C. Lewin was located at 7 Gartenstrasse (today's Piłsudskiego Street). During the First World War, the company delivered to the German army and equipped soldiers and horses, making the company prosperous.
Lewin married Helene Kosewski in 1917. The couple moved into a villa at Akazienallee 12 in Breslau; this was extensively rebuilt by
Oskar Kaufmann with the help of numerous artists such as
César Klein
César Klein (14 September 1876 – 13 March 1954) was a German Expressionist painter and designer, probably best known as one of the founders the November Group and the Arbeitsrat für Kunst. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of pa ...
.
Max Slevogt (1868-1932) , Portrait der Helen Lewin, Ehefrau von Leo Lewin.jpg, Porträt Helen Lewin (Max Slevogt)
Max Slevogt (1868-1932), Portrait der Helen Lewin, Ehefrau von Leo Lewin.jpg, Porträt Helen Lewin (Max Slevogt)
Horse breeding
After the First World War, Leo Lewin leased the Römerhof stud established by Georg von Bleichröder in Erftstadt and had the war damage repaired. Under Lewin, the mare population comprised up to 80 animals, at that time the largest population in Germany. From 1925 Lewin successfully organized yearling auctions. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, the estate was leased to Rudolf von Skrbensky.
In 1921 Lewin also leased Otto von Goßler's run-down stud in the old fishing village of Bindow near Königs Wusterhausen. Here he planned to set up a stud specializing in trotters. Success soon set in, Homer, Zora and Lebenskünstler won the Blue Ribbon from 1924 to 1926. In 1927 Lewin relocated breeding to the Stauffenburg domain. Lewin also produced some of the winning horses that racing stable owner Emil Perk from Berlin started on all German racetracks.
Art collection
Leo Lewin had an important art collection.
He was a member of the Künstlerbund, which promoted Silesian artists.
The collection consisted of from many paintings and drawings by Max Slevogt and Max Liebermann (
Bügelnde Dame), who was a friend and created portraits of the Lewin family. The sculptor
August Gaul
August Gaul (; October 22, 1869 – October 18, 1922) was a German sculptor and expressionism artist, born in Großauheim (now part of Hanau).
August Gaul was a founding member of the Berlin Secession. On close terms with art dealers like Bruno ...
created the Kleiner Tierpark for Lewin, consisting of fifteen tiny bronze and silver figures, and also a fountain with goose statues, which stood in the villa garden on Akazienallee. In the villa there were paintings by Hans von Marées, Wilhelm Trübner, Lovis Corinth (c:File:Lovis_Corinth,_Walchensee_im_Herbst_(Sammlung_Leo_Lewin_und_Ismar_Littmann).jpg, Walchensee im Herbst), Hans Thoma and Carl Spitzweg, as well as sculptures by Georg Kolbe and Ernst Barlach. Lewin also owned some drawings by the painter Adolph von Menzel, such as the procession in Hofgastein, which is now in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.
In 1921 he acquired two landscape paintings at Edvard Munch's exhibition in the Cassirer gallery in Berlin. He also acquired still lifes by Pablo Picasso, which are now in the Tate Gallery in London, as well as works by French realists such as Camille Corot (for example poetry, now in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne), Honoré Daumier. He owned a work by Édouard Manet, which shows a young bull in a meadow and was created in Versailles in 1881, as well as portraits by Renoir, a landscape painting by Camille Pissarro, a painting by Paul Cézanne and a painting by Claude Monet, the snow-covered vineyards at Moulin d'Orgemont shows. Before Max Silberberg purchased it, Lewin was the owner of the Courbet now at Yale University Art Gallery entitled, "Le Grand Pont".
In April 1927, Lewin auctioned some of his collection at Paul Cassirer.
Nazi persecution and emigration
When Hitler came to power, the Lewins were persecuted because of their Jewish heritage. Forced pay the special taxes that Nazis imposed on Jews, he had to auction his print collection at Max Perls. Lewin was able to take the remaining works of art, especially the holdings of the extensive library, with him when he emigrated to the north of England, where they appeared in second-hand bookshops in the following years, recognizable by a conspicuous bookplate by Max Slevogt. Lewin's horse breeding estate was leased to Rudolf von Skrbensky.
Lovis Corinth, Walchensee im Herbst (Sammlung Leo Lewin und Ismar Littmann).jpg, Lovis Corinth, ''Walchensee im Herbst'' (Sammlung Leo Lewin und Ismar Littmann).
Edouard Manet, Junger Stier auf der Wiese (Sammlung Leo Lewin).jpg, Edouard Manet, ''Junger Stier auf der Wiese''.
Max Liebermann, Bügelnde Dame (Sammlung Leo Lewin).jpg, Max Liebermann, ''Bügelnde Dame'' (Sammlung Leo Lewin).
Hans von Marees, Porträt Konrad Fiedlers (Sammlung Leo Lewin).jpg, Hans von Marees, ''Porträt Konrad Fiedlers'' (Sammlung Leo Lewin).
Auguste Renoir "Lachendes kleines Mädchen" Porträt der Schauspielerin Jeanne Samary (Sammlung Leo Lewin o. Max Silberberg).jpg, Auguste Renoir, ''Lachendes kleines Mädchen'', Porträt der Schauspielerin Jeanne Samary (Sammlung Leo Lewin u. Max Silberberg).
Adolf Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel 026.jpg, Adolph von Menzel, ''Prozession in Hofgastein''.
Soccer
In 1910 Lewin took over the leadership of the football club SC 1904 Breslau, later renamed United Breslauer Sportfreunde, which he also supported financially.
Legacy
Lewin's name appears in lists of Jewish art collectors targeted by Nazi persecution.
However, it is not known what became of many of the paintings in his collection or his activities after the war.
Literature
* Paul Cassirer, Hugo Helbing: ''Sammlung Leo Lewin Breslau. Deutsche und Französische Meister des XIX. Jahrhunderts. Gemälde, Plastik, Zeichnungen.'' Berlin 1927 (Versteigerungskatalog).
* Marius Winzeler: ''Jüdische Sammler und Mäzene in Breslau – von der Donation zur „Verwertung“ ihres Kunstbesitzes.'' In: Andrea Baresel-Brand, Peter Müller (Hrsg.): ''Sammeln. Stiften. Fördern. Jüdische Mäzene in der deutschen Gesellschaft.'' Magdeburg 2006, S. 131–150.
* Ramona Bräu: ''„Arisierung“ in Breslau – Die „Entjudung“ einer deutschen Großstadt und deren Entdeckung im polnischen Erinnerungsdiskurs.'' VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-8364-5958-7, S. 81 (3.4.2 Die großen jüdischen Kunstsammlungen in Schlesien – Kunstraub.)
Links
Sammlung: Leo Lewin (1881-1965)Biography of Leo Lewin in Sammlung Leo Lewin Veröffentlichungsdatum: 13 / 12 / 2009 by Magdalena PalicaHampel Auction catalog with biographical information about Leo Lewin and his father CarlBeschreibung des Gestüts Römerhof in ErftstadtArtikel aus der Traber-WeltWebseite des Gestüts RömerhofLeo Lewin bei Galopp-Sieger
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Leo
1965 deaths
1881 births
20th-century German businesspeople
German racehorse owners and breeders
Jewish art collectors
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Businesspeople from Wrocław
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